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No Confidence in the Flesh
 (Philippians #10)

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INTRODUCTION

Everyone here has an inner life and an external life. If there had been no fall, no rebellion, there would have been a true unity between the two. But the entry of sin into the world made it possible for us to dissemble and to play the hypocrite. When this happens, a person takes advantage of the separation—he can now present one appearance to the world, a holy appearance, and he can keep a lozenge of diseased unholiness under his tongue. 

THE TEXT

“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” (Phil. 3:1–6). 

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Remember that one of the themes of this letter is the necessity of rejoicing in the Lord. This is stated again here (v. 1). Paul does not mind repeating himself, which he certainly does here, and he regards the repetition as being a safety for them (v. 1). Sound doctrine is the foundation of all true joy, and so it is crucial that they be warned away from the false teachers. These false teachers he calls dogs (v. 2), evil workers (v. 2), and the party of mutilation (v. 2). They call what they are doing “circumcision,” but that honor actually goes to the orthodox Christians (v. 3). They are the ones characterized by three things—they worship God in the spirit, they rejoice in Christ, and they put no confidence in fleshly work (v. 3). If it were possible for any man to have confidence in the flesh, Paul could certainly outdo him (v. 4). Paul then pulls out his resume—circumcised on day eight, Israelite stock, a Benjaminite, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee concerning the law, a zealous persecutor (v. 6), and blameless if you wanted to call this kind of thing blameless. 

TWO KINDS OF BLAMELESSNESS UNDER THE LAW

Throughout the book of Psalms, we see petitions lifted up on the basis of the psalmist’s innocence or blamelessness—“Judge me, O Lord; for I have walked in mine integrity . . .” (Psalm 26:1). 

Zecharias and Elizabeth were blameless in this way:

“And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” (Luke 1:6). 

But they were not sinless, as can be seen in how Zecharias was disciplined for his failure to believe Gabriel (Luke 1:19-20). If God were to mark iniquities . . . (Ps. 130:3). But they were nevertheless conscientious believers, and they were faithful to the covenant of their God—a covenant that made ample provision for sin.  

But prior to his conversion, Paul was not at all like this. He was blameless in the sense that all his papers were in order, but he was also a blasphemer (1 Tim. 1:13), and an insolent man (v. 13). His was an external blamelessness. Internally, he was a rat’s nest of corruptions (Rom. 7:19-20).

One time I asked a leading theologian in a movement that is called the New Perspective on Paul whether or not he believed that Zecharias and Elizabeth, on the one hand, and Paul, on the other, were all basically in the same category. Sure, Paul was something of a hothead, but were they all “blameless according to the law” in the same basic way? He said they were. But this is obviously false. Zecharias was regenerate and Paul, prior to the Damascus road, was unregenerate. The distance between them was the distance between Heaven and Hell.  

MY BIBLE IS MORE UNDERLINED THAN YOURS

The easiest thing in the world is to disparage the external markers of holiness that other traditions or religions hold as precious. In the Middle East, men can buy make-up that will mimic a callus on your forehead, the kind of callus that forms when you pray toward Mecca the way you ought. The bishop wears a mitered hat in order to accentuate his dignity. A pop evangelical preacher wears a Daffy Duck t-shirt to accentuate his relevance and approachability. Funny hat, funny shirt, tomayto, tomahto.

When the Pharisee and the tax collector prayed in the Temple, and the Pharisee prayed like a good Reformed man—soli Deo gloria—“I thank thee, God . . .” he went home unjustified. But how many of us thank God that at least we are not like that Pharisee?

How many Reformed believers know that we cannot take any glory in the creature, none whatever, and somehow take glory in the fact that this is something we understand. Self-righteousness can feed upon doctrines as well as upon flowing robes and stoles. We are fallen and can take ego-credit for anything, and can be quite proud of our humility.

We have to keep an eye on all these twists and turns. As the Baptist minister once put it, with a twinkle in his eye, “We Baptists don’t believe in tradition. It is contrary to our historic position.” 

