Jerusalem, Judea & Samaria

Good morning. We're going to be venturing into this passage that Courtney just read for us here, Acts 8, 4-13. And as I look at this passage and this chapter, this is just a phenomenal chapter. And so it's really neat to be working our way through it and looking at what the Lord has for us here.

Just to kind of review, here we have Stephen. who was among the seven who were chosen to serve there in Jerusalem among the widows in the ministration of food there. And we had then Stephen beginning to have troubles with those of the synagogue of the freedmen, eventually ending up with Stephen being called before the council. before the Sanhedrin and the Caiaphas, the high priest, asking Stephen, are these charges that are made against you true? And Stephen then goes into a lengthy rebuttal in part, but also just in the end saying, this is really your core problem, guys. And that was not well received. So Stephen then is brought out to the outside of the city of Jerusalem, not far away from where the council met, and was stoned with the Apostle Paul approving, taking the coats of those who were witnesses and carrying out the execution by stoning.

We also have from that very day the believers were persecuted And that persecution that began that day led by Saul, later to become the Apostle Paul, That persecution caused the church to be scattered outside of the area of Jerusalem. Jerusalem had been the area where the church had concentrated up to that point.

And so what we have here, beginning in Acts 8.4, is the beginning of examples of the scattering and what that looked like.

So we have in Acts 8.4, Therefore those who had been scattered went about preaching the word. That word scattered here is now repeated from Acts 1. We'll also see it come up again in chapter 11, verse 19. And so this stoning of Stephen and the scattering that took place continues to be pivotal in the early church.

This word for preaching is bringing the good news, evangelizing. That's what this is focusing on here. So they're preaching the word with the focus on evangelism rather than teaching in depth. He's going about presenting the gospel. Remember, we've said repeatedly and it bears repeating again, the gospel, the good news is that Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again. We're going to see in this passage and continue on as we go through Acts that there are actually two gospels. that were preached, and we'll be looking at those.

This was actually a very valuable scattering, even though you'd look at it and say, was it a good thing that Stephen was stoned? Well, most certainly not. But the scattering that took place was a good thing. This young church which had continued to concentrate itself and to congregate in Jerusalem and the area surrounding that, from the time of the stoning of Stephen and the persecution that began that day, they began moving into the surrounding regions of Judea and Samaria. Dr. Luke says to us that those who had been scattered went about preaching the word, that is evangelizing, taking the gospel of salvation, the good news to the Jews and the Samaritans and others as we'll see. So what this chapter is, is essentially here are examples of what that evangelizing as a result of the scattering looks like.

So the stoning of Stephen and the persecution that began that day took place in April of 35 AD. It had been two years to the month since Christ was crucified and raised. So just to kind of get a mindset and an understanding, so two years had now passed when Stephen was stoned and then the scattering into these other areas began to take place. And the one who was involved with Stephen stoning here and had led the persecution was the young Pharisee named Saul.

His Hebrew name would have been Shaul, is how they would have pronounced it. Soon he would become, as we'll see in the next chapter, a believer himself. And we'll see how that goes. Here's Acts 8, 5, and 6. And Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. The crowds with one accord were giving attention to what was being said by Philip, as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing.

So Philip was among those seven who were appointed to serve the widows in Acts 6.5. So among those seven who are listed there, and it appears that all of them were Hellenistic Jews, that is Jews who had been influenced by the Greek culture and language. And so Stephen was one of them. Philip was here another.

So here is Philip, one of those seven who were appointed as told to us in Acts 6.5, and then began proclaiming Christ that is actually, with the definite article, the Christ that is the Messiah, proclaiming the Messiah to them. So the crowds were of one accord giving attention. That word for giving attention is actually used, I think very purposefully, three times in this chapter.

So this is the first time it shows up here in Acts 8.6. But in verses 10 and 11, we're going to see that same word again. This giving attention is a key word in this passage.

So it's said by Philip, as you heard and saw, literally in the hearing and seeing. the signs which he was performing, signs and or wonders, this is actually the second instance of those who, and Stephen being the first, being those appointed to serve. We have this, and it's also on the bottom of your handout.

