Dennis Tuuri

Please stand for the reading of God’s word. Acts 8:9-24.

But there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” And to him they had regard because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries.

But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women. Then Simon himself believed also. And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done. And when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who when they were come down, and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost.

For as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost. And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.” But Peter said unto him, “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God to be purchased with money.

Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent, therefore, of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.” Then answered Simon, and said, “Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.”

And they when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord returned to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. We thank God for his word and pray that he would illuminate our understanding.

Well, we continue on through the book of Acts, the acts of Jesus Christ through his church. And we come to now an incident, a particular story. We’re going to look at it that way—a historical fact of course, but nonetheless phrased in a literary way here by Luke—a story about a man named Simon who was a magician.

This story takes place in the context, of course, as we said last week, of the spread of the gospel into Samaria in obedience to the Lord’s command. That’s quite important to understand where we’re at in terms of understanding some of the specifics of the story.

We have Jesus commanding the disciples to wait until they receive power from on high. Then they are to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. And so now the gospel is spreading out from Jerusalem and Judea. The thoughts of the brothers that would persecute the church—much the way Joseph and his church, the nation of Israel—they are moved with envy against the church as the brothers of Joseph were. They persecute the church as Joseph was persecuted. But God, while they intend it for evil, God intends it for good. And so the church disperses all with the apostles.

And so we see the expansion of the gospel. The church did not run in fear. The church ran in commission from the Lord Jesus Christ. They recognized that this was the point at which the starting gun had been shot and they would now race into all the earth with the gospel, led by the seven. And we talked about the implications of the seven relative to the twelve and the preparation for the expansion of the gospel into the gentile regions.

And Samaria is kind of a halfway ground, if you will—an admixture of gentile culture with Jewish religion. They were excluded from Jerusalem and worship at the temple. They worshiped on their own temple at Mount Gerizim, but they were nonetheless essentially professors of Yahweh.

Well, in any event, that’s the context for the story. Let’s just look at the story first. And I’m not exactly sure—I’ve thought about this a lot the last couple of days—what points in the story to emphasize. There’s a lot of very important points that are listed on your outline. I’m not sure how much of it we will stress as we get to the lessons from the text. But in any event, let’s look at the text first. We got to understand what the word says before we can make application of it to our lives.

And you’ll see that I have structured this in such a way as to, I think, maintain the structure of the story. And that is that this is a particular incident. Mention of Simon at the beginning, mention of Simon at the end, and then the final verse ties off the whole Samaritan account. But it’s in the context of this final story of Simon. And that’s important because we’ll get to a verse here that seemingly has other signification, but we have to remember it in the order which the scriptures give it to us.

Well, first of all we see in the text, in the first few verses, the person of Simon introduced to us in the text. So the first point on your outline is that we here read now of Simon the magician in verses 9-11.

Verse 9: “There was a certain man called Simon which before time in the same city”—that is, this a capital city, perhaps—or we’re not sure of the particular city, but it is identified as Samaritan country. And so all of Samaria is amplified in the city in which they were working in the verses leading up to this, verses 1-8. But in any event, he had before time in that same city used sorcery, bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that he himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” And to him they had regard because that he, for a long time, had bewitched them with sorceries.

Now on this particular element of the text here, it’s important to understand a few things. What does it mean by a sorcerer or magician? Well, it is not particularly—let’s see how do I want to say this. It’s easy for us to think of magicians in the sense of those who do magic tricks, et cetera. And certainly that is in mind here. But we must remember that there is a greater context for this.

The other place in the scriptures where the word that is translated in the King James as “sorcery” or “sorcerer”—the noun going with the verbs that are used as well in terms of sorcering or bewitching people—the term here is the same root term for “magic” in our word, which should bring to mind, particularly as we approach the Christmas season, the three magi or magi—the three wise men from the east. In the book of Jeremiah, chapter 39, verse 3, we read of the princes of the kings of Babylon. And one of the ones that are listed is Rab-mag, chief magi or wiseman.

