Apostolic endorsement
Acts 8:14-25 · Vern Peterman · Jul 16, 2017
Acts (2017-18), No. 26
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/49266384340

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. As I've been looking through this passage, I just get more and more excited about the great things that are in it. And as a matter of fact, about the whole book of Acts and just the tremendous truths that are placed for us there. Just to kind of bring us up to speed here, we looked at the end of Acts 7 and the beginning of Acts 8 that included the end of the trial of Stephen and finally the stoning of Stephen. And some great spiritual truths that we brought out in that.

One is Stephen gazed intently at Jesus in heaven. This is the beginning, if you will, of the heavenly view that the, in fact, the entire New Testament encourages of believers. So here is Stephen gazing intently at Christ in heaven in a vision. For us, we're not called to gaze at Him in a vision, but particularly through His Word.

Next, the church was scattered from Jerusalem, and that was actually a very good thing, even though Stephen's death was something very horrible and tragic and happened under horrible conditions. Nonetheless, there was great purpose in it, and it had good and eternal purpose.

And thirdly, Stephen didn't know the outcome, and God does and did. And I think that's a lesson for us to learn, too. We don't always know the outcome from what is happening. One of the things that I could easily say is we need what is happening to us, even though we don't always know the outcome, and we may not know the complete outcome for some time.

One of the other things that happened then is on that day then that Stephen was stoned, a persecution began against the believers that initiated this scattering that took place. Last week's passage, we looked at Acts 8, 4-13, and so what we see as a sample of this scattering and the effect of it, because we're really only getting a sample in this rest of chapter 8 that we're looking at, is the ministry of Philip. We're here first, he goes to the Samaritans. And then secondly, we see that Philip goes to meet with a particular Ethiopian, and we'll look at that next time. The city of Sumeria, where he went, we've shown on a map, not only on the screen. I can point to it. That won't do any good here. I've learned that. I do learn some things, right? But anyway, you have it also in your handout on the top of page one.

So here's the city of Samaria. Here is Jerusalem where the church had begun and where Philip himself had started from. He headed north to Samaria and we can see it is, you know, our term is as the crow flies. This is a term for going straight. The only thing is that among the Jews, the crow is a bad bird. So I don't know, as the chicken flies? Anyway, whatever. So at any rate, as the crow flies or chicken flies, however you want it there, it's about 20 miles roughly from Jerusalem to Samaria, probably with the curves in the road a little bit more. About a day's travel. So you see it's north from Jerusalem, following what's likely the normal roads between there. So then we find the second part of that was this man named Simon.

He had practiced magic in the city and astonished the people of Samaria as we saw. He marketed himself as the great power of God. And let me just carry across what that would have meant culturally. In the context of the culture, it would have said that he was a specifically sent strong angel. That would have been the cultural understanding of that terminology. Someone sent from God with great power.

But in fact, we know that's not the case. It was spiritual power that wasn't really from God, but one in fact that he had concocted through other than godly means. It says that Simon Blaven was baptized, but we're going to see some reasons for kind of questioning if the outcome was that he was saved. So, Philip carried out the preaching of the gospel, and he also did various signs and things of that sort, and that got Simon's attention.

And that heads us into the passage where we're at today. This is a photo of the site of ancient Samaria, and the road in entry in the foreground there shows a few columns. That was a column line street during the days of Philip's visit. Here would be another shot of those column line streets. We were talking in the earlier elective here about Roman roads and the way they were built. Roman roads were typically 23 feet wide, 3 feet deep, and they had a specific cross-section. They were built by the Romans, and many of them lasted for so long that all that today's engineers had to do was to put a layer of pavement over the top of the Roman road in order to make a modern street. Here's another shot of the ruins of the city of Samaria. And as we pointed out last week, here's another shot of the ancient city of Samaria and the people were all with one accord, right?

Okay. So anyway, we did that. Now, one of the things we point out here is this was a very timely scattering. It was a purposeful scattering. What happened to Stephen in his stoning was unjust. He was falsely accused. It was terrible. It was an awful thing that took place. A completely innocent man was stoned to death. based on false testimony and his speaking the truth. Lying in court, chronic resistance to the Lord is what Stephen brought out, but it had a wonderful and purposeful outcome. Among those outcomes was to send Peter here, who was one of the seven, earlier in Acts chapter 6, to the people of Samaria. And they were all very responsive, as we pointed out, in one accord.