HEART RELIGION

What indicators can the devil duplicate? The devil can sign an orthodox creed (Jas. 2:19). The devil can quote Scripture from memory (Matt. 4:6). The devil can perform miracles (Matt. 24:24). The devil can conduct his temptations on the pinnacle of the Temple (Matt. 4:5). The devil can dazzle you the way a shining angel could (2 Cor. 11:14).  

What can’t the devil do? He cannot wash your sins away. He cannot usher you into joy. “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.” If you were wearing a beautiful cross around your neck, and I were to use that as an illustration in the sermon, as a thing that some trust in instead of Christ, you could not fix the problem by taking off the necklace. It fixes nothing to replace the “necklace” with “no necklace.” No, the thing must be replaced with joy. 

“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” (Romans 14:17). 

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What is Truth? (Troy)

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SERMON TEXT

John 18:33-38

INTRODUCTION

What is truth? There is no other moment in history that could possibly trump this display of irony. Pontius Pilate, looks truth dead in the eyes. Truth incarnate stands before him, bruised and beaten from the previous night. He asks, “What is truth?”, like a sculptor staring at his finished work and wondering, “What is clay?” I do not fault the man the question; it is a good question. But the contrast of the scene is striking. Both men have authority, but only one recognizes where it comes from. One man exhibits courage, facing an imminent death. The other, conflicted about the situation, finds no fault in Jesus, but chooses appeasement and succumbs to political pressure instead of doing the right thing. One man is meek, knowing full well that he could invoke twelve legions of angels at a moment’s notice to rescue him from the Jews. But purpose, justice, and the fulfillment of all righteousness is what motivated his restraint. Pilate is motivated by a desire to be rid of the upheaval. He says, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.” In other words, “Why are you involving me? I don’t care what you do with him.” And then in exasperation, he looks at Jesus and says, “What is truth?” Jesus could have responded, “You’re looking at him.” A few chapters earlier Jesus says, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me.” We certainly could explore Jesus as The Way. And there is also much to say about Jesus as The Life. But this morning we will focus on Jesus as the embodiment of truth.

REALITY AND OUR SENSES

Our interaction with reality starts with our senses. It’s how we perceive the world. Our eyes tell us that the fire is bright, our skin that it’s warm, and our ears that it’s crackling. Because this is the case, that our senses inform us about our surrounding environment and help us to understand our position in space, wouldn’t it be important to know whether or not those senses are reliable? There are two views. One view proposes that our senses are a result of diversification, over billions of years, where undirected random mutations produce genetic variation, and then natural selection acts on this variation—favoring traits that increase an organism’s chances of survival. So, we’re supposed to believe that the human eye is a result of unadulterated luck and a whole lot of time. That’s the first view.

The Christian view states that Christ created everything. Colossians 1, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” John 1, “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” Hebrews 1, “But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” Revelation 4, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will, they existed and were created.” This is quite a different story. Our senses were created and designed by a powerful God that we might give him glory for the privilege of experiencing His world.

RULES

Whether you’re an atheist, an agnostic, or a believer, there is one thing we can agree on: the universe is governed by laws. There are fundamental constants at play: the speed of light, gravitation, Planck’s constant, and Avogadro’s number. King Solomon describes it this way in Ecclesiastes 1, “One generation passes away, and another generation comes; but the earth abides forever. The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it arose. The wind goes toward the south and turns around to the north; the wind whirls about continually and comes again on its circuit. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; to the place from which the rivers come, there they return again.” We have the advantage of global positioning satellites, guiding our progress as we drive down the road, helping us get to our destination. But our ancestors were able to look in the sky, find the position of Orion’s belt and use it as a rough guide for east and west. Why does electromagnetism have the properties it does? Why does fusion work in such a way that the sun has 5 billion years of hydrogen fuel remaining? The answer is either God is amazing and that’s why we come here, to sing to Him, to worship Him, to thank Him for His grace. Or, the answer is, we have no idea why things are the way they are. We only can describe what we observe, we cannot answer why.