When it says that Simon was a sorcerer and he used sorcery, he was a magician in the sense of being a wise man, and the term originally apparently originated in Persia and Babylon. These men were men who would use a variety of devices to astonish people. Many of these devices may actually have to do with science. They would know, for instance, astronomical signs and what would happen in the sun and the moon through various things—solar eclipses, lunar eclipses. They might know particular physical properties of various chemicals, and as a result of their knowledge of that, to astonish people much the way a magician would use what we would call tricks today. And in addition to this, it was an attempt as well to call upon various forces in the world around us for their purposes.

But you see, it’s kind of like, I think, when the scriptures talk about sorcery, then we should think of it in terms of maybe astronomy plus astrology. That’d be one way to look at it. There’s a line. You could look at astronomy on this hand and see that it’s simply scientific knowledge, and astrology over here as the imputation of various cultic forces in terms of the astronomy. But really, in the scriptures, that hard and fast line is not drawn. Wise men are men who know things and may use them properly or improperly. As the three wise men from the east, for instance, came and worshiped the baby Jesus.

So that’s the term that’s used here, and that’s why we say that Simon was a magician. In fact, in church history, the name Simon Magus comes down to us in church history, and “magus” is simply the word here from the Greek, or originally from the Hebrew “mog,” given to us in Jeremiah 39:3, having its roots in Babylon. Simon Magus—Simon the magician—is what that term means.

And so there here we have a Simon the magician who uses sorcery. He bewitches the people. What does that mean? “Bewitching” here doesn’t exactly have the connotation of what you might think it does either. It has the connotation of astonishing or amazing. And in Acts chapter 2, the people are amazed when the 120 speak with foreign languages that they had learned. And so the word here doesn’t mean that he, you know, hypnotized them or something. It means he simply—what he did was so astonishing and startling that they were beside themselves. That might be a more literal translation of the Greek word here—they’re beside themselves, standing outside of themselves, so to speak. They’re beside themselves and so astonished by what happens.

And as a result of this, the connotation clearly here is that he exercises some degree of control or manipulation over the people of Samaria, giving out that he was some great one. The word here, according to J. Alexander, has the connotation of being superhuman—that he is ascribing to himself, through the use of these gifts, superhuman powers. And so the people come to think of him in that way.

And verse 10 says that he had great control over them because he had done this, according to verse 11 rather, for quite some time. So he had some control of the area for a long time through his use of scientific principles and also his use of occultic forces to cause people to be amazed or astonished, and as a result to ascribe to him some degree of power and control over them.

“This man is the great power of God.” We read in verse 10 of chapter 8—”mega dynamis,” “mega dunamos”—are the two Greek words here combined together: the great power of God. And so some would see in this a false proclamation of a messiah, the great power of God being ascribed singularly to him. Although it doesn’t have to mean that in the Greek. It could just mean a great power. But in any event, he was this magician, and the scriptures give us three verses here to help us to understand who he is, to properly interpret then the events that will come to pass.

Now, it’s important before we go on. While I’ve tried to get you to understand the broader context of magic in the scriptures, it’s important to see that in the terms of, for instance, the fruit of the spirit or the works of the flesh in Galatians 5, or in the exclusion of sorcerers and those who use sorcery in Revelation 21 and also in Revelation 22, the scriptures place a great deal of negative freight to a person who would engage in such acts.

And so it’s quite important to see that he’s being rescued here out of extreme idolatry and big sin. Instead of being mega power before God, he was involved in mega sin before God by engaging in occultic magic and the use of science and manipulation of people.

So that’s who we’re dealing with here. And then we have the next few verses recorded for us: his baptism. Verse 12: the people that have been bewitched—astonished, beside themselves—as a result of Simon’s teaching, or Simon’s actions, that is, when they believed Philip concerning the thing—speaking the things, preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized both men and women.

