Call to Commitment

Acts 8 

 

Acts 8:16-25 

The magician’s error 

16.  For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 

17.  Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. 

18.  And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, 

19.  saying, "Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 

20.  But Peter said to him, "Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! 

21.  You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. 

22.  Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. 

23.  For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity." 

24.  Then Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me." 

25.  So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans. 

 The apostles knew that every believer must experience the Holy Spirit falling upon them, which is another term for the experience of the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is used again in chapter 10:44: “The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word.” It is empowering from on high, which falls upon believers on the earth (v. 16).  

 Peter and John prayed for the believers and they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit (v. 17). Something substantial and visible happened to the Samaritans, because the magician took notice and was immensely impacted by what he saw, as he was by seeing the miracles and signs that God did through Philip. What he then requested showed a blasphemous misunderstanding of the ways of God. He made two serious mistakes: He offered to buy the ability to impart this blessed, heavenly experience (v. 18), and he wanted the power for himself for personal gain (v.19). 

 

Acts 8:1-3 

An introduction to Saul of Tarsus 

1.      Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 

2.      And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. 

3.      As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison. 

 I mentioned in chapter 6, the presence of Jewish Hellenists in Jerusalem, who spoke Greek, along with Hebrew and their various native languages. For that reason, I want to explain briefly, how Greek became so prominent throughout the Middle East and even into Africa. Ancient Greece consisted of city-states that warred among themselves and not until modern times did it develop a central government. Philip II of Macedon was a great conqueror and did much to conquer other areas of Greece. He was murdered, when he was 46, so his ambitions were not totally realized. His son, Alexander the Great, conquered a great part of the known world, but died at 30 years of age. He also did not establish a central Greek government, as Rome did after they became a great empire.

 However Rome, a great military power, was not strong culturally, but borrowed from Greek culture and religion and spread it throughout their many colonies. Alexander´s four generals took over the territories that he conquered and warred against each other so, for this reason also, Greece never formed a strong central government. Greek citizens colonized throughout the Middle East and through these colonies, through Roman influence, and because of the wide conquests of Alexander the Great, Greek culture, religion and language flourished everywhere. Of course, Greece had great philosophers, such as Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, who continue to have great influence throughout the modern world.

 I mention these facts mainly, because they form a background for the man we learn about in chapter 8… Saul of Tarsus, a Hellenistic Jew. The author of the book of Acts, Luke, was a Greek and an educated medical physician, who, experts tell us, wrote quality Greek, He had a carefully designed plan, as he followed the development of Jesus’ Great Commission, beginning in Jerusalem.

  

Chapter 7:36-45 

Resistance to God in the wilderness and the Promised Land 

      36.  He brought them out, after he had shown 
     wonders and signs in the land of Egypt,            and in the Red Sea, and in the wilderness           forty years.

37. "This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, 'THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN. HIM YOU SHALL HEAR.'
38. "This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the Angel who spoke to
him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, the one who received the living oracles to give
to us,
39. whom our fathers would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back
to Egypt,
40. saying to Aaron, 'MAKE US GODS TO GO BEFORE US; AS FOR THIS MOSES
WHO BROUGHT US OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT, WE DO NOT KNOW WHAT
HAS BECOME OF HIM.'
41. And they made a calf in those days, offered sacrifices to the idol, and rejoiced in the
works of their own hands.
42. Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in
the book of the Prophets: 'DID YOU OFFER ME SLAUGHTERED ANIMALS AND SACRIFICES DURING FORTY YEARS IN THE WILDERNESS, O HOUSE OF ISRAEL?
43. YOU ALSO TOOK UP THE TABERNACLE OF MOLOCH, AND THE STAR OF
YOUR GOD REMPHAN, IMAGES WHICH YOU MADE TO WORSHIP; AND I WILL CARRY YOU AWAY BEYOND BABYLON.'
44. "Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed,
instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen,
45. which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David

 

Acts 7

      1.      Then the high priest said, "Are these things so?" 

2.      And he said, "Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, 

3.      and said to him, 'GET OUT OF YOUR COUNTRY AND FROM YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME TO A LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.' 

