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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
How about we get to the Word of God this morning?
All right, Acts chapter 8, Are you there this morning?
Say Amen if you're there this morning, All right, good,
because I'm not there. I'm in Mark chapter 3.
All right, so I'll get there here in just a moment.
But I'm glad you're there in Acts chapter #8 we've been
talking here at Liberty over the last several weeks about the
issue of growth, how important it is for us to spiritually
grow. Listen, you can't be stagnant in
your spiritual life. If you're not growing, you're
regressing. If you're a neutral, it's like
being a neutral on a hill, isn't it?
You're not going forward, you're not standing still, you're going
backwards. And so it's important that once
you come to trust Jesus Christ, your Savior, and by the way, we
all must trust Jesus Christ as our Savior.
But it's so important that once you trust Christ as your Savior,
that you grow. And that we saw that the Holy
Spirit is the one who helps us grow because in and of
ourselves, we can't do it on our own right because of our flesh
and the battles that we have with our flesh.
But there's the Holy Spirit who lives inside of us, who helps us
to be the people that we ought to be.
And that we're not going to be perfect that, well, we're not
going to be perfect until we see that scene.
The brother Vince, just read it in Acts Revelation chapter #4
we're not going to be perfect until that time when we're in
glory. But in the meantime, we can keep
growing and trying to be more Christ like.
And that's what I want to continue to talk about this
morning. But we're going to kind of take
a little bit of A twist of what we've been taking as we've gone
through the book of Acts and we've looked at Peter's growth
this morning. I want us to look at the
opposition to growth because there is some opposition to
growth. Some of you might have found out
over the last few weeks as you really tried within your heart
to purpose to grow in your Christian life.
You found that, well, Satan doesn't like you growing so
much. Satan doesn't like it when
you're walking with the Lord. He doesn't like it when you are
doing right and you're reading your Bible and you're praying
and you're going to church and you're saying no to sin and
you're putting off the old manner of living and you're
putting on the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible says Satan doesn't like that, but when you don't
grow, that's a real issue. Many of you know our son AJ, and
I say many of you because I know there's several of you who are
new here to liberty, but our son AJ has special needs.
That's why we started the special needs conference and had
such an emphasis on that, because it was really something
that was never on our radar before a JS diagnosis back in
2014. But I remember specifically
several years ago going to the doctor, and AJ has several
doctors and specialists. Just that alone keeps us very
busy trying to go to all of his doctors and specialists and
therapists and all the different things that go along with that.
But I remember when they took out his growth chart one day and
they showed us where he plotted on the growth chart.
Now, you know, there's percentiles, and if you're at
the 99th percentile, well, that's a healthy person.
Amen. We'll just leave it at that,
right? But at the other end, if you're
at the first percentile, that's someone that is at the lowest
rank. So out of 100 people that that
would be the smallest as far as weight or as far as height.
Now, we knew AJ was a little boy and we knew that, but it was
shocking to me to find out that he was at the first percentile
for height. And the first.
Percentile for weight. And I remember looking at the
doctor and saying something like this, hey, no big deal.
I mean, who cares, right? I mean, he'll grow when he
grows, right? Maybe he should grow.
Maybe he shouldn't grow. Pastor, Say pastor, how sick are
you this morning? No, that's not what I said.
That's not what I said at all. That's not what Diane said.
You know what we? Realized this is a problem.
Because if he's not growing properly.
Then his life is not going to be all that it ought to be.
It was an alarm that went off in our life that that growth had
stopped in its tracks when growth should have been
commencing in a way that was at least average to what other
children's growth was. You know, it was assigned to us.
There were some oppositions to his growth and we had to figure
out what those were and identify those and try to help him the
very best that we could. Well, here this morning, if
you're not growing, if we've been talking about this for the
last five weeks, these issues of growth and we've been talking
about it over and over and over again.
And you can't really identify one area in your spiritual life
where you've seen some growth or one area of your life or you
have attempted to grow. And maybe there's been some ups
and downs like a stock market, if you will, that it kind of
goes up and kind of goes down. But the general trend line is
that you're going up. If you haven't seen that there's
some issues of you being in a very low percentile.
No, no, not that we're comparing ourselves among ourselves or
your spiritual life to my spiritual life, because that's
folly. That's a fool's errand.
But we are saying this morning, if you're not growing, there's
reasons why. And you better identify those so
that you can, by God's grace, confess those to the Lord and so
that you can grow in the way that God wants you to grow.
Well, we're going to read Acts chapter 8.
So why don't you stand, please, for the reading of the God's
Word? If you're able, Acts chapter 8
will begin in verse #1. And the word of God says, and
Saul was consenting unto his death.