Here's a map of Jerusalem and the area surrounding it, particularly showing in this case, here is Jerusalem, even with the top end of the Dead Sea there. This is where they had been congregating for the last two years. And suddenly, with the persecution that began with Stephen, the scattering and distribution of believers into other areas and we're getting this example of Philip now who moves from Jerusalem up into Samaria and with the definite article it's not just the area of Samaria but rather the city of Samaria appears to be in view here.

So that's right up to the north, almost directly to the north. And as you get an idea from the miles scale at the bottom here, this is less than 20 miles to the north. And in those days, 20 miles was a good day's walk. So it took the better part of a day probably for him to make the walk up there, assuming he didn't stop along the way, which is possible. So anyway, this is where he's moving. This area of Samaria is one that we actually have some ruins left of that city. Here is the ancient city of Samaria.

It started back, it was once actually the capital of the Northern Kingdom, the kingdom that was disobedient and rebellious. all the way along. Here's the ancient city of Samaria and colonnaded streets. It had been upgraded under Herod the Not-So-Great. He had done a number of architectural improvements in the city in honor of Augustus who had given him his power. And here is the ancient city of Samaria, some more of the ruins there, along with there are people living in that area and actually living in such a way that they overlook some of these ruins here. It was at once a rather grand and great city. And during the time that Philip was there, that was the case. Here is the ancient city of Samaria with one accord, just as you see in the passage there. OK? All right. Now, let's talk about the Samaritans. They were a mix of Jews and Gentiles from the time of the Assyrian Empire. So this had taken place over seven centuries earlier.

The Assyrians had this philosophy of empire, scrambled them. So they took people from Samaria, not all of them. They took people, and the Bible actually tells the numbers, and they scattered them into other portions of the Assyrian Empire. At the same time, the Assyrians then took people from other portions and put them in with the people, the Jews that were left in Samaria. So they were, by force, a mixed group. So that Assyrian philosophy of scrambling people, that impacted the Samaritans, who were then a mixed group of Jews and Gentiles.

What it meant that there was, because they ended up intermarrying, there ended up being a lack of certainty that they were actually descended from Abraham. It was certainly not clear. It was doubtful. Because everything was scrambled, they didn't always have good records as to who was descended from who.

Their version of the Law of Moses was slightly modified to allow them to do their worship right nearby the city of Samaria. They also had other things that they did that was different. They only accepted the first five books of the Bible, and they had their modified or tweaked version of it. Their practices were different from the Jews.

They certainly didn't worship in Jerusalem since they had this other temple that they worked with and But that didn't stop Jesus in John chapter 4 as we'll take a look and it didn't stop Philip now The kind of like in John chapter 4 where Jesus spoke to the woman at the well you may be familiar with that account he claimed to be the Messiah and And that's exactly what we see here in this passage in Acts. That's what Philip is proclaiming. Christ is the Messiah. He told the Samaritans that Jesus was the Messiah very clearly here as Jesus himself claimed to the woman at the well. Now one of the things we've got to understand For Philip to go up to the Samaritans, we have to understand how absolutely shocking a thing that was.

And actually, even for Jesus to have gone the way He did, to talk to the Samaritans, and then to talk to an ill-reputed Samaritan woman, that was just unheard of. The Samaritans were considered so bad by the Jews that they were unsavable. Unsavable, not even God could help them. Someone could be a vile, disgusting Gentile and still be a convert to Judaism and they would be accepted. The Jews, however, would not allow a Samaritan to become a Jew. It was not permissible. They were so bad, they were unsavable. Philip, however, thought differently, as did Christ. So now Jesus prophesied to the woman, so he did that miracle. Now Philip did signs, so he also did that miraculously.