Now that tells us something. And remember last week we talked about the importance of seeing that Philip is preaching here the kingdom of God—what we would call the full orb gospel of Jesus Christ. It’s not restricted to personal salvation. It is kingdom. The word kingdom has a lot of connotation to it. It has a king. It has a law. It has ways in which you live in the context of the kingdom. We could refer to it—some do today—as a Christian worldview. That’s what’s being spoken of here. The kingdom is an all-encompassing term. And their lives were challenged with a gospel not of narrow salvation, not of release from fire in heaven, fire and eternal damnation only, but rather of a kingdom—a way to live their lives.

This is quite important because these were people who had their lives pretty much shaped because of their fear and respect for Simon the sorcerer. And the scriptures put in contrast to that the Lord Jesus Christ and his kingdom. But specifically here the text gives us this piece of information in relationship to Simon, because we read in verse 13:

“Then Simon himself believed also. And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.”

Very importantly here, we have apparently the conversion of Simon. It says it uses the same terminology here as it does relative to the Samaritans. He believed and then he was baptized. And then we see him continuing with Philip. But there’s a problem we see immediately in this verse, because his continuance with Philip does not seem to be motivated by a sense of need to learn and be a disciple of those who would come and teach him, but rather his continuing with Philip is tied to his wondering, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.

This word “wondered”—that he wondered—this is the same word that was “bewitched” in the earlier text. So in the way the gospel works, the one who was bewitching others is himself now bewitched, beside himself, astonished at the works of one of the seven—Philip—through the signs and wonders. And it’s interesting here that the terms “miracles” and “signs” are not the normal two terms used. One is, but the word “miracle” has the connotation of being a power word, and so this isn’t normally the two words that are used to describe the signs and miracles—”signs and wonders”—that are done by the apostles and then their followers. But rather the term here is used of being a power work. And so Simon is looking at these power works and he is beside himself, astonished and amazed at what he sees, and as a result he continues with Philip.

The Revised Version, quoted by J. Alexander, says that Simon was astonished with admiration—that’s one way to put it. And that’s the same way we could put back into how the people were bewitched—by Philip, excuse me—by Simon they were astonished, or—excuse me—by Simon they were astonished with admiration at his works. Lenski says that we have here the fact that he who has amazed others by his magical arts and claims has now himself been kept or is now himself kept in a state of amazement. The terminology indicating this is a continuing activity.

Before we go on, it’d be worth pointing out here, as Matthew Henry does in his commentary, the great significance of what we’ve read to this point in the story: we have someone captivated and a tool really of Satan. That’s what happens to people who seek to use the powers of the world or of the occult for their purposes, to bring them personal glory. They’re captivated to Satan. And we have Satan’s threshold, or stronghold rather, being invaded by the preaching of the gospel.

The full orb gospel is able to do that. And as a result, him who would be with others is now himself amazed and astonished and brought under the control of God’s representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Matthew Henry says: “Them that had been led captive by Satan were brought into obedience to Christ, where Satan, as a strong man armed, kept possession of the place and thought himself safe. Christ, as a stronger than he, dispelled him and damaged and divided the spoil. He led captivity captive and made those the trophies of his victory whom the devil had triumphed over. Let us not despair of the worst when even those whom Simon Magus had bewitched have been brought to belief.”

That’s very important for us, isn’t it? We live in a day and age when the forces of the opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ are massive and large, and where they’re becoming increasingly occultic. And so it is important for us to recognize in terms of the religions that beset the landscape today that would rise up in opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ—that we need not fear any of them. We need not fear witches, for instance, casting a spell in Salem relative to the vouchers system that was being proposed there. No, we need not worry. Any opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ is pictured here as dispelled when the light of the gospel comes into an area.

You remember that the book of Revelation tells us that Satan is bound in that he can no longer deceive the nations. His deceiving of the nation of Samaria through one of his tools, Simon, is now over with. The gospel has come, and Satan is no longer able to deceive the nations in the nation of Samaria, a halfway point between Jerusalem and Athens, so to speak—Jerusalem and the world—is converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. This should be tremendously encouraging to us in the context of our day and age.

Well, in any event, I also want to read here a quotation from Lenski. There is some amount of disputation over whether or not Simon’s conversion here is real. And while it is not particularly needful to understand this, I don’t think the scriptures give us a hard and fast answer on this, but rather I think it is important, as simply as a thinking this thing through, to read what Lenski wrote about this.