Now that his there is Stephen. Stephen became the first martyr
in chapter #7 And at that time there was a great persecution
against the church who was at Jerusalem.
And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of
Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
But you can see a real change here, can't you?
Where the church was growing in Jerusalem, everything was
growing great. But now because of persecution,
they're scattering. And Satan probably no doubt
thinks this is a wonderful thing he doesn't realize.
Is the seeds. Of the growth of the Kingdom of
God have now just spread. Every time persecution comes to
God's church, it doesn't burn out, it only grows more.
And we see that here his soul he made for havoc upon the church,
entering into every house and hailing men and women,
committing them to prison. Therefore they that were
scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word you say that
soul guy, he sounds pretty bad. Well, spoiler alert, his life's
going to change here in a little bit.
All right. Verse #5 Then Philip went down
to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.
And the people with 1 accord gave heed unto those things
which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did
for unclean. Here it's crying with loud voice
came out of many that were possessed with them, and many
had taken with palsies, and that were lame or healed.
And there was great joy in that city.
Boy, when people come to know Jesus Christ, there is great
joy. And that's what happened here.
And there was a certain man named Simon.
Now this is not Simon Peter. We're going to come to find out
in a moment that he is Simon the sorcerer.
That's a much different man than Simon Peter, which before time
in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of
Samaria, giving that himself was some great one, to whom they all
gave heed from the least of 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 in 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.
Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria
had received the word of God, they sent unto 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 they their hands on
them, and they received the Holy Ghost.
And when Simon, this is Simon the sorcerer, saw that through
laying on of the apostles hands, the Holy Ghost was given.
He offered the money saying, give me this power also, that on
whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.
Now we're going to find out what Peter said about that in just a
moment, but I will just give you a little bit of insight.
It wasn't pleasant because here's a man who has claimed
that he's come to know Jesus Christ as Savior, but what he
really craves is more power. More power, Not more growth, but
more power. And so we're going to look at
this in just a moment. And while I do have some very
definite beliefs about who this Simon the Sorcerer was, I do
believe that we can look at some of the characteristics of his
life and find, if we're not careful, that those same
characteristics can even be found in us as believers.
And can impede our growth in Jesus.
Will you be seated? And let's go ahead and pray
together. Heavenly Father, do thank you
for this morning. I do just ask for you to be able
to give me the help that I need. And Lord, certainly that's true
every week, but it is true today most especially.
But I know what needs to be preached today.
I feel very strongly about it. And I do pray that you would
help me to preach it in a way that's honoring to you, that's
clear to these people and that gives.
But no doubt that salvation is needed for everyone, salvation
through Christ, and that once we are saved, we need to find these
oppositions to our growth so that we can eliminate them and
be who you've called us to be. Thank you again for this time.
These people, these visitors, these returning visitors, we
thank you for them all and we ask it all in Jesus name, Amen.
Simon the sorcerer was a strange man who had a very strange
problem. In fact, he had three
characteristics of which made him such a problem.
And as we look at these this morning, first of all, I want to
see this. He was a man who was deceptive.
This man was a deceiver who had
the people of Samaria believing that in essence he was of God.
Do you remember, we just saw that here just a few moments
ago, that the people there of Samaria and remember Samaria was
not part of Israel that had that weird relationship with Israel
that several 100 years ago they had remained in the land when
most of the Israelites had been carried away.
They'd intermarried in the land. And now there's that, that great
racial tension that takes place there in the in Galilee.
And most people wouldn't even walk through Samaria, let alone
share the Gospel with someone from Samaria.
That's why it was so impactful in John chapter 4 when Jesus
said I must need to go to Samaria because he knew that he
must share himself with everyone.
By the way, it's still true today, red and yellow, black and
white, they're all precious in his sight.
And that Jesus Christ is the answer for everyone, no matter
where they've come from, no matter what language they speak,
that Jesus Christ isn't just the savior of America or isn't just
a savior of a certain color of people, but Jesus Christ is the
savior of all for all time. And so the gospel is there being
spread in Samaria, and people are getting saved.
By the way, when you preach the gospel, you see twice it said
they preach the gospel and they preach Christ.
What do we do here at Liberty Baptist Church?
We want to preach the gospel, which means this, we preach
Christ. That's why we don't get up here
and have a fireside chat. That's why we don't get up here
and have an interpretive dance. Listen, you don't want to see me
dance anyway. Amen.
All right. That's why we don't have those
kind of things. What do we do?
We. Preach the word, because it's
the word preach that changes lives.
Romans chapter 10, How shall they hear without a preacher?