So really what we see is between Jesus going into the city of Samaria and Philip, we see actually a lot of parallel between what they did and what we see described to Philip. similar to what was reported in John chapter 4, where Jesus first met the woman at the well, and there was actually a lot of responsiveness on the part of the Samaritans. The Samaritans were actually more responsive than the Jews to the gospel message. And here, as we see in this passage, the Samaritans were going to see them as being remarkably responsive. So here's Acts 8, 7 and 8.

For in the case of many who had unclean spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice. And many who had been paralyzed and lame were healed. So there was much rejoicing in that city. These unclean spirits are demons or fallen angels.

If you look at, here's Dr. Luke again, writing in Luke 4.33, actually makes much of that equivalence. Rather than calling them unclean spirits in that passage, he calls them unclean demons. So if you're wondering, are they the same thing? Yes. So then we have coming out of them shouting. That's exactly, again, what we see in Luke chapter 4, you know,

41. So lots of parallels here and lots of equivalents. With a loud voice, many who had been paralyzed and lame. So one of the things we see here were healed.

And so what this shows us, as we saw also in Dr. Luke's writing in the Gospel of Luke, there is a difference between demon possession and medical conditions. See that? That's very important because there are many people who say, oh, the Bible is full of all sorts of mythology and they thought if someone was ill that they were demon possessed and they got it all confused. Nope. Dr. Luke does as he did In the gospel of Luke, keep it straight. There's demon possession, and that causes certain conditions, and then there is medical condition and disease and injury, and that's different. It's not the same thing. Dr. Luke does not have the ancient problem of confusing the two.

There was much rejoicing in the city, and as we'll see farther on, the Ethiopian eunuch later on this chapter, as Philip goes in, also rejoices as well as he receives the gospel and becomes a believer. So, Philip had brought the good news of salvation to these Samaritans, the ones so despised by the Jews that they thought they were unsavable. Here in the city of Samaria, telling them that Jesus was the Christ and telling them of the gospel of salvation. Along with that, a validation of the truth of the gospel and its authenticity was shown by the signs of deliverance from demons, part one, and two, the healing of the lame and the paralytics.

Those were done as validation. We'll see an important contrast here shortly. between what Philip did and this fellow Simon that's soon coming up here. So someone would be demon-possessed, he would cast out the demon. If someone had a physical problem, shown in being lame or paralyzed, he would heal that as well.

Both of them were validations of the message to back up the truth of what Philip was claiming. Here's Acts 8, 9, and 10. 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. And they all, from the smallest to the greatest, were giving attention to him, saying, this man is come again, is called the great power of God.

So here's this guy, Simon. And boy does he impress people. And boy does he want to impress people, right? And so we see more description of him as we go through here. Here's Acts 8, 9, and 10. And looking at it detail by detail, this word magic, this is practicing magic.

And we get to Acts 8.11, the same word is used except in the verb, excuse me, in the noun form, describing, you know, giving the name for the magic that he was doing.

And the city was the city of Samaria, in this case, referred to early, specifically that one. He went, he was not just in the city of Samaria, he was astonishing the people of Samaria. So he would go around Samaria carrying out these magical acts, and then along with that he was claiming to be someone great. So he says, I'm great, right? So every one of them, from the smallest to the greatest, says, we're giving attention.

This is this word that we brought out before in Acts 8.6. This giving attention now has been given to this guy Simon. Giving of attention. We're going to see it once more as we go through here.

And then he says, this man is called the great power of God. I call that marketing. called the great power of God. So what is this? He is saying He is the great power of God. The focus is on God or on Him? The focus is on Him. So he refers to God only to bring attention to himself.

That's a very important point. Philip is doing the opposite, isn't he? Philip says things that gets everyone's attention, Philip does things that impress people with the focus that everyone put their attention on God. Simon is doing the opposite here.

One of the things to point out that this is spiritual power that he is at least claiming. and was sought in the ancient times, not just an illusion. In her own era, and actually for the last better than a century, there are people who perform some astounding and impressive illusions. What appears to be the audience is taking place is actually just an illusion that they're creating. And in fact, if you talk to them and have moments aside from that, they will tell you this is an illusion that I'm making. This magic that I'm doing is not spiritual power, but is in fact simply an illusion in a great many cases. A big example we have shown as a picture here is Harry Houdini. who, roughly a century back, was carrying out these various illusions.