He says: “From what is related later, it is usually assumed that Simon’s faith was only a sham. But Luke uses the same verb and the same tense with reference to Simon as he does with reference to the people. He even adds that Simon remained in close contact or in close attachment to Philip. The man did believe. This is Lenski, a Lutheran commentator who is usually quite sound and orthodox. That he later went wrong and that his young faith was perverted and lost is something that followed. All that Luke intimates on this outcome is that Simon was captivated too much by the miracles he saw. The probability is that he came to regard them as in a class with his own magical arts, only far superior to what he had been able to produce.”

And so that leads us to the test of Simon, which Lenski’s reference to is in verses 14-17. In the context of the story of Simon, brings us a test now to test and evaluate who Simon the magician really is in his heart.

Verse 14: “Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John, who when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost.”

Now this text, which many have taken in many different ways—and I think improperly frequently—to indicate that believers are supposed to desire and seek a second blessing of the Holy Spirit, I don’t think it really says that at all. It’s important to see that this text is given for us in the context of the story of Simon. And so I’ve entitled on the outline “Simon’s Test.” Here we had a man who did great signs and wonders, and now he’s going to be subjected to great signs and wonders being done not simply by Philip, but now the falling on people, the overcoming of people—not the overcoming, but the visible manifestation of the spirit, the empowering of people for a particular purpose. That’s what’s meant here. The spirit falls upon these people in response to the prayer and the imposition of hands by the two apostles, Peter and John, who come down, representing the apostles to this area of Samaria.

So I think this is primarily given to us in the context of the text as a test for Simon.

Now, it has other implications to it as well. It has teachings to it, of course. We read, for instance, that in verse 16: “For as yet he was fallen upon none of them, only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” The implication here is not that Philip had used the wrong baptismal formula. The implication is that being baptized in the Lord Jesus Christ usually is associated in the scriptures and usually occurs with the manifest of the spirit.

In the case of the Samaritans, however, the apostles expected something different—a falling upon them by the spirit in an outward manifestation of the spirit’s presence. And so the apostles see here an unusual situation. We shouldn’t use this unusual situation to teach us what usually should occur with the baptism of believers. Do you understand me?

So, what is going on here? Well, it seems to me that we have to understand this in the context of the greater context of the book of Acts. We will read in Acts 10 of the Gentile believers being engrafted into the church. And you remember we go from Jerusalem and Judea to Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth. We start with Hebrew Jewish converts. We go to Samaria where we have a syncretistic system between Greek thought and culture and other nations as well, ad mixed with Jewish faith, who are excluded from temple worship. So they’re like halfway Gentile Jews, and we see them brought into the faith. And then later with Cornelius’s household and then with the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles, we see them brought in as well.

Those are the three occasions given for us in Acts—two with the church at Jerusalem, in Acts 8 the church in Samaria, and then later with the church of the Gentiles being brought in. Those are the three occasions at which, when people have hands laid upon them, they manifest a Pentecostal experience in the sense of the Pentecost experience defined for us in Acts chapter 2.

Pentecost was the visible manifestation of the empowerment of the church to preach the gospel through the use of the tongue—foreign languages. And so here we see as well a Pentecostal manifestation coming upon the Samaritans. And then we’ll see it also when the Gentile church is fully brought into the faith. That’s what I’m pointing out here.

I think that the secondary purpose of this text is to show us that these marks of the Holy Spirit’s power coming upon people in an extraordinary way are marks which accompany the expansion of the church. It’s to validate, to authenticate, the reality of the expansion of the church to include those who are excluded up to now—the Samaritans—and those who had been excluded all along—the Gentiles. And so with those places where the church brings in a whole new group of people, that’s where this manifestation occurs, and its purpose is to authenticate it and show that they have one experience, one empowerment or filling, for the preaching of the gospel.

Now we know that this particular thing that is described for us in these verses had some sort of external manifestation such as tongues—the speaking in foreign languages—because Simon Magus sees it and then responds improperly to it in the text that follows.