And that's what happens in Samaria.
And people are getting saved. Scores of people are getting
saved. And it says that this man, Simon
the sorcerer there is watching, and he's paying attention very
carefully. And it says in verse #12 But
when they, the people of Samaria, believe Philip
preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the name
of Jesus Christ, they were back baptized men and women.
Verse 13 says then Simon himself believed also and when he was
baptized, he continued with Phillip and wondered beholding
the miracles and signs which were done.
Now sure, have we seen Peter doing some great miracles in the
past? There's no doubt that we have.
What we just saw last week that people were trotting the halt in
the lame out into the streets just hoping and praying that
Peter shadow would pass over them because they believed they
would be healed. And many of them were healed of
the maladies they had during that time.
But I will say this, while certainly God has signs and
wonders and they're very real things, Satan also is a great
imitator of God and he tries to imitate the things of God,
although certainly he is not God.
God, you can go back to Pharaoh's, I almost said
Pharaoh's physicians. I don't know that he had
physicians. Maybe maybe I need a physician
this morning. Amen.
Pharaoh's magicians. And what did Moses do?
He threw down the rod of God and it became a serpent.
And the magician said we can do that too.
And through their own demonic sorcery, we're able to do that.
But at the same time, they found out that the rod of God ate
their rods, didn't they, showing who was really in charge.
And by the way, the more those plagues continued, the more
those magicians showed. Well, they really didn't have
the power that did. That was no, no doubt
whatsoever, the witch of Endor. We looked at before with Saul,
King Saul, not the Saul that was mentioned here earlier in the
chapter, but King Saul. She was able through some sort
of conjuring to be able to either bring up Samuel himself
or perhaps just someone who resembled Samuel.
But we do know this, that there was some sort of demonic
activity that was connected to this witch of Endor.
Someday there will be an Antichrist during the seven-year
Tribulation, and he will try to even mimic the very resurrection
of Jesus Christ. We see over and over Satan has
this idea to copy the very things of God, and here is the
sorcerer and what is he doing? He is having a front row seat
and he's a part of it, you say. But pastor, hold on a second,
hold on a second. It says here that he believed,
so didn't he become a believer? Well, I want to remind you that
when we read the Word of God, we always read the Word of God in
context, that when we see a verse that we want to make sure
we match up the verses with other verses.
I'm going to explain to you more in detail in a few moments why I
believe that he was not a true believer in Jesus Christ.
He sure believed, but he necessarily was not a believer
in Jesus Christ. Do you know it's possible to
believe that Jesus Christ existed?
Do you know it's possible to believe that even Jesus Christ
was God and is God, but never to call upon him yourself to be
your savior. Listen, salvation isn't just
about well, I agree with the historical account.
It's not just why I believe what the word of God says.
I just I just I've always believed these things.
Our family has been Christians. This is what people says say all
the time. But may I also remind you that
James chapter 2 verse 19 says they'll believe us that there is
one God. Thou doest well.
But listen, the devils also believe and tremble.
Do you think Satan understands that the Jesus Christ was real?
You want to talk about a front row seat?
Satan had one. But over and over again, it was
shown that Jesus Christ was God and the devil is not, no matter
how hard he tries, no matter how hard he tries to ascend to
become the most high. And so us this morning, listen,
when it comes this issue of deception, you know it's
possible and we'll even look at delusion here in just a moment.
But it's possible to deceive yourself into delusion, thinking
you are a believer when you're not.
Say, Pastor, are you trying to convince us that we're not saved
this morning? I have no intention whatsoever
to convince anyone that they are not saved this morning.
If you are saved, listen, I can't talk you out of it because
you're saved. I can't take it away from you.
I can't talk you out of it. I can't snatch it away from you.
I don't have that kind of power. No way.
No, Sir, I don't have that. What I am saying this morning is
that I'll just give my own testimony.
That was 16 years old and I knew Jesus Christ, and I thought, I
love Jesus Christ and I believe that he existed.
But I just knew from my own perspective as a Lutheran that
the only way to achieve heaven was to work was to make sure
that I had been baptized and make sure that I was confirmed,
to make sure that I was taking the Lord's Supper every other
week. And I believe that it was Jesus
and those things that would get me to heaven.
Guess what? I have been deceived.
And deception is a very real impediment to growth.
Why? Because you're deceived about,
even in this case, what the gospel is all about, that thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, not with someone
else's mouth. Thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved.
Listen, for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
If I could just walk around with gospel tracts and tell people,
listen, read the prayer on the back and as long as you read it,
you go to heaven. It would be so easy to make sure
everyone was going to heaven because they're confessing with
the mouth. But it's not just the mouth,
it's believing that in the heart as well.