THE RULE MAKER

Looking directly at the lawmaker will incite one of two reactions. For the Christian, we look to the truth and are comforted. We look to him and see our salvation. We see our own sin placed upon Him as he goes to the cross. We see our hope, our justification, our adoption as sons. We see our blessed redeemer on a white horse, our high priest and intercessor, our king over all kings, our older brother the second Adam, and our friend. But, If you are here this morning and have not placed your faith in the messiah. Then you will see something very different. A day of judgment is coming. And if you do not have the covering, the white robe of righteousness afforded to you on account of faith, you will stand there naked and exposed as your judge brandishes a sword to smite you and send you to everlasting torment alongside the devil and his angels. In that moment, having spent your entire life denying the truth. There you will bend the knee, overwhelmed with your error, and finally acknowledge the truth for who He is. Unbeliever, today is the day of salvation. Let today be the day where you acknowledge your sin and cry out to Him. Do it today, because one day, he will listen to your cries no longer.

CONCLUSION

Pontius Pilate was blind and could not see the truth despite it standing in front of him. And it is this sort of blindness that vexes the Christian heart. Why is it that my family members cannot see the truth? Why do they kick so hard against the love of God. Why do they choose an existence that is devoid of meaning and has no foundation for truth, beauty, goodness, morality, and the uniformity of nature? My friends, do not cease praying for them, and do not give up hope.  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.  The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

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Christ Saves the African Eunuch (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #13) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

Having invaded the land of Samaria with His grace, Christ now sends an advance unit to Africa. And in so doing, Christ teaches us that the tip of the spear is the Word of God by which He comes to us and directs us where we should go and fills us with rejoicing. 

The Text: “And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia…” (Acts 8:26-40)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Lord sends Philip to speak to a prominent eunuch of Ethiopia, a servant of the queen, studying the prophecy of Isaiah in his chariot (Acts 8:26-29). When Philip asked if he understood what he was reading, the eunuch replied that he needed someone to guide him, and invited Philip to come into the chariot where he was reading and asked if the suffering servant in the passage was Isaiah or someone else (Acts 8:30-34). To which Philip answered by preaching Jesus, the lamb who was crucified for sinners (Acts 8:35). And seeing some water, the eunuch asked to be baptized, and when he professed faith in Christ, they went down into the water and Philip baptized him before the Spirit took Philip away to preach in the cities of Caesarea and the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing (Acts 8:36-40).

ANGELS & THE WORD OF GOD

Many Christians wish angels would tell them where to go, like Philip, but that is exactly what the Bible is: God’s authoritative message for all time. The same Spirit that instructed Philip (Acts 8:29) and then took him away (Acts 8:39) inspired the Scriptures so that we would know what to do (2 Pet. 1:21, 2 Tim. 3:16). And it’s striking that the angel and the Spirit led Philip to help the eunuch, instead of a direct revelation. God’s ordinary means of direction is through the Word and His people in the church. The word “angel” is messenger, and God’s message has been written down in the Bible and faithful ministers help us understand it. The word “gospel” is the “good message,” and the death and resurrection of Jesus is the central message, the key to understanding all of it. 

Some commentators point out that Gaza had been destroyed and this road was probably literally a desert (Acts 8:26). From a fruitful ministry in Samaria, it may have seemed strange to go to a desert, but obedience to the Word put Philip in the strategic position of being ready to be used by God. So too, we must obey our Lord: confess your sins, forgive quickly, love your wife, respect your husband, obey your parents, tell the truth, read the Word, worship Your King. 

THHE SUFFERING SERVANT

Philip runs up to the entourage and hears the Ethiopian reading Isaiah out loud, and the passage he is reading is from Isaiah 53:7-8. Perhaps what particularly caught the eunuch’s attention was the fact that this servant of the Lord was wounded, crushed, and cut off from the living and his generation. But the promise is astonishing: “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when though shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand” (Is. 53:10). In Dt. 23:1, eunuchs are forbidden from entering the congregation of Israel, which means that this Ethiopian could not have been a full Jew, even if he wanted to be. And yet, here was a prophecy of someone else who had experienced the shame and pain of being crushed, bruised, and cut off from life and descendants, who then came under the blessing of the Lord and had children and long life. 