Now before we go on, let me just say that obviously here as well, it is not the apostles’ power that produces this gift, this manifestation or outpouring, this falling upon the people of the Holy Spirit. They pray to God that he would accomplish this, and then at the laying on of their hands, they simply receive an answer to their prayer from God. So God’s sovereignty and the dispensation of his gifts is stressed here. And in fact, we’ll see that in Simon’s false, or not false, but improper reaction to this, Simon wants to put this technique in a box. He wants to put the operation of the spirit, the sovereign operation of God through the spirit in whatever means he sees fit, into a box. He wants to take that and package it. And so we should be warned against that approach—warned against the packaging of the gift of the Holy Spirit in the hands of any man, church, or through the use of any kind of device, to achieve this power from God.

We should be warned against that because we are immediately given the improper attempt to do that on the part of Simon Magus, and that follows in verses 18 and 19.

One other thing I’ve listed on your outline: a series of scriptures, one from Acts 10 and then also Acts 19 when the fourth manifestation of the Holy Ghost coming upon people is upon those who had simply been baptized with John’s baptism. There is a fourth occurrence. We have the Pentecost at Jerusalem, the Pentecost at Samaria, the Pentecost with the Gentiles listed for us in verse 44 of chapter 10, and then also a Pentecostal manifestation in terms of those who had only received John’s baptism. We’ll get to that later in the book of Acts.

The other scriptures I listed for you, though—Romans 8, 1 Corinthians 12, et cetera—are scriptures that very importantly tell us that these Samaritans were not devoid of the Holy Spirit up to now. That’s not the point of the text. If you’re thinking that, no, the scriptures plainly teach us. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 12:3, “No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” 2 Thessalonians 2:13: “God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.” And then Titus 3:5: “We read of the renewing of the Holy Ghost.”

Other scriptures are listed for you there. The point I’m trying to make there is: don’t think somehow these people were devoid of the spirit, being baptized only in the name of Jesus instead of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The name of Jesus—the name comprehends all that Jesus is, including the relationship to the Father and the Spirit. So the spirit was there, operative in these people’s lives. That’s the only way conversion occurs: through the spirit regenerating, renewing people, and causing them to then make profession of faith and to call Jesus Lord.

Now we see here then Simon sins in relationship to this test or evaluation from God. And I’m not suggesting that’s the only reason that occurred. Obviously, I’ve tried to make the point there are other reasons why that account occurred and is recorded for us, and we’ll get to some of those a little later. But one purpose here is as a test, evaluation, of Simon, and he sins.

Verses 18 and 19: “When Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.’”

Kisacher in his commentary on the book of Acts says that Simon is of the opinion that he can purchase a priesthood from Peter and John in much the same manner as he is able to purchase a priesthood in any pagan religion. Goes on to say that in the first half of the first century, such priesthoods were often sold by auction.

So Simon wants to function as a priest in the context of this new religion, and he goes about doing that in the way that he had seen and he had himself engaged in—perhaps purchasing of gifts, priesthood abilities, to use the forces of the universe, so to speak, for his purposes. Simon is a magician. Magicians manipulate things, and they attempt to manipulate the forces of the universe for their particular purposes.

And Simon sees, so he senses rather, of the force—the Holy Spirit—and then attempts to use that force and purchase the ability to use that force by the use of money. This Holy Spirit, he believes, is a power that can be subjected then to the will of man.

Now this really is at the core of occultic magic: the idea of subjecting forces in the cosmos, forces in the order, to man’s purposes—the controlling of the supernatural through the natural through incantations, or in this case even the sale and purchase of such forces. So Simon engages in tremendous sin here.

As Peter then rebukes him, we see in verses 20 through 23 God’s evaluation of Simon.

You know, this is the way God works in our lives as well. We don’t know—I don’t know for sure—whether Simon was converted. There’s things that could be said on either side of the issue. But we do know that this is the way God works in all of our lives. We express faith. We profess faith. We come together every Lord’s day and make a profession of faith, and we are washed in the sense of being forgiven of our sins, as Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. So we are washed every week, and God then takes us through a week filled with tests for us. Some weeks greater tests than other weeks.