If it was just about baptizing people, we would go across the
street to Easton Pool and Spa where they got that nice show
pool over there and we make everybody go through the water
and everybody be saved. But that's not what it is.
It's I am going to call upon Jesus Christ to save me because
I believe only He can save me from my sins, that there's no
good within me because of the sinful nature within me.
In fact, quite the opposite. The sinful nature within me is
sending me on a road straight ahead.
It's only through the blood of Jesus Christ.
Don't be deceived by what people are saying.
And here is a man who was a deceiver and he deceived himself
so much that he also, number 2, was a man who was delusional.
A man who was delusional. Now if I deceive you, that means
I've tricked you. But if I am deluded, that means
this. I've tricked myself.
It's one thing to trick other people, It's another thing to
pull the wool over your own eyes.
What's the definition of delusion?
Having false or unrealistic beliefs or opinions.
And further listen to this. Maintaining fixed false beliefs
even when confronted with facts. Maintaining fixed false beliefs
even when confronted with facts. Being delusional is deceiving
yourself even in the face of the truth.
Peter comes and he sees Simon the Sorcerer does that.
Peter has even greater power than Simon the Sorcerer has.
You say what? Why do you say power?
Because Simon the Sorcerer did not understand that the power
Peter wielded was not like the power that Simon the Sorcerer
had before. You're talking about apples and
oranges here. It wasn't just that Peter was
stronger than Simon the Sorcerer was.
We're talking about power that came from two different sources.
We're talking about AC and DC. We're talking about things that
don't mix. I don't know what that means,
but I think Jay does. All right, So I don't know.
So he's an electrician. All right.
I know these are things that don't mix.
Say man, is what I'm saying. But what I'm saying is not one
is a preference or 1 is better in other situations.
We could say that with power. That's not true with the Lord.
It's not one is just preferable to the other.
No, the Lord is the Lord and there are no other Lords.
The Lord your God is 1 God, the Bible says.
And so here is Philip and it says in verse #15 who when they
were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy
Ghost. Now you say, what's going on
here, pastor? And I believe without going too
deep into it, this morning the Bible tells us that Jesus gave
what were called the keys of the Kingdom to Peter.
And it says in Matthew 1619. And we even read the verse
before this last week in Sunday school.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of heaven.
And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt loose
on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
There are three basic groups of people that we find in the Word
of God. We find the Jews, and then the
Samaritans, who were partial Jews, and then the Gentiles.
And really the the Samaritans were Gentiles.
But we do find that there are these three specific groups that
Jesus constantly works with and in fact mentions in the Great
Commission in Acts chapter one verse 8, every time the Holy
Spirit came down on one of these.
Groups. Peter was there, whether it was
in Acts chapter 2 with the Jews on the day of Pentecost, here in
Acts chapter 8 with the Samaritans, or in Acts chapter
10 when a man named Cornelius. Who was a Gentile wants to just
know what does it mean to be saved?
And the Lord sends Peter his way and again the Holy Ghost falls.
What do we see? Well, listen, we see now that
when you are a believer that the Holy Ghost immediately becomes
part of your life, that he tabernacles within you.
Now the moment you get saved, the Holy Spirit lives inside of
you. He's the earnest of your
inheritance. He's the down payment of heaven.
There's no doubt about that. But at this time, as God is
still working in this transitional time, what do we
see? The Gentiles, or rather the
Jews, Peter is there. The Holy Spirit, Acts chapter 8,
the Samaritans, Peter is there. Acts chapter 10, the Gentiles,
Peter is there. And so here is Peter with this
power. But where did that power come
from? It came from Jesus in Acts, or
rather in Matthew chapter 16 verse #19 So Simon sees this,
Simon the sorcerer and says this, if I give you a little bit
of money, could I have this too? Now what a difference from
Peter. Peter had that power not because
of money. He had that power because he
walked with God. Peter had power not because of
something that was within his pocket.
He's the one who said. Silver and gold have I none, but
such as I have I give thee. And here is Simon, the sorcerer
says. I like that.
I want that for myself. I'll pay a little bit of money.
What happened? He was so used to deceiving
other people, he's now deceived himself.
God's power and protection, by the way, don't come from money,
from trinkets, or from icons. Think of first Samuel chapter #4
and the Israelites were in a bad way.
The Philistines were about to take over, and they said this,
let's get out the Ark of the Covenant.