David Copperfield is probably the illusionist that I've seen, and that was some time ago. David Copperfield, in one instance, actually had an audience gathered. He showed them the Statue of Liberty, and then as he dropped the curtain, the Statue of Liberty disappeared. As I saw him, he appeared on the stage right in front of us, and then one second later, he was in the back saying, hi, running down and continuing his show. But it was all an illusion, right? He did great illusions, and that's an illusionist. That's not what's happening here in The New Testament, the magic in the New Testament era throughout the Roman Empire was presented as spiritual power, even if it was carried out by an illusion.

They wanted to present the idea that this guy has great spiritual power. And that's an important distinction. These guys are making spiritual claims about what they're doing and about where the power comes from. This spiritual power came from God, as Simon claimed, or by other spiritual entities, as we'll see later on in the book of Acts. So Simon's claim, his power was from God. He was in fact the great power of God. And it said that he made himself out to be somebody special, right?

Here's Acts 8.11, and they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts.

His giving attention is now used for the third time. And so this word was focusing. He was getting the attention. And that was actually what he was hoping to do. He astonished them. This is the same word for astonished used in Acts 8 and 9. So his intent was that people be astonished or amazed with what he did. and with his power.

This is now the second time this word for magic is used. In this case, it's a noun. Previously, it was a verb, but it's the same family of words. So here it is, he's carrying out these magic arts. They are at least presented as if they were on the basis of spiritual power. They were on the basis of relationship with God, or some power from God, or so he claimed.

So here's Acts 8.12, and when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized, men and women alike. So one of the things, and they believed, here's the Samaritans, they actively entrusted themselves to the message that Philip was preaching there. And again, he was preaching the good news, it was evangelistic. in its intent, but notice this, the gospel of the kingdom. One of the things that's interesting, this phrase, the gospel of the kingdom, comes out of, as we'll see, the Gospels, but the good news about the kingdom is preached all the way from Acts chapter 1 on into Acts 28, the last verses of the book of Acts. Include the message of the gospel of the kingdom. and the name of Jesus Christ.

And when you say name, it isn't just dropping names. We, in our culture, tend to think of the name, and we just think that's the sound that we associate with that person. In biblical times, and particularly here in the book of Acts, to talk about the name was to talk about who somebody was, and what they did, and who they are now. That's what a name meant.

So they were being, that is, the Samaritans were being baptized, men and women alike. This was immersion in water, would be the baptism, and the baptism was symbolic. It did not accomplish something, but simply expressed what God had already accomplished and those who believe. Notice he says, men and women alike. The culture of the Samaritans was much like the culture of the Jews in which it tended to be very male oriented. But notice he points out men and women alike here in this passage, and this is the second time.

It refers to individual faith and baptism as a symbol. To have the head of the household, the man, believe and be baptized was not sufficient. Each individual person made a decision for belief and was baptized individually. This is very important. This is very important especially because the culture tended to discount the women. Notice that the Bible does not do that. The Bible recognizes male and female and is not chauvinistic as people in various cultures have tended to be. So, let's take a look here.

There's a difference between believing Philip's message versus being astonished by Simon's magic. Philip presented the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel that Christ was the Messiah, and that He will come again and reign over the kingdom, which will be the nation of Israel, and over the whole earth. and embracing him as the Messiah, that's the gospel of the kingdom, the gospel of substitution.

Christ died for your sins, was buried, and rose again. If you believe it, you're saved. Both gospels were preached here as they were starting in Acts chapter 1, as we'll see as we continue through the book of Acts. Numerous times and places, both Gospels, the Gospel of the Kingdom and the Gospel of Substitution are both preached and taught in parallel. It is with the intent that people believe in Christ. Now, the difference, however, Simon claimed that his power was from God, but the intent was to draw attention to himself. People were not so astonished and impressed with God as they were with Simon, who was someone great and the great power of God.