Simon had quite a test here placed before him, and he fell. He sinned. And God then brings evaluation at the end of the test, and he does it through the person of Peter here in verses 20 through 23.

Peter says: “Thy money perish with thee, not just your money perish, not just your sin. Your money perish with thee. Not your sin, but with you. Because you have thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. And notice the irony there: ‘The gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.’”

Now, this text is filled with many truths. The whole lesson—many of the lessons that we’re going to talk about, or that are obvious from this text—are really focused on this particular rebuke. An imprecation, really, is what it is. Peter issues a stunning denunciation of Simon the magician. You know, you can sort of see Simon is just acting well. “Hey, you know, this is what he does. Yeah, he’s been converted, but this is what he’s learned to do. And so he makes this statement. What’s the big deal?” But Peter rebukes him severely.

Now, Peter had been taught that, of course, the idea of rebuking Satan as he manifests himself through sin, even of those who are professors of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because he had been rebuked in such a way, hadn’t he? Remember, our Lord had told him, “Get thee behind me, Satan.” He had been rebuked by our Lord. And so he knows that rebuke is a proper instrument, imprecation is a proper instrument in the hands of God’s people, and he engages himself in it.

Now to understand this rebuke, it’s important that we look at several texts, and I believe I have them on the outline there for you.

First of all, he tells Simon that his heart is not right. That is a reference, I believe, to Psalm 78. In Psalm 78, we read that in verse 36 of Psalm 78, speaking of the people of God in the wilderness:

“Nevertheless, they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their tongues. For their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant. But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not. Yea, many a time turned his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath. For he remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away and cometh not again.”

Simon’s heart is not right. He is not being consistent or steadfast to the covenant that he had professed belief in and as a result of been baptized as the sign of that covenant initiation. Simon had perhaps flattered God with his tongue here in making profession of faith, but his heart, Peter says, was not right. His heart was wickedly wrong. And yet God doesn’t destroy him off the face of the earth at this point in time.

There are correlations between Simon and Ananias and Sapphira. But God treats Simon differently, doesn’t he? He treats him with more longsuffering and waiting to see well how he will respond to the next test and evaluation. God’s evaluation of Simon provides another test for Simon. And the answer to whether or not he persevered in that test is of some dispute amongst orthodox commentators. But the point is that God does give him another test.

Simon’s heart is not right because he is not steadfast to the covenant. Secondly, he says, however, that perhaps God may forgive you. In Isaiah 47, we read of men similar to Simon. Isaiah 47 reads of people who would use sorceries and enchantments. Verse 9 of Isaiah 47:

“These two things shall come to thee in a moment, in one day, the loss of children and widowhood. They shall come upon thee in their perfection, for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, thou hast said, ‘None seeth me.’ Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee.”

And so it is with Simon, and frequently it is with us. Our wisdom and knowledge—Simon’s wisdom and knowledge of the natural order—was used by him for ungodly purposes and puffed him up. And as a result led him into great sin and had perverted him. “Destruction shall come upon them suddenly.” Isaiah 47:11 says: “Which thou shalt know.” And then in the rest of Isaiah 47:14 and 15, it speaks of those men who engaged in sorceries and enchantments as turning to those things to deliver them. They cannot deliver them.

And Simon, if he turns to his use of natural forces at this point in time to deliver him, he will be crushed. He will be crushed. Peter instead tells him to repent therefore of this wickedness, not to trust in it any longer, and to pray God that perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.

The “perhaps” there is, of course, an indication that God may or may not forgive Simon. Now, it’s interesting. In the Proverbs, of course, we’re told that if you reject God and if you have a life characterized as rejection of God’s call of wisdom to you as you walk the streets of your life, that in your time of trouble, you cry out to him, he will not answer. Those are hard words, aren’t they? We like to hear the words that, “Well, no matter what happens, at the end of the day, if you cry out to God and repent, he will save you.”