Let's put it out front. And if we put out from the
battlefield, we can't lose. The problem with the people of
Israel at that time is they were more concerned about the Ark of
the Covenant than they were of the God of the Ark of the
Covenant. They were using the ark of the
Covenant like a lucky horseshoe or rabbit's foot.
And God says, if you have that low regard for me, then what I
will do is make sure you lose in battle and you lose the ark of
the Covenant. Never in God's Word could
someone conjure up God's power through money or through items.
Listen, a. A Christian cross is a wonderful
token of your faith. If you wear a.
Cross or you have a cross. I'm certainly not preaching
against that this morning, but I will say this, that is not your
protection. Your protection is the God.
Of the cross. Not having that there.
Well, pastor, I give to the church.
I give 10% and listen, certainly it's biblical for us to give,
but may I remind you that it's not your protection money.
I'm talking about protection. You know what I mean?
Someone going from house to house and you know, say, hey,
it's a beautiful house here. Would be a shame if something
happened to it. And I said, well, what?
What does that mean? And before you know it, you're
giving some protection money. Listen, your tithes and
offerings are not protection money to make sure that you've
got God on your side. We give to the Lord because he's
given so much to us. We give to the Lord out of
abundance of love for what he's done in our lives, not out of
duty, but out of joy, because the Bible says that the Lord
loves a cheerful giver. But here's a man who said this.
A little bit of money and maybe I can have what he has.
See, all Simon wanted was power for control.
He had control. He had power.
Someone came along with God's power and now God was in control
because those people now listen, God's never out of control.
But do you understand what I'm saying in that situation?
I want to be make sure you understand in that situation, as
people are giving their lives to the Lord, the whole dynamic is
changing. He's losing his control over
those people. And I believe, and we'll see in
a moment from his response to Peter's rebuke, we'll see in
just a moment that that that he had no desire to truly serve the
Lord. He just saw his own prestige
slipping. He said, I'll do whatever I can.
Listen, beware those who name the name of the cross but don't
follow the way of the cross. Beware those who name the name
of Jesus Christ but don't preach the word for He is the living
word. Beware, Beware who you find
sermons from online. Beware who you listen to
Christian podcast. Beware what books you read.
You say, pastor, are you trying to control?
Us is this mind control? Is this some kind of cult or
something like that? Quite the opposite.
But what I'm saying is this is make sure that you are being
influenced by those who believe that Jesus Christ is God and who
believe that this this is God's word.
Make sure you're being influenced by the right types of
people. Because there are some Simon the
Sorcerer's out there who maybe are believers, but what they're
trying to do is line their pockets.
You say, well, who are those? We'll turn on the TV.
You'll find most of them. They'll tell you to sow a little
seed or to give a little bit of money and that you'll get rich.
And the only thing that happens is that he gets rich or she gets
rich, and all those people that have been following along lose
out. On hard earned money.
What happened delusion. I believe that some of those
false teachers and false prophets truly have deluded
themselves. Why?
Well, because Jesus said in those days there will be some
that would say, Lord, Lord, have we not cast out demons in our in
your name and in your name have we not done many wonderful works
and he'll say depart from me. I never knew you and they seem
to be surprised by this what's happened.
They deluded themselves thinking they were doing God's work.
Do we know someone like that? Well, Saul, the beginning of the
chapter, he thought he was doing God's work until he met Jesus
and realized I'm not doing God's work by persecuting the
Christians. I need to get on board and be a
believer myself. I need to preach the cross of
Christ. And his life changed forever.
Simon the sorcerer was a deceiver.
He was delusional, but he was also this and listen very
carefully about this. He was defiant in the face of
correction. He was defiant.
So he says Peter, Hey, little bit of money, right, man, let's
make this happen. And he's probably imagining that
that's the way most of his transactions normally work, to
be able to just grease someone's palm and he could get what he
wanted. But he never met someone like
Peter before. Peter didn't entertain the
thought. Peter didn't even think about
it. He didn't have to say like like
Balaam. Let me go and pray about this
for a little bit. No, he knew what the answer was.
It says in verse #19 let's pick up where we left off.
And actually verse #20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish
with thee. He says, listen, you could take
your money to the grave and I won't take it.
I don't want any part of it. Because thou has thought that
with the gift of God that that the gift of God may be purchased
with money. Now listen, why do I think he's
not saved? Well, here's an example.
Thou hast neither no part nor lots of this matter, for thy
heart is not right in the sight of God.
He's basically saying this, you're not amongst this group
here, you are not amongst those and look at it continues on,
because he says, 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 Peter is not holding back. Peter is not pulling any punches
here. He's saying, listen, man, you
let your money perish with you. You're not part of us.
You're not part of this group. But listen what he says.
