SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
12/13/2017 10:13 AM
My Worship Time
Focus: PT-2
“A Wrong View of the Spirit”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Acts 8:14-19
Message of the
verses: “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.’”
I have written that in times past when I studied this
passage I was not entirely sure if Simon was a believer or not, after all
Philip was the one who Baptized Simon, so he must have thought that he was a
believer. I have come to believe that
Simon was not a believer and what we read beginning in verse 17 where we see
that Peter and John were laying hands on the new believers we begin to see the
true colors of Simon as he offered money to the disciples to be able to do what
they were doing. Now money can cause a
person to do things that they certainly would not do before offered money, and
yet Peter and John would have none of it.
My friend tells me that when you look at colleges like Harvard and Yale
who started out as Christian schools were probably offered money from some rich
people who were not believers and once that happened these rich people began to
put their un-Scriptural influence on the school and that was the beginning of
their downfall.
These new believers were probably speaking in tongues to
show that they were truly believers as this was a part of receiving the Holy
Spirit in the early church, and this impressed Simon. Philip had impressed him but no John and
Peter overwhelmed him. Simon then said
to Peter and John that he wanted this power to be able to lay hands on someone
so they could receive the Holy Spirit.
Now we must remember that Simon was a magician and we mentioned that
magicians from time to time would give others magicians money to understand
their secrets they had to do tricks and so Simon thought he could buy this from
Peter and John.
John MacArthur writes “Nothing God has, however, is for
sale—certainly not the Holy Spirit!
Indeed, there is nothing sinful men have to offer Him. Salvation and spiritual blessing He pours out
freely to His children. In Isaiah 55:1
God cries out, ‘Ho! Every one who
thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and
without cost.’ Yet countless thousands,
ignorant of that fact are striving desperately and futilely to buy God’s
blessing.”
Peter tells 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.”
MacArthur adds “Peter was irate, as his inflammatory prose
indicates. The literal meaning of the
Greek text has been softened by most translations. J. B. Phillip’s rendering, “To hell with you
and your money!” conveys the actual sense of Peter’s words. Simon’s view of the Spirit as a commodity to
be bought and added to his repertoire was utterly and blasphemously wrong, and
betrayed his lost condition.” “20 But
Peter said to him, "To hell with you and your money! How dare you think
you could buy the gift of God for money! 21 You can have no share or part in
this matter, for your heart is not honest before God (Phillips).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: When I was living
in Hawaii one of my friends that I meet there told me that I was gullible, and
I suppose that at times I am as I look at this passage before studying it like
I am now I was gullible to think that Simon was a believer. My thoughts are if he would later become a
true believer we would have found out about it in the Bible.
My Steps of
Faith for Today: “I’m putting on
the belt of truth. I ask You to make it
very clear to me what I am to accept into my life and what I am to reject. Help me to see clearly the motives of others
as they deal with me and converse with me.
Let me walk in Your truth, making decisions and choices according to
Your plans and purposes for my life.”
Memory
verses: “Philippians 4:1, 8 “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: “Mary
Magdalene” (Mark 16:9).
Today’s
Bible question: “Who said, ‘Follow me,
and I will make you fishers of men’?”
Answer
in our next SD.
12/13/2017
11:01 AM
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