Well, it’s half true, and that’s half not true. It’s true if you repent, if God’s spirit works repentance in your heart, you’ll be forgiven in the Lord Jesus Christ. The last thing I want to do is to leave the impression that somehow your works can manipulate God, as a magician would manipulate a force, into granting you forgiveness. It’s not your works. It is the grace of God. And that grace is manifested in your repentance.

But remember that repentance is biblical repentance. It doesn’t mean crying out to God necessarily. Many people cry out to God, but they do not do so forsaking the sin that has led them to that situation. And at the end of their lives, if they see death approaching them—the grim reaper himself in a vision coming to them—and cry out to God in fear, there’s no guarantee by God that he will hear them. And there’s no guarantee in your life that God will hear you because the condition of God’s hearing and saving is the evidence of his grace, his calling, his election of you, that is manifested not simply in crying out to him, but in a belief that him and him alone can save and has saved through the Lord Jesus Christ.

God may not answer Simon’s call. And so Peter says: “If perhaps God may grant you forgiveness for the sins of your heart and thoughts that you have had. But perhaps is conditioned then not upon Simon’s works ultimately, but upon the manifestation of God’s grace through Simon’s work of repentance, not upon Simon’s works, upon God’s grace. God cannot be manipulated. That’s what Simon, Peter, tells us in this particular text. And if that is our attempt to manipulate God, and we’re using him as another force, and we fall under the condemnation of Isaiah 47, that will not save you in your day of trouble—your attempt at manipulating God.

Third, notice here that Simon tells him that he perceives that he is in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity. Quite pertinent to what we’ve just said, the scriptures talk about a root of bitterness—the gall of bitterness. In Deuteronomy, we read in Deuteronomy 29, verse 18:

“Lest there should be among you man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away from the Lord your God to go and serve the gods of these nations, lest there should be among you a root that beareth wormwood. And it come to pass when he heareth the words of this curse, that he blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart.’ Then God will not spare him, but then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall be upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.”

Deuteronomy warns us of the appearance of a rooted bitterness in the context of the corporate community. That’s what he’s talking about here. And if such a one rises up in the context of you who thinks that he can walk in the blessings of God and yet walk in the vain imaginations of his heart, God says he will root out that root of bitterness.

Simon Magus was a potential root of bitterness. He was in the gall of bitterness himself, and he was a potential root of bitterness for the church of Jesus Christ. And so Peter acts on behalf of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ to rebuke him severely and test him yet again. A second test to see if he will repent or if he’ll continue in his sin. And if he continues in his sin, then indeed God will judge him and cast him out as he did with Ananias and Sapphira.

The book of Hebrews, chapter 12, we read of the warning against us not to allow a root of bitterness to spring up, or to encourage and exhort and admonish each other that no root of bitterness spring up. And you remember the example of the root of bitterness there. It’s Esau, who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage and who later sought the birthright with tears. He cried out to God, but he wasn’t heard because he didn’t cry out in faith. He cried out strictly in fear.

“The demons believe also and tremble.” So there are those who rightly point out here that God’s forgiveness is conditioned upon the manifestation of faith, and that if that manifestation does not occur, God roots these people out. He is also in the bond of iniquity. He’s bundled up with iniquity. And so he has captivated himself. Those who seek to use satanic forces and powers are themselves captive to those very things.

And so Simon’s heart is wrapped up in the gall of bitterness. He’s wrapped up and bundled up with iniquity and sin, disobedience to God. So it’s interesting in this text, we have really some very marked contrasts pointed out for us. As we said, here is Peter himself rebuked by the Lord Jesus Christ, now rebuking another person harshly for a sin—a manipulation of God. And that is curious.

It’s curious as well that the phrase “part or lot” in this matter is used in verse 21. The phrase “part or lot” refers to “part” being a partner in something and “lot” having ownership in something. In this matter—”matter” is actually the term “logos,” or word, used there in this word—and the indication is that if Simon Magus does not repent of his sin, he is neither a partner nor has an inheritance in the gospel of Christ. And that’s certainly true.