You can be part of this group. You can be with us.
What do you need to do? You need to repent of what
you've done. You need to to confess what you
were doing here and truly come to be with the Lord.
And this is the chance where Simon the sorcerer should have
had the scales come off of his eyes, much like it happened to
Saul here in just a little while, that his eyes should have
been open and say, wow, I wanted Jesus for the power.
What I should have wanted was Jesus.
I wanted Peter. So I I wanted Jesus so I could
get more money in my pocket. I should have just wanted Jesus.
That is not Jesus and but just Jesus alone.
Again, that's what salvation is about.
And this is chance. Peter makes an altar call of 1.
He says call, call upon him. He'll forgive you.
And then they answered Simon and he said, pray ye to the Lord for
me that none of those things which you have spoken come upon
me. Now I'll make something very
clear here this morning as you're a pastor and you say,
well, I just started coming here.
I'm glad to be here. Pastor, you may not be a member
here at Liberty Baptist Church, but I will tell you this.
I'm glad to be able to to teach and preach to the word of God
and to pray for you when you have needs.
It's my privilege to be able to do so.
But I will say this, if you come to me and say, Pastor, I've
committed sin, Pastor, I've done some things wrong, will you,
will you forgive me for them? My answer to you would be that
is not within my power to do so. There is no box here in this
room where I sit on one side and you sit on the other.
In my office there are two chairs.
They're fairly comfortable, but nowhere will you see a veil
between them or between my desk and where you sit.
Why? Because I do not have the power
to forgive sins. I stand not in the place of
Christ, even as my own Lutheran pastor would say for 16 years,
as we would confess our sins, not privately like I just
mentioned, but publicly, where they would be in our order of
service, a place where you silently confessed your sins.
And the pastor after that silent confession would say, I in the
place of the Lord Jesus Christ, do forgive you of your sins.
And listen friend, that's blasphemy that I can't stand
here this morning and say I will forgive you your sins.
I will pray for you that God will put His word in your heart
to the place where you realize you need to repent.
But the Bible says this, that we can boldly come before the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to
help in time of need. And here's a man, and I believe
this is the clincher, why he wasn't saved.
He couldn't even go to the Lord. Himself, he said this.
I think I need you to help me, Peter, because I can't go talk
to him. Listen, if you're saved, you
could talk to him today. In fact, if you're saved, I'd
encourage you, you need to talk to him today.
He wants to. He wants to, as the creator of
the universe, have a relationship with you, Say,
well, if he knows so much, then why do I need to talk to him?
Because he knows everything that well.
Sure, he does. But could you ever just imagine
that maybe although he does know everything about you and is
intimately acquainted with you better than you know yourself,
that he simply wants to talk to you and you to him?
He just desires that, you know, there's not many things that my
children can come to me about asking me for that I don't
already know about. There's not a lot of things they
can talk to me about that I don't already know, especially
when they're young and their needs are so great, like a, you
know, play DoH, you know, Dad, can you, can we get some play
DoH? Dad, can we get some ice cream?
You know, you know. It's not a surprise when they
asked me for ice cream. They could do it every day, say
during the winter it could be a Blizzard.
And they would want ice cream. They'd want a Blizzard, probably
is what they would want from Dairy Queen.
We'd have to drive out somewhere and get it.
No, no. But you know what?
I still love to be able to hear them come to me, say, Dad, could
I have this, Dad? Could we fellowship together?
Can we talk together? Boy, as a dad, I love that.
And you know what? I find out as I get older, too.
And as the children start to get a little bit further away, I
sure do love hearing from them. I love it when they call even
they may have maybe a time zone or two away.
I'd love to get a text from him and a call.
Well, guess what? Our Heavenly Father, he desires
to hear us and beckons us if we're saved to come.
And here's a Simon the sorcerer. Peter says get right with God
and he says this. I'd rather not, but maybe you
can help me. What is he doing?
He has decided to push away God Almighty.
He was not just a deceiver. He was not just delusional.
But we also see that in the end he was defiant against the very
things of God. He wasn't sorry.
This wasn't repentance. Second Corinthians 710 says for
godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation, not to be repented
of, but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
When I was a kid and I'd get in trouble in school and it
happened once in a while. But anyway, OK, it happened more
than I'd like to admit. But I have one teacher in
particular. And of course he was from New
England and moved to Florida. But I would say, Mr. Carver, I'm
sorry. I didn't say, Adam, you're not
sorry. You're sorry you got caught.
And boy, I hated that, because every time he said it, he was so
incredibly right. I wasn't sorry, I didn't want
demerit. I wasn't sorry I didn't want
attention. I wasn't sorry, I didn't want to
talk to my. Parents in car line.