So here's Acts 8, 14, and 15. Now, when the apostles 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. Now, the apostles, and you may remember from earlier in the chapter that though others scattered, the apostles remained in Jerusalem while others scattered. And we're going to see briefly here that Peter and John of the Twelve, Do come to Samaria, but then head back Samaria had received the Word of God which earlier we saw described as two things one is the gospel of the kingdom that is the gospel that Christ is the Messiah and He will reign over Israel and over the whole earth and the coming kingdom and then the gospel of substitution that Christ died for our sins was buried and rose again both those were preached as we saw in the previous passage and Here it's summarized as the Word of God.

They received those that is the receivers is rejected so then they sent that is the twelve apostles then sent Peter and John and And it's interesting, while Peter we're going to see his name, John is here actually present for the last time by name. And this is the last time we're going to see Peter and John, whom we've seen together several times as we've gone through Acts. This is the last time we're going to see them together, named together in the same passage here. They came down. Now let's talk about down, right?

A lot of times in our era when we think of down, well that must mean south. Well no, we think up is north and down, no they didn't think that way. Why would you come down from Jerusalem is because in Israel everything is down from Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the high point, rough numbers a half mile in elevation and it's the place that is most likely to get snow of any place as we discovered on our trip a couple years back. It is most likely to get snow and everything is down from there including Samaria. It appears to be up because it's north but it's actually down elevation wise.

And then they receive the Holy Spirit. This is a unique transitional event among the Samaritans. We're going to talk about that in a little bit. This is not a standard pattern for how the Holy Spirit is received, but rather a part of the transition that took place. So, just believe and then later receive.

So based on what some see in this passage, the one who become believers in Christ, that is in his death for our sins, his burial and his resurrection, are indeed saved. And so far, is that true? Yes, it's true. Okay, so far so good. All right. As they see the book of Acts telling us that these Samaritans became believers, they were saved, but received the Holy Spirit later as the apostles prayed they would. Historically, is that true? Is that what happened? Yes, it was. So far, so good.

Here is the conclusion that some reach, and some of us have talked to folks who have this belief, some would have us all asking the Holy Spirit to come in after we're saved for a second blessing, a spirit baptism, being filled with the Spirit. Let's see, what are some of the other terms? Sinless perfection and other terms of that sort.

You may have heard of that. If you have hung around people, maybe friends or family members that are into this sort of thing, you may have heard it a lot. So, there are some who would ask and say that this, what you see historically, is the standard pattern. We'll see, however, that that's not the case. Here's Romans 8, 9, and 11.

However, if you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, and that if is there so that the reader will follow the logic that is assuming it's true, not to cast doubt, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you, essentially saying that He does, But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, that is the Spirit that comes from believing in Christ, right, and is sent from Christ, he does not belong to Him. Guess what? So it isn't a matter of later on you ask for the Holy Spirit to come in. Once you believe, you have the Holy Spirit within you, or you are not a Christian. You are not saved. That's what it's telling us. Verse 11 says the same thing. But if, and that's an if, so that the reader will follow the logic, assuming it's true.

If the Spirit of Him who raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Does His Spirit dwell in you? Yes. His Spirit already dwells in you. It's not a matter of asking later. Here is the other aspect of Spirit baptism.

1 Corinthians 12.13, For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.

So let's look at, there's two all's in there, right? And that's all y'all, right? Okay, all, not just the ones who were prayed for, not just the ones who were prayed for, but all, okay? All of you who are believers there in Corinth, okay? were baptized into one body.

So spirit baptism is several things, but it includes, first part of that passage, that you are placed into the body of Christ. That is one aspect of spirit baptism. Who does that? The Holy Spirit. He is the one by whom you are placed into the body of Christ. When you believe You are placed into the body of Christ as a work of the Holy Spirit. He does it. We don't have to ask Him to do it. All we did was believe. God says, that's great, I'll take it from there.

The next part here, it says baptized. That means placed into, typically implying immersion. We were all baptized. Now, is this wet or not? What I mean by that is this all baptized with water into one body. No, we were all placed into the body of Christ and what we do in the way of baptism, which is often done behind the screen here at Holly Hills, right?

That's water baptism is to picture this baptism that it's talking about. The physical thing that we do pictures the spiritual reality that's already taken place when we believed. The next part, we're all made to drink of one spirit, essentially another word picture, if you will, saying that the Holy Spirit is in the believer.

So here's Acts 8, 16, and 17, for He had not yet fallen upon any of them. They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. So, He had not fallen, that is the Holy Spirit, right?