4.      Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell. 

5.      And God gave him no inheritance in it, not even enough to set his foot on. But even when Abraham had no child, He promised to give it to him for a possession, and to his descendants after him. 

6.      But God spoke in this way: that his descendants would dwell in a foreign land, and that they would bring them into bondage and oppress them four hundred years. 

7.      'AND THE NATION TO WHOM THEY WILL BE IN BONDAGE I WILL JUDGE,' said God, 'AND AFTER THAT THEY SHALL COME OUT AND SERVE ME IN THIS PLACE.' 

8.      Then He gave him the covenant of circumcision; and so Abraham begot Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac begot Jacob, and Jacob begot the twelve patriarchs.  

Good preachers often make the point that the Greek word, which is translated witness, is martus, from which we get our word for martyr. I have noticed in traveling to other countries that some of their versions of the New Testament, choose the word martyr in their translation, instead of witness. It is sound principle in gospel teaching that the Christian is to be a witness unto death, therefore a martyr. This chapter 7 in Acts, tells the story of the first Christian martyr, Stephen, who is a wonderful example of this principle.

 I often try to show, as I will again, that the title for Stephan’s message is found in his own words in verse 51, “You Always Resist the Holy Spirit.”  I will try to show how he does this throughout his presentation to the Sanhedrin and the Synagogue of the Libertines. I do not want to convey the idea that the all of the Old Testament people, of whom he spoke, were generally disobedient or unfaithful. That is not the case, but they were flawed human beings, whom God corrected and gave faith, so to accomplish His purposes through them. The high priest opens the door for Stephan to defend himself (v. 1) and he begins by addressing those present as brothers and fathers, his fellow Jews, and their God as the God of glory. He goes all the way back to their patriarch, Abraham, giving a reminder of their entire national history (v. 2). Genesis 11:10-26 gives us Abraham’s genealogy and you will notice that his father, Terah, moved the entire family from Ur of the Chaldeans and crossed the Euphrates into Haran (Ge. 11:29).

 Joshua took his generation back to the beginnings of their race to an idolatrous people up to the time of Abraham’s father, Terah, named Abraham and his brother, Nahor, and showed that they served other gods. Israel’s roots were idolatrous and they included father and sons (Josh. 24:2). God, gloriously revealed Himself to Abraham, in His mysterious way and called him out of paganism. Jamison-Faucett-Brown comments, “The conversion of Abraham is one of the most remarkable in Bible history.” 

 

Daily food distribution

      1.      Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution.   

      2.      Then the twelve summoned the multitude of the disciples and said, "It is not desirable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables. 

      3.      Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; 

      4.      but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word." 

5.      And the saying pleased the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte from Antioch, 

6.      whom they set before the apostles; and when they had prayed, they laid hands on them. 

7.      Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.  

We have studied the phenomenal success and growth of the church, the first and only church at this time, as it forms in Jerusalem. The number grew to at least 5,000, which some would count to be over 8,000, depending how we interpret Acts 4:4. Was five thousand the total number of Christians or were 5,000 added to the original 120 disciples and the 3,000 converted and baptized on the day of Pentecost? I will leave it for every reader to decide for himself, although the language use of the text seems to me to favor that five thousand was the total number.

 The last verse of chapter 2 declares that “the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved,” to the point that “believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (5:14). It is no wonder that the Jerusalem council was greatly disturbed (4:2) and attempted to oppose it, “so that it spreads no further among the people” (4:17). They made no attempt to believe the Galilean leaders, although miracles from heaven accompanied the preaching of the gospel. They, unanimously and violently, opposed the movement until in this chapter that we are studying, we will see that many of the priests relented and came into faith. 

 Along with the great success, for the first time, we see problems emerging from the inside, adding to the opposition from the outside. Up until now, we read of unity, of the disciples being of one heart and one mind. This not only happened in Jerusalem; it is a common occurrence in the church throughout the ages to the present day. It gives us a principle that determines that it is harder to live with success than with humble beginnings. John Wesley comments: “Ah Lord, how short a time did pure, genuine, undefiled Christianity remain in the world!”