And so I thought if I just said I'm sorry.
Maybe to smooth everything over, But the next hour I'd still be
talking to class because I had important things to talk about.
Like, OK, I had nothing important to talk about.
I was 15 years old, but I thought I did so much more than
learning about math and science and those kinds of things.
I wasn't sorry. No godly sorrow means this.
I'm truly sorry against the Lord.
What did Joseph say when Potiphar's wife came upon him?
He said this. How can I do this great sin
against the Lord now? He declined the sin, but he
recognized who his sin was against.
He was not defiant. So here's Peter.
Peter's powerful, but Simon had deceptive power.
Peter knew the word of God, but Simon was delusional.
Peter was humble and meek, but Simon was defiant.
So you might ask yourself this question this morning.
Well, Pastor, that's great, but what on earth does this have to
do with me today? Well, there's a couple different
things. First of all, don't deceive
yourself that you are in the faith.
If you are not in the faith, the way the Word of God says that
you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, that the salvation is
not through the church, by the way, it's not through any
church. No, you do not have to come
through the gates of Liberty Baptist Church to go through the
gates of heaven. Thank the Lord for that, by the
way, because our we don't have any gates around here actually.
And so thank the Lord that that's the case, but it's not
through the Catholic Church, it's not through the
Presbyterian Church, it's not through the Unitarian Church,
it's not through any type of faith.
It is only through Jesus Christ and Christ alone.
And the only reason I have confidence in us as Bible
believing Baptist is because it's our job to preach what the
word of God says how it. Teaches salvation and the power
that we have here is not of our own, but it's on us saying this
is how you get saved. So if you don't know Jesus
Christ today, listen, don't be deceived by others.
Don't delude yourself that you're in the faith.
Listen, don't, don't put God at arm's length and say no, I won't
get saved. Just like Peter, even to this
man who was in the gall of bitterness.
Even this man who was trying to give a little bit of money to
get power, Peter said this even you can get right with God.
And he said I'd rather not, but if you can do it for me, if I
could get you saved today, I would.
If I could make you saved, if I could get you and put you down
on your knees and say. Get saved today.
Use is what you need. You could even repeat a prayer
and get back up just as lost. I can't do it for you.
I wish I could. You know who else wish they
could? Saul, who later became Paul, he
says. My burden for my people is so
great. He said I would accept penalty
of death and hell if they could be saved.
Book of Romans, listen, unbelievable.
I can't do it and if Paul can't do it, I sure can't do it.
You have to decide for yourself. Listen, don't be defiant against
the things of God. Call upon Jesus Christ to save
you from your sins today. But I might.
Remind you that we talked about stopping growth in our tracks
and that's really about believers, isn't it?
It's about believers, you know, the posture of Simon the
sorcerer is also one that we can take up as believers as well.
And when we do, we will not grow.
When you deceive yourself that you're doing OK, when you're
not, that deception turns into delusion.
In fact, I'm doing very well. In fact, I might be one of the
best people in this church. In fact, I might be one of the
most spiritual people I know. Can I just help you?
If you're the one of the most spiritual people you know,
either you don't know many people or you've deluded
yourself. Because I look around at others
and I'm going to talk about other pastors.
I'm just talking about other people who are believers,
steady, rock solid believers. And I look at them and say that
faith encourages me. That faith speaks to me.
No, no, not, not that I'm going to follow them, but the way they
follow Christ instructs me how to follow Christ.
We, we just looked at that on Wednesday night, didn't we?
Follow me as I follow Christ. Don't delude yourself, Romans
12/3 says for I say that. Through the grace given unto me
to every man that is among you, not to think himself more highly
than he ought to think, but to deal soberly according as God
hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
And what talks about dealing with things soberly?
It's not talking about not being drunk, although certainly the
Bible is very clear about our consumption of alcohol and
avoiding it. But it says even beyond that,
you need to be clear headed about where you are spiritually.
Now you need to be clear headed about where you are and make
sure you are not thinking too highly of yourself.
Why? Because you can get to the place
of delusion. If we say we have no sin first
John 18, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in US.
Don't be defiant. Why?
Because the very next verse says, but if we confess our sin,
He is faithful and just. You're not faithful and you're
not just. How dare you, Pastor, if it will
help? I'm not faithful and I'm not
just either. Only He is faithful and just,
faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all
righteousness. If you're a believer who has not
grown, don't deceive yourself. He wants you to confess it to
Him today. And you don't have to go through
a long process for forgiveness. He'll forgive you today.
In fact, he'll forgive you when you come before him with godly
sorrow. That worketh repentance.