So, fallen, this is also, that same word is going to show up in Acts 10.44 and 11.15, right?

So, this is, we're going to see that again in a couple other instances, including having fallen on the Gentiles, and then Peter describing that again in chapter 11. And then one other thing, this word fallen is in the perfect tense, which we say here at Holly Hills, jokingly, is not designed to make you perfectly tense. but it's designed to tell you it's a completed past action, ongoing results. So, having fallen happens how many times?

Once. Now, we're going to make a point of that in a minute here. Fallen on any of them, that is the Samaritans, and they had, that is the Samaritans, had been baptized, this is water baptized, an outward symbol, in the name of the Lord Jesus. And one of the things we say, the name of is not just the sound or the moniker that we give to a person, right? But it's who He is and what He has done. Okay? Who He is and what He has done. And they began, that is the apostles that were appointed, Peter and John, laying their hands on them, Samaritans, and laying their hands on them has a specific New Testament meaning. And we'll take a look at that.

They were receiving one of a few terms about the Holy Spirit having fallen on them, receiving the Holy Spirit. Different terms. These are all different terms of the same thing. The Holy Spirit. Now, so you will run across songs and people. Here's one song. Spirit of the Living God, Fall afresh on me. It's in the Red Maranatha book number 277, right? So, do you need to ask or pray or sing songs about Fall afresh on me. You need to do that.

Today's charismatic influence culture, some songs have become popular that repeatedly ask the Holy Spirit to come back. Nancy and I have a friend who was brought up in charismatic circles, and so as we began talking with her, she was amazed to find out that the Holy Spirit was always with her. Because she had been brought up constantly asking for the Holy Spirit to come back. How do you know the Holy Spirit has come back? Well, there's two ways you know the Holy Spirit has come back according to this teaching.

One is you can feel it, right? So unless you're feeling like you're jittery or drank, you know, 20 cups of coffee, then the Holy Spirit hasn't come yet, right? So that's part one. The other thing is you got the stuff going on. You got the Holy Spirit glue and the holy barking and the holy mooing and the holy barfing. Right? All that stuff. Right? And so that's how you know the Holy Spirit's...

And if that stuff's not going on, if I don't feel like I drank 20 cups of coffee at once, then I must not have the Holy Spirit here. So I've got to invite Him to come back. Again, and again, and again. I don't know who keeps leaking them out, but somehow. That's the teaching. Romans 8, 9 through 11 makes clear, the Holy Spirit always indwells believers all the time, will never be taken away. We don't have to ask for the Holy Spirit to fall afresh on us.

We pointed out in Acts 8.16, perfect tense is it's done once. It's done once with permanent effect. I don't have to ask for the Holy Spirit to keep coming back. Matter of fact, we don't need to pray for what God has already done. Very important. Very important. And we'll see why it's exceedingly important shortly here. But this is key.

Psalm 51.11 is, take not your Holy Spirit from me, and yes, that is from the pen of David, but that's the Old Testament saint.

I don't need to pray that the Lord is not going to take the Holy Spirit from me, because He won't. The Holy Spirit indwells every believer all the time, continuously, permanently, and you're not going to change it. You don't need to beg for what's not going to happen. You don't need to ask for what isn't going to happen to have the Holy Spirit fall afresh on you.

One other thing, and this is a chart you don't have in your handout, we have a supplement if you'd like a copy of it. In Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10, and Acts 19, the Holy Spirit is given. Do you know that there is no pattern between those four passages consistently saying this is what happens when the Holy Spirit is given? There is no instances of anybody getting training or coaxing. to receive the gift of the Spirit as evidenced by tongues. And so, no, you don't need that. You don't need to ask for that. You don't need to ask for what God's already done. Anyway, feel free to pick up a supplement, or run short, let me know, or I'll also post it on the website. Why is this important? It is important because it's about knowing the Lord. That's why it's important. Is knowing the Lord important?

Yes! Very! And so the reason why this matters is the false teaching that the Holy Spirit comes and goes, the false teaching that I have to ask Him in when He's already there, which I know that He's there by faith and what God has written, the false teaching messes with our knowing who God is. That's serious. That's serious. That's why this matters. We know the Lord and all of the Holy Spirit's ministries from Him always having been present from the time we believe.

Can I walk in the Spirit if the Holy Spirit is missing? No. Can I be filled with the Spirit if the Holy Spirit is missing and I beg to have Him back? And by the way, walking and being filled are constant, not here and there. Not from one Sunday to the next.