Philip explained that this is talking about Jesus: a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, who bore our grief and carried our sorrows, who was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, a faithful lamb for all the sheep who have gone astray (Is. 53:3-7). And this good news is for all men, all nations. In the midst of the false and idolatrous promises of superficial multiculturalism through the secular-liberal state, it must not be forgotten that all men share the sin-infected blood of Adam, and there is no other salvation except by the blood of a Jewish man named Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION: WALKING IN THE JOY OF SALVATION

We are not told exactly which texts Philip used in his message, but in Isaiah 56 there is a glorious promise specifically for eunuchs: “For thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off” (Is. 56:4-5). 

This is the Christian hope of all people. Everyone is called to deny themselves, take up a cross and follow Jesus. Jesus said that all who give up houses, families, and lands for His sake and the sake of the gospel will receive it back with persecutions plus eternal life (Mk. 10:29-30). This means surrendering everything in principle to God, and then receiving back an everlasting name, everlasting life, and therefore an everlasting joy that can never be taken away, and then everything else is extra. The Spirit took Philip away, but the Ethiopian eunuch had by that time something far greater: Christ.

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Timothy and Epaphroditus 
(Philippians #9)

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INTRODUCTION

The Christian faith is by no means a solitary business. The grace of regeneration extends to each individual, but because this grace is brought by means of the Spirit of God, one of the first things it does is knit us together with all the other recipients of this same grace. Each Christian is touched by God, but there is only one body. This is manifested in different ways. One of them is the great grace of corporate worship. “I will give thee thanks in the great congregation: I will praise thee among much people” (Psalm 35:18). But another aspect of this is the grace of companionship, a grace that we see several times in this passage. “And I urge you also, true companion, help these women who labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the Book of Life” (Phil. 4:3, NKJV). 

THE TEXT

“But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state. For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s. But ye know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he hath served with me in the gospel. Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me. But I trust in the Lord that I also myself shall come shortly. Yet I supposed it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus, my brother, and companion in labour, and fellowsoldier, but your messenger, and he that ministered to my wants. For he longed after you all, and was full of heaviness, because that ye had heard that he had been sick. For indeed he was sick nigh unto death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him only, but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I sent him therefore the more carefully, that, when ye see him again, ye may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness; and hold such in reputation: Because for the work of Christ he was nigh unto death, not regarding his life, to supply your lack of service toward me.” (Philippians 2:19–30).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul had picked up Timothy as his assistant very early on. Several decades after they joined forces, Paul still needs to caution him about not letting people despise his youth (1 Tim. 4:12), and of the need to flee youthful lusts (2 Tim. 2:22). This means Timothy was likely in his teens when he first came onto Paul’s team. Paul’s intention here is to send Timothy to Philippi as his representative (v. 19), in order to learn how they were. Paul says that he has no one else like Timothy, one who would care naturally for them (v. 20). Others were selfish, not seeking out the interests of Christ (v. 21). But the Philippians knew Timothy’s worth, how he had served Paul as a faithful son in the gospel work (v. 22). Paul was going to send him to get news from Philippi, just as soon as he would be able to bring news from Paul. (v. 23). If things worked out, Paul would also follow (v. 24). In addition to sending Timothy, he was also going to send Epaphroditus back to them (v. 25). He was Paul’s brother, co-laborer, fellow soldier, and servant to Paul—but their messenger (v. 25). Epaphroditus was greatly concerned because he knew that they had heard about his illness (v. 26). He had in fact almost died, but God had mercy on both him and Paul (v. 27). Paul was spared sorrow upon sorrow. Paul was therefore very deliberate about sending him home again, to augment their joy and reduce Paul’s sorrow (v. 28).   Paul urges them to receive him back with gladness, and to honor him highly (v. 29). His illness had been work related, and he had risked his life to fulfill the task they had given him to do (v. 30).

THAT NAME EPAPHRODITUS

We should also take a minute to glean a lesson from the fact that Paul’s “fellow soldier” was named (still named) Epaphroditus. That name means “dedicated to Aphrodite,” or Venus, the goddess of sexual love. It is natural and right that we name things after what we love and honor, and I suspect it was not too long in the history of the church before Christian parents stopped naming their kids Epaphroditus. But it is equally important for us not to be too fastidious in the meantime. “Be not righteous over much; neither make thyself over wise: why shouldest thou destroy thyself?” (Ecclesiastes 7:16). Tychicus had a name related to fate or chance, and Mordecai means dedicated to Marduk. 