And it’s interesting that Simon Peter himself, the other Simon, who’s represented here by the term Peter, at the last supper—you remember Jesus is going to wash their feet, and Simon Peter doesn’t want him to do that. And Jesus says, “If I don’t wash your feet, you have no part with me.” The term “part” and “lot” was a common Hebrew idiom understood by all, his connection both in partnership and also in ownership. And the Lord Jesus had warned this very man, who now warns another man, that if he didn’t accept the forgiveness, the washing of the feet—indication of the need for forgiveness of sins, et cetera—that he had no part or inheritance in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he tells this man: if you do not repent, that you have no part or lot in this matter.

And so there are many interesting correlaries indeed. Judas Iscariot, who was at that same last supper of course and betrayed our Savior, was himself the son of another Simon—yet another Simon. Simon means to hear, and Simon Magus here must hear the words of the Lord Jesus Christ spoken through Simon, the hearing Peter, instead of attending to his own thoughts and imaginations of his own heart. Simon Magus must come to repentance or perish.

Well, so that’s God’s evaluation. Then we have Simon’s response. “Answered Simon and said, ‘Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.’”

Now there’s much controversy over this text. John Calvin is one who believes that this indicates that while Simon had not been converted before, now that here we have Simon converted. And Calvin makes a good case for that. Other people such as Matthew Henry point out that simply praying to God on the part of Simon here for deliverance is no better than Pharaoh, who called out to Moses, for instance, and asked Moses—in the verses I’ve listed for you on the outline—to entreat the Lord for him. And he even has a confession of sin later in the book of Exodus, another verse I’ve listed for you there. So Pharaoh prays also that God might remove the curse from off of his neck and out of his land, but that doesn’t necessarily imply believing faith.

“The demons believe, and the demons tremble.” We understand to some degree the fear that they should have before God, but still are unwilling to bow the knee. And so we don’t know for sure. Other people said that indeed this does represent conversion on the part of Simon. But God, Kisacher, I think very rightly says this in his commentary: “He says that scripture has revealed to us only Simon’s request for the prayers of the church. We are not asked to pass judgment on the eternal destiny of Simon, and therefore we do well to leave this matter to the day of God’s judgment.”

Can’t know, but what we do know is that the story of Simon Magus—Simon the magician—gives us some great lessons to apply in the context of our lives and particularly in the context of our culture.

Let’s turn now to some of these lessons.

It is, first of all, an indication—I’m, excuse me, I forgot the last portion of my outline. The gospel is proclaimed then to the villages of Samaria. This is interesting too. Let’s not pass over this. Let’s dwell on this just for a moment.

The concluding portion of this scripture—it is interesting that the villages of Samaria—this is the same place Samaria was a place where the Lord Jesus had been before. And we read of that account in Luke 9, verses 52 and following. And we read there that he had sent messengers before his face. And they went and entered into a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him. And they did not receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.

And when his disciples James and John—this is the same John who now is in these villages of Samaria preaching to them—saw this, the rejection of the Messiah in Samaria, they said: “Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, even as Elias did?” But he turned and rebuked them, and said, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man has not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? Here we have the same John who had sinfully called—wished the ability to call—fire from heaven almost as a magician would—controlling the forces of God to destroy these Samaritan villages. And here we have the same John coming through with the true fire, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the offering of the gift of salvation through the sacrifice made on the altar—the fire of God’s wrath against the sin bearer who took upon himself the sins of the elect.

This fire of the gospel is now wielded by John as he goes through—not to destroy the Samaritans, but to save them. And so they are called out in great numbers, as we read earlier. Essentially all of Samaria is converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so this same John must have had many things to ponder as he went through these villages.

In Judges 5:11, we read that “they that were delivered from the noise of archers in the place of drawing water. There shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel.” Then shall the people of the Lord go down to the gates.

The righteous acts of the Lord are now exercised not simply in the villages of Israel, but now in the villages of Samaria. And we are ones who have been brought into the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as the fire from the altar came forth into our lives, burning out the dross, calling us to the Lord Jesus Christ.