Hal Malloy produced a really great one-page summary, and we want to make sure that you have a copy of that. So we have that as a supplement. Again, if we run out, I can make sure that you get those. But it's a great listing of the ministries of the Holy Spirit, which are all about the Holy Spirit continually dwelling in every single believer.

You cannot walk in the Spirit if the Spirit's coming and going all the time. You don't need to invite him back. He never left. Can you imagine if we had guests over for dinner and Nancy and I keep going to the front door and inviting them back in the door? What? They'd say, where are you going? Oh, we're coming to invite you back in. But we're eating dinner. Yeah, but we have to invite you. That would be kind of weird.

If the Holy Spirit comes and goes, or if the Holy Spirit must be invited separate from belief in Christ, then we have a major problem in living out what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit. You've been sealed with the Holy Spirit, but the seal keeps coming off and you have to put it back on. Right? You've been sealed with the Holy Spirit unto the day of redemption, but if the seal comes off, you won't be redeemed. So I sure hope it sticks. Right? No, not so much.

Now, the laying on of hands, that practice in apostolic times was to commission people into appointment of service. Acts 6, 1-7 is one of those instances where we look at that. To show approval of the authority granted in this case. Laying on of hands authorized in this case the giving of the Holy Spirit in this special instance where they were going from the Jews in Jerusalem to the Samaritans, who were kind of half-Jews. Laying on of hands has some application today, but the laying on of hands is not some Christian magic that automatically brings about supernatural outcomes and powers. It's not abracadabra. We're not doing that.

Acts 8.18-19 But now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, saying, Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. So here's this Simon. Simon is mentioned, by the way, in Acts 8, 9-24, never before and never again. So it's interesting. This is a unique passage regarding him.

The Holy Spirit was bestowed. That word bestowed here is the same as the word give below, where he asked, would you give me? Through the laying on of the apostles' hands. And then he offered them money consistent with the pagan culture. Now this is key. This is important.

Because the pagan culture saw nothing wrong with buying magic tricks. As a matter of fact, it was done all the time. Buying and selling magic tricks was a very common way to make money. And we're going to run into this again as we get into the book of Acts later on where the people of Ephesus who become believers are burning their magic books that they have bought and the people have sold in great quantity.

So this give is the same as bestowed above. It's the same word even though you use different English words, it's the same in the Greek. And then laying hands, I lay my hands on the same words as in Acts 8.17 about the apostles. So what happened is that Simon here is essentially repeating using the exact same words what had been described of the apostles before. Why would he do that? That's how you do a pagan incantation. Right? Repeat the same words. I want to repeat the exact same words and get the exact same effects that you guys do. Right?

And even receiving the Holy Spirit is the same as in Acts 8.17. So here he is. He says, I want to be able to repeat this incantation and carry out the same acts and I want to pay you money for that. Don't worry about it. I'll give you a good deal. Right? I'll pay you for this. Right?

So that's his idea. So that's what he proposed. And it is important for us to recognize that this buying and selling was normal. So far as he was concerned from his background in the culture, right? This was the normal way of doing things. It was commonplace. It was typical practice.

The truth is most of the documents from the New Testament era are lost to us. There should have been, for example, tens of millions of recordings of census documents. Tens of millions, we have less than about 2,000 of those documents. In this, there are about 230 documents from the New Testament era describing magic.

It means that there was in fact quite a bit more of that. It was very, very common to buy and sell magic, The culture then and the culture now have areas that are spiritually or morally neutral. Somebody will wear some clothes and they'll say, oh that is so 70s. Or one might even say, oh that is so 90s. Like that's ancient. But really those things are for the most part morally neutral, aren't they? They're morally and spiritually neutral. It really doesn't matter. If I got up here with an Afro, it may be a little weird, but it's okay. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it with two hairs.

But anyway, there are points where the culture stands in the way of what God intends to do. And we need to be aware of what those differences are. The culture says, oh, well of course you can have two people of the same sex marry one another. Most certainly you ought to do that. Well, that's what the culture says, right? But we're not going to do that because that's not biblical. The culture is, after all, under the world system. Under Satan, the prince of the power of the air.

Ephesians 2, 1-3 is a good place to look for that description. Here is, for example, a magic amulet from the New Testament times. And you read in Ephesians where it talks about Jesus is the name above every name. So what they would do is sell amulets and documents that would give you magic names to list. This one has seven angels. The Bible actually gives names for two of them, right? So the other five are made up. So they made up names for angels, and you could take this amulet and read off the names for this thing, and that was supposed to gain you the power of those angels. But the reality is, that's magic of New Testament times, that's not reality. And the truth is, no matter what you pay for, some tricks just don't work. Right? Some tricks just plain don't work, no matter how much you pay for them. Okay.