So you should not be too concerned about meeting someone for lunch on Thor’s Day. Or that some think that Christmas used to be a pagan holiday. That’s all right. We used to be pagans. 

FELLOW SOLDIERS

When the Lord Jesus sent out the seventy, He sent them out “two by two” (Luke 10:1-2). Even though the laborers were few, He did not spread them out into “ones.” Paul goes to Athens alone, but he wanted Silas and Timothy to join up with him with “all speed” (Acts 17:15). After they arrived, the effectiveness of the ministry was amplified (Acts 18:5, 8-10). And when Paul was in Troas, there was a real open door, but he had no peace in his spirit because he hadn’t heard from Titus (2 Cor. 2:12-13). Companionship in gospel work is an assigned strategy.

“Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me: For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry. And Tychicus have I sent to Ephesus. The cloke that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments” (2 Timothy 4:9–13).

The key to effective ministry. Companions. And books.

SORROW UPON SORROW

Now Paul had just finished saying that if he were to be sacrificed on the altar of the Philippians’ obedience, he would rejoice, and so would they (Phil. 2:17-18). But he says here that if Epaphroditus had died, it would have left him disconsolate (v. 27). Is this a contradiction? It would be if Christian joy were a happy-happy-joy-joy kind of thing, but it isn’t. We are not made out of blocks of wood. It is possible to rejoice in the Lord through tears of grief.

“As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things” (2 Cor. 6:10).

Who do we follow? Who is our Lord? He is the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief (Is. 53:3). He went to the cross for the joy that was set before Him (Heb. 12:2). He is now at the right hand of the Father, where there is an infinite river of pleasure (Ps. 16:11), and fulness of joy. 

   

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Christ for the Cults & Prodigals (The Continuing Adventures of Jesus #12) (King’s Cross)

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INTRODUCTION

Here we see the continuing conquest of Christ extending to the Samaritans. Colliding with their centuries of idolatry and syncretism, the Holy Spirit gets the victory and the Word goes forth with power. The message for us is to trust Him, trust His word, and not lose heart. 

The Text: “And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was a Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles…” (Acts 8:1-25)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

While Saul thought he was in the driver seat, persecuting the church, remember Jesus had foretold that the testimony of the apostles would go from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8), and here the Christians are scattered to Judea and Samaria, preaching the word everywhere they went (Acts 8:1-4). One instance of this was another deacon named Philip who preached and healed in a city of Samaria, bringing great joy (Acts 8:5-8). Among the converts was a magician named Simon who had formerly had great influence over the people, and he believed in Christ and was baptized (Acts 8:9-13). Peter and John were sent by the apostles to come and establish the church there, and when the Spirit was given to the new Christians, Simon offered money to the apostles for that power (Acts 8:14-19). Peter condemned Simon and called him to repentance for his poisonous bitterness and conspiracy of evil, and he asked for prayer, while the word continued to spread (Acts 8:20-25). 

DEVOUT MOURNING

Even during a fierce persecution, devout men carried Stephen’s body to burial and mourned his death (Acts 8:1-2). This demonstrates that funerals and memorials are thoroughly Christian acts. Because Christians are those who have been joined to Jesus Christ who is the Resurrection and they can “never die” (Jn. 11:26), dying in the Lord is sometimes described as falling asleep (e.g. Acts 7:60, Jn. 11:11, 1 Thess. 4:13-16). To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8), but the physical body that we put into the ground is like a seed (1 Cor. 15:35-38). This is why historically, Christians have buried their dead instead of burning them. Luke shows us that from the beginning it was a devout practice to honor the bodies of the dead by burial, especially believers, as a testimony of our hope of the resurrection. Likewise, it is devout to mourn the dead, but we do not mourn as those without hope (1 Thess. 4:13).

THE CULT OF THE SAMARITANS

Remember that the Samaritans were basically a Jewish cult that originated at the time of the exile. Samaria was the capital of Ahab’s Baal-worshipping regime, and when the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria, they established syncretistic practices of worship of the true God alongside other false gods (2 Kgs. 17:27-41). In keeping with this, Simon is introduced as one the leaders of