If you have heart disease, it's hard to grow.
I'm not talking about this kind of heart disease.
I'm talking about if you have spiritual heart disease.
My dad was 38 years old. He was about 185 lbs.
He worked for Frito Lay. He was a strong man.
He was playing church softball for that very same church I was
talking about on a Sunday afternoon because, well,
Lutheran's don't have Sunday night church, so that they do
have Sunday afternoon softball and bowling, but there was no
church. But my dad was playing Sunday
afternoon softball. And like that, in a moment, he
was brought to the ground. Why?
Heart disease, a heart attack, by God's grace, where he was,
was just across the street from a Medical Center, from a
hospital. If it wasn't for the fact that
he was that quick, they used the paddles on him twice to be able
to revive him. My dad, 72 today, he's alive.
I'm thankful for it. There's been a lot of advances
that have taken place since that time in 1988 when my dad had his
heart attack. But I tell you, it came upon him
and he didn't realize it until it was too late.
You know what I worry about with spiritual heart disease?
When you deceive yourself and you're deluded, and then you
come defiant that you think you're doing OK, and then in a
moment you find out you're not Why?
Because God's going to strike me down.
Well, I don't know that I would put it necessarily like that,
but I will say this, that Hebrews 12 says that he corrects
his own, and it's not because he hates you, but it's because he
loves you so much. Well, it sure would seem if he
loves me, that he would be a little bit more indulgent with
me. Do you think that's a good way
to parent? If Peyton had her way, she would
want candy and ice cream and pizza and all of those things
that she wants every single day. And Dad?
Don't you love me? I do love you.
That's why I'm taking the pizza box away from you.
I do love you. That's why Daddy's not going at
10:00 at night to go get you ice cream on a Friday night.
Now, do we have treats? Of course we do.
We have a lot of treats and a lot of fun as a family.
But I do recognize that just indulging her every whim isn't
love. It's actually quite the
opposite. Well, if God loved me, He just
leave me alone. He loves you too much to do
that. Believer.
He will bring chastisement and judgment in your life, not
because he's vengeful and wants to make sure you don't have a
good life. He's doing it because he's just.
And he loves you. And he does want you to have a
good life. He wants you to grow.
Don't deceive yourself. Don't delude yourself.
Don't be defiant. Well, Pastor, how do I know
what's right? How do I know what's right?
Can I give you the answer? The answer is right Here.
You have 66 books that tell you what's right.
Right here. Tells you what's right.
Tells you what's wrong. Gives you encouragement to do
what's right. Gives you encouragement to stay
away from what's wrong. You want to make sure you're
looking right. Look here, in the perfect law of
liberty, there are times I get ready for church and I'll say
this and I'll be done. You know, we have two cats.
I don't know if anyone's heard about it. 2 cats.
Callie and Toby. All right, where's, where's AJ?
All right, but I've never been I I love cats, but we've never had
one that's shed. And that's kind of a problem at
our house now with Toby. This this man eating cat that we
have at our house is huge. He's lovable, but he's huge.
And there are times on Sunday morning I'm getting ready to go.
I've got a lot on my mind. I got a lot going on up here.
Some of you don't wonder sometimes what's going on up
here, but on a Sunday morning, there's a lot going on up here.
Because I want to make sure I'm ready for what God has laid on
my heart. And I'll get to church.
I'll walk around. Nobody said nothing.
Because if you don't watch, we have men's prayer.
And men don't tell men when they don't look right.
You know, that's just kind of the way it is for the most part.
But some of you do because you're critical.
But that's OK. But so, but all joking aside,
it's usually my wife who shows up after men's prayer and says
this. Have you looked at your jacket?
You know, just that question. Obviously not if you're asking.
You know, I guess I haven't looked at my jacket, cat hair
all over it. So now I have to keep a roller
in my office to make sure. What does that mean?
I didn't look into the mirror. And so I missed something that
was obvious to everyone else. You know, unless you look into
James 125 calls this the perfect law of liberty.
Whosoever looketh into the perfect law of liberty and
continue it therein, he shall not be a forgetful hearer, but a
doer of the work. This man shall be blessed in his
deed. You can't have an open heart and
read this word and delude yourself because it's the mirror
that shows you who you are. You cannot have the word of God
in your life and that's why you need to be reading it everyday.
Believer, you can be reading it every day.
You start with a few verses. If you haven't done it before,
start with a chapter. Whatever it is, read the word of
God because it'll help you not to deceive yourself.
It'll help you not to delude yourself.
And you, if you don't have a defiant heart, guess what, You
will grow. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.