So here's Acts 8, 20 and 21. But Peter said to him, May your silver perish with you. Those are intense words. 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. Those are strong words. This word perish is the same word used of the destiny of unbelievers several times in the New Testament. That's kind of scary. Another point we would make there, what God gives away is so expensive, nobody can buy it. That's one thing. If you want it for absolute free from the Lord, that's it. No problem. If you want to buy it, well, forget about that. It's way, way too expensive. You could never afford it. So you'd better take it free. You'd better take it free.

Here's Acts 8.22-23, Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours and pray to the Lord that if possible the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity. So this repent is a change of mind so as to end in belief. The Greek words that make up that word just simply mean change of mind. But that's not what the New Testament usage is. It's to have a change of mind so as to end in belief. When it says there, the gall of bitterness, it essentially means that you are in a bitter poison. In the bondage of iniquity, you are enslaved to sin. You are in slavery to sin. You are in chains, spiritually speaking. So Peter didn't present to Simon that his spiritual condition was hopeless, did he? He didn't say, sorry, you're just going to hell. He didn't say that, did he? He said, you know, with your money and that attitude, that's not good, right?

But, Repent. There is something you can do. Repent. Change of mind that ends up in belief. And to pray. He told him he had to repent and pray. Both of those were necessary. Why? The repent is, in the biblical context, to have a change of mind that ends in belief. So one, is you've got to change your mind from where you are now, and that needs to end up in belief. Is that enough?

No. You have a relationship with God issue before you as well. Simon's mindset needed to be reconciled to God and also he personally reconciled to God. So a change of mind so as to believe and in your relationship with God, that needs to be straightened around.

Very important point. God is not a means to an end. Let me say that again. God is not a means to an end. People and cultures have many, many sin-based problems. Lots of problems. Among those are one, a person and whole groups of people can try to make God or religion a means to some other earthly end. Oh, we need to be godly and religious. Why? so that we can have things good in our country. We need to be godly and religious so that I can fix my family. We need to be godly and religious because it'll make me spiritually or physically prosperous.

Part two. This can also involve money-making schemes of religious racketeers who buy and sell God and religion and healing and special effects. Got an envelope in the mail. It said, you need to send us some money and we'll mail you back a special handkerchief. And you pray certain things and rub this handkerchief on your problem and it'll fix it. But you've got to send us the money. And here's the paid return envelope. people who buy and sell religion and God and faith and relationship in the Lord.

There's a guy named Creslo Dollar. Now, I get a little suspicious when somebody's last name is Dollar and they're talking about God. Especially when the guy's net worth is 27 million of those dollars. That's a problem. That's a problem. And this guy here is worth 42 million of those dollars. That's a problem.

To these folks, God is often just part of the deal. Part of the deal. If you'll send me this much money, God will bless you, blah blah blah. Oh, well you haven't been healed yet because you don't have enough faith and you can show that you have enough faith by sending me a thousand dollars. Right? Okay.

Here's Acts 8.24, "...but Simon answered and said, Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me." Let's ask one question before we move ahead here.

Did he repent? Did he pray? No, he says, you guys pray, right? You guys pray. And so far as changing my mind, well, I don't know about that. I want you guys to change God's mind, right? This is serious. So he actually put it in the imperative, you must pray to the Lord for me, yourselves. You guys pray instead of me praying. So that nothing of what you said may come upon me, instead of saying, boy, I need to have a change of mind that ends in belief, and I need to pray to God to re-establish any chance of a relationship with Him. Instead of that, He says, I need you guys to pray to lift my curse that you just put on me.

That's his interpretation of things. This is serious. Instead of Simon responding with understanding, according to what Peter told him, can you imagine if Simon had said, Heavens, I've got a terrible terrible attitude about things. I'm sorry for you know offering money and then Lord forgive me for this I just you know instead of him doing that you guys pray for me and lift the curse that was on me, okay? Simon just sold Peter and John to pray for him so that Peter's curse would not be fulfilled You guys just put a curse on me, and that's bad, so you guys pray to lift it up Simon's magic for money mindset was not going to be changed any time soon.

