What should we do at such times? See Philippians 3:13. It is so often through our failures and mistakes that we are warned and prepared, so that on future occasions we do not make the same mistakes. There are some lessons we can only learn through experience. But notice that Philip’s motive was right, and this is what God sees. Philip had to face this fact that presumably he had not discerned the lack of reality in Simon when he professed faith in Christ and asked to be baptised. Moreover, he does not let sorcerers go easily! We must always remember that we are engaged in a spiritual warfare - look up 2 Corinthians 10:4 Ephesians 6:12. Wherever God is at work, so is the Devil, and one of his strategies is to counterfeit the work of God. It must have thrilled Philip when this well-known and outstanding personality, Simon, professed conversion, and when afterwards he was baptised - but what a setback it was when Peter and John came on the scene and challenged the reality of Simon’s conversion (verses 18-24)! Why do we get disappointments like this in the Lord’s work? There are three reasons:
We must be prepared for disappointments in God’s work What are the lessons we should learn from this solemn incident?ġ. There was obviously evidence of the Holy Spirit’s presence and power, and when Simon saw this he asked to buy the power of the Holy Spirit! This led to all that followed… up to verse 24. (The Holy Spirit is received upon believing - look up and compare John 14:16-17 Acts 2:38-39). This was a new situation among a new group of people, and in verses 14-17 we read that in order to attest the reality of what God was doing, Peter and John prayed for the new converts and laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Then Philip sent news to Jerusalem of what was happening, with the result that Peter and John arrived on the scene. He heard the preaching of Philip and was greatly impressed by it, and when he saw people converted and confessing the Lord by baptism, he made a profession of faith and was baptised. Our first reference to Simon is in verses 9-11, where we read of his powerful personality as a sorcerer and of his influence on the people. The first few verses in this chapter are of triumph, progress and joy, because a great missionary movement was afoot (see verse 4) there was revival in Samaria people were being converted, some were being healed, and others were being delivered from evil spirits. The fact that so many verses have been given to the ’conversion’ of Simon the magician means that they must contain some very important lessons.
Simon the sorcerer 2 iso series#
Series 46 Study 2 THE CASE OF SIMON THE SORCERER
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