Intro to Acts 8:9-24

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/7/2017 9:10 AM

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Acts 8:9-24

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 8:9-24

            Message of the verses:  “9  Now there was a man named Simon, who formerly was practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great; 10  and they all, from smallest to greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, "This man is what is called the Great Power of God." 11 And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts. 12 But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. 13 Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed.  14 Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John, 15 who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. 16 For He had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 17 Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. 18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, "Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 20 But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 “You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 “Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 “For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity." 24 But Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me."”

            I have to say that I am happy to be able to study this portion of Scripture as there are some things in it that have been a mystery to me and so I hope that as I study it with the aid of John MacArthur’s commentary that I will learn about the things that have been a mystery to me in this section.

            MacArthur begins “One of the most fearful realities in all of Scripture is that some who think they are saved will be eternally lost.  Thinking they are on the narrow way of saving truth that leads to heaven, they are in reality on the broad way of religion that leads to destruction (cf. Matt. 7:13-14). ‘13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.’  They will one day hear from the Lord Jesus Christ the most shocking, terrifying words any human can ever hear:  ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness’ (Matt. 7:23).  To their horror, they will discover too late that there is an entrance to hell at the edge of the very gates of heaven.”

            When the gospel is preached some will hear it and the Spirit of God will open their eyes and their hearts to understand it and to accept it, while others will not desire to hear the truth of the Gospel and it will produce a false faith, as they may believe they are saved, but are not.

            When we studied the books of Mark and John we listened to the words that Jesus spoke as in Mark he spoke a parable about the different kinds of seeds.  There was only one good see that fell as it fell on the good soil, the soil of a heart that was prepared by the Holy Spirit and thus fruit was produced.  The other seeds fell on soil that did not produce fruit, yet for a while it was thought that the seed was falling on good ground.  In John 15 we read about the vine and the branches and when we studied that portion of Scripture we saw that some of the branches were pruned causing them to produce more fruit, and some of the branches were burned up.  We stated that those branches that were burned up were “Judas branches.”  Judas had been with the Lord for three years like the other disciples and yet he never truly believed and so he will be a part of the branches that the Father will burn up.

            As far as the parable of the different seeds you can see it in Matthew 13:24-30 and then the explanation of it by our Lord in Matthew 13:36-43. 

            John MacArthur writes “This text presents an example of genuine saving faith, the Ethiopian eunuch.  But first it presents the first known satanic attempt to sow a tare in the church, Simon Magus. Simon appeared to be a genuine believer; even one as discerning as Philip accepted him as such and baptized him.  Simon even ‘continued on with Philip’ (verse 13).  He thus manifested three marks of a genuine believer: he believed, he was obedient in baptism, and he continued with Philip.  He illustrates the difficulty of telling the wheat from the tares.  It was not until he attempted to buy the authority to confer the Holy Spirit that he was unmasked.

            “Where did Simon go wrong?  How did one who came so close miss out on true salvation?  Faith must be grounded in the truth, and his was not.  This passage reveals four glaring massive faults in Simon’s theology:  He had a wrong view of self, salvation, the Spirit, and sin.  Those faults kept him from genuine faith and left him in the position to perish eternally.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you-unless indeed you fail the test? (2 Cor. 13:5).”

My Steps of Faith for Today:  As I begin to look over what I will teach this Sunday in our Sunday school class, my prayer is that the Lord will prepare me to teach the truth and that He will be glorified in this teaching.

Memory verses:  Philippians 4:1, 8 “1. Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.”  8. “Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Cain” (Genesis 4:9).

Today’s Bible question:  “From what city did Lydia come?”

Answer in our next SD.

12/7/2017 9:55 AM