Any time soon. Here's Acts 8.25, 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. 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. So when they, that is Peter and John, and then preaching the gospel, this is Acts 8, 4 and 12, and the gospel of salvation to many villages of the Samaritans.

Now one of the things to remember, you think, well villages, that's kind of small, places, right? So is that kind of a waste of time? One of the things to remember about a lot of these places where a lot of people live in villages, I know in Uganda, 80% of the people live in the villages. So if you want to reach most of the people, you got to go to those villages, right? You got to go to those places, not just into the big cities.

So, the Samaritans, the Jews said that all kinds of Gentiles could be saved, but Samaritans, they said, were not savable. So having fulfilled their apostolic role of extending the gospel of salvation to the Samaritans and its completion in the granting of the Holy Spirit, Peter and John head back to Jerusalem. Peter and John head back to Jerusalem. as they head back to Jerusalem, they continue with the evangelizing that Philip had begun among the people of Samaria. And Peter and John focus on the villages in this case, which in fact includes a great many people. Lots and lots and lots of people in those small villages. Now, one of the things that comes out here is Samaria. Samaria has All kinds of people there. Did Christ die for the people in Samaria?

Yes. And they were savable, even though the Jews didn't think they were. Christ said, no, I died for the sins of the whole world, including the Samaritans. And you know, it is very easy for us to have a mindset, or even for unbelievers to have a mindset, oh, that doesn't include me. I'm too bad, or I've gone too far, or something like that. And it is important to recognize Christ died for the sins of the whole world. So key points here out of this passage. It's quite possible for a person to go through the motions externally. Here's Simon who believed and was baptized.

But have the true spiritual realities fall short of what God intends. Fall short of what God intends. This chapter has shown us that God is impressed by very different things than what impresses other people. And God cannot be fooled or distracted. See, people get impressed by, oh, that's very impressive, or this or that's very impressive. You know what impresses the Lord? We found out from this chapter. Jesus will stand in heaven. For Stephen, who's coming home, that impresses the Lord. Because Stephen stood on the truth and kept his focus on the Lord. God is not a stepping stone to somewhere or to something else. More key points. Christ died for the sins of the whole world. There is nobody from that standpoint who is unsavable. My grandmother, as I may have told you before, was a missionary to the cannibals during the World War I era in Fiji. Now the cannibals, well my grandmother said she'd go to the capital city and they're in the market. They would have chicken meat and pig meat and cow meat and people meat. And you could go there in the marketplace.

But you know what? All of the people meat that was offered in the market had been sacrificed in the cannibal temple. So eating meat offered to idols takes on a whole different meaning when the meat's people meat. Amazing. But here's the Sunday school in the little village where she taught in the second week. and the people love to wear white. You know why? They said, I used to eat people and now Jesus had made me clean.

Years ago, before Nancy and I were born, I met a guy who had been a Hell's Angel. Matter of fact, he had been a Hell's Angel only days before I met him. I met him in the San Francisco East Bay. His name was Rick. And so here's Rick, and he was one bad dude. He didn't tell us all the things that he'd done. And he hung out with people who were really bad dudes. But he told us. He said, they're after me. Just letting you know, they're after me. So a week later, they got him underneath an overpass. Sent him home. Christ died for the sins of even awful people. even guys like Rick who had quite a history.

I told you just a couple years ago about an ISIS soldier that had stopped beheading Christians. It happened this way. He was in there and he was killing Christians with bullets and swords. One Christian said, I know you're going to kill me, but here's my Bible. And he took it. And then he of course killed the Christian. But after that, he said, This got a hold of him. This reached him. And he became a believer. We're going to see this guy in heaven. He became a believer in Christ.

Even this really bad guy that went around beheading Christians. And we're going to read in the next chapter about a really bad guy that went around killing Christians that became a believer by the name of Saul. Really amazing. Acts 8, 4 through 25 is used in the Bible. Repent means a change of mind that ends in belief, not in other definitions. Repent isn't just, I feel really, really bad. Repent is not just, I come up here and cry a lot. Repent is the biblical definition, a change of mind that ends in belief.

So what really matters in this life and after this life are the things that are bought with the blood of Christ, not with silver. There's nothing that has been bought by the blood of Christ that anyone on earth can pay for. None of us can afford it. Grace isn't for sale at any price. It's way, way more expensive than that.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for just your faithfulness we thank you as we see in this passage here we see what really counts and we thank you for that we look to you Lord just to teach us these things to bring these truths home to our hearts and into our lives and so we entrust the rest of the day to you we pray in Jesus name Amen