Again, that's marketing, right? So, Philip's intent, look at God. The end result of everything I'm telling you and everything I'm doing, look to God. Simon's intent was everything he said and everything he was doing, look at me. Very big difference. Those in Samaria who heard Philip's message about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus, all of who he was and is and all of what he, Jesus Christ, had accomplished, believed him.

That's believed in the name. That's what he means by that. They believed and were saved and so they were baptized in water as a picture, as an illustration of what had taken place spiritually in each of those who believed. That's why he would say both men and women believed and were baptized.

Each individual person It doesn't do any good for just the head of the household to do it and assume that that gets carried on. Each individual person believed and was baptized. It is essential for us, each individually, to believe and be baptized. Were you brought up in a Christian home? Great. You still have to individually believe, right?

The baptism is not to get you saved. baptism is to illustrate or present what God has already done and to proclaim his death as will soon be doing here with the Lord's table and his resurrection here we have a listing we won't go through it which may be a relief to you on page 3 the bottom part the gospel of the kingdom from the in the book of Acts I'll leave this for you to step your way through but it shows from Acts chapter 1 And this is typically among the Jews all the way into Acts 28, most often among the Jews.

And in between, including this passage we're looking at today, the gospel of the kingdom was presented in parallel with the gospel of substitution all throughout the entire book of Acts. often presented at the same time and most often among the Jews, in this case among the Samaritans who were, how do you call it, half-Jews, right? So I'll let you explore that on your own. Here are the passages and you can take a look at them as you have opportunity.

One of the things we pointed out in the past is the gospel of substitution that Christ died for your sins, was buried and rose again is a message carried all the way through the Bible from the first book of Genesis all the way to the last book in Revelation and in between including multiple times what we have here is actually some brief examples not a complete listing of all the places that the Bible talks about Christ died for your sins was buried and rose again that's the gospel of substitution he died in your place and mine The next is the gospel of the kingdom, and Philip presented both, didn't he? That is, Christ, the king, will come and reign as king over the land and people of Israel, and that's presented all the way from the book of Genesis, starting in chapter 12, all the way into multiple times in the book of Revelation, and we give just some brief listings including passages in Acts. Both those Gospels are presented from the beginning of the Bible to the end. Both of those Gospels are presented from the beginning of the book of Acts all the way to the end. Two Gospels.

Here's Acts 8.13, And 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. Well, a few things to look at here. Simon himself believed.

That's the exact same word that is used in Acts 8.12, referring to the people of Samaria, them believing. So Simon himself believed. Of course, one of the good questions is, was he saved?

We'll take a look at that one. baptized, same as in Acts 8.12, so what had happened to him was, at least on the outside, apparently the same as what had happened to the others in the city of Samaria.

It says he continued on with Philip. That word conveys diligence. It showed that he actually, at least at that point in time, and as Philip was there in the city, he was diligently following Philip. So, okay, what's behind the diligence and what's his motivation is a different question. But nonetheless, everything appears to be genuine from these initial words and descriptions.

And then it says, he observed signs, it says, as a spectator. That's the word that is used there. It's related to the word from which we get our word theater to give the idea. So as a spectator, he observed signs and great miracles taking place. And he was constantly amazed. This is the same word used in Acts 8, 9 and 11 earlier in terms of people's amazement. So you see a lot that appears to be, looks okay, looks similar, hmm, be a very interesting thing here.

We're not done however, having looked at Acts 8, 4-13 this morning, we've just actually introduced the ministry of Philip the Evangelist. We're going to see a number of very important and critical things that are illustrated and brought out in the midst of that. We're going to find out quite a bit more about the heart and intent of this Simon of Samaria. We'll call him that instead of the great power of God, okay? And then there are some critical points of insight and discernment to be gained from this passage as we looked at it here this morning. And the next passage as we continue to look at the rest of the story with this guy Simon and find out what will be happening there.

So we have some questions here to ponder. Is all believing spiritually the same thing? If this person believes and that person believes, does it all mean the same thing? Good question. We'll be looking at that. What is the main spiritual difference between Philip's signs and wonders and those of this man Simon of Samaria? Are they the same? Are they different?

Is being amazed and astounded, because that's what we've seen, it's the same words throughout the passage. Is that enough, spiritually speaking? Is it enough that people are amazed? That we get people's attention? Is that adequate? Is that what God has in mind? If people around us are amazed and astounded, does that mean that God is impressed too? And I have another question. Can God be amazed and astounded? Is God ever amazed and astounded by anything?

Think about this. What does it mean to be amazed and astounded? It means you're seeing something that you have a hard time explaining? It means that you're witnessing something and experiencing something like, well, this is outside of my understanding. This is outside of my ability to reproduce it.

Is God ever amazed and astounded and impressed? Very important thing for us to take a look at as we go through this. Apparently, Simon, up to this point, had thought that, yeah, As long as everybody else is impressed, God must be impressed too. What God thinks, actually to this guy Simon, well, we'll talk about what he thinks.

Something else for us to look at this, and we've actually just begun to see here in chapter 8. We don't always know the outcome from the things that happen in our lives. Things happen in our lives and someone will put a label on it, that's good. Other things that will happen and we'll put a label on it and say, that's bad. And in truth, it's okay for us to do that. That was not a good experience. This was a good experience, right? And there are in fact some things that are morally bad, or morally good, and it's okay for us to say that.

But God allows both things to happen in our lives, and we could even say purposely. brings things into our lives, and we don't always know the outcome. Here with Stephen, Stephen was stoned by some evil men. At least one of them is going to become a believer and be radically changed. But we don't always know Here's Stephen, he's beholding the Lord. Is that a good thing? Yes, it is. He keeps his focus on the Lord when big rocks are coming at him. When these guys are showing rage and outrage, he keeps his eyes focused on the Lord.

But he didn't know the outcome. This scattering, what happened the rest of that day that he was stoned to death, This scattering that ended up bringing Philip into Samaria and people believed and were saved eternally, Stephen knew nothing of that. And we're just looking, we're just now looking at the beginning of what's the outcome of Stephen stoning. And he knew nothing of it.

And we are often in that place. You ever been in a situation, we look at circumstances, we say, God, why is this happening? And we don't know the answer. And God may reveal the answer later, He may reveal the answer in part, He may reveal it over time, or we may never know the outcome.

It happens in the time, for example, when Nancy was in her middle teens, and she was at a Christian conference ground, and someone was presenting The gospel to her, a neighbor lady actually had invited her to be there. And in the middle of hearing this, Nancy was like going into a restroom and there was a lady coming out or might even have been reverse of that. But the lady smiled at Nancy and that got Nancy's attention. That lady had no idea the impact that that would be. That was the point at which Nancy says, I need the peace and happiness and joy that that lady has.

We have no idea what the outcome is going to be from the circumstances we're going through. Whether they are good, as Nancy saw, or whether they're really bad. We don't know the outcome. Stephen never knew the outcome. We're beginning to see a little bit of the outcome in Acts chapter 8. We're not done. He didn't know that his death and the persecution that followed starting that day had such a great outcome.

And this is critical for us to recall, too, just that whenever we're going through something, we don't know the outcome. God has a purpose in everything. And that's one of the key things. No matter what's going on and no matter how awful it seems, and there are things that happen that are awful, no matter how good it seems, God has a purpose in everything. God has no senseless suffering for the believer.

We just don't know what the outcome is. And we may have to have enough faith to wait until we're past heaven's gates to know what that outcome is. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, that as we begin to see this account of Philip and Simon, as we begin to see what happened from the scattering that took place, We thank you that it raises some very important spiritual questions, and it also begins to illustrate some great spiritual truths. And Lord, we even today want to trust you for all the outcomes from the things we're going through. And sometimes you reveal what those are, and sometimes you don't, and sometimes you reveal it only in part. We want to trust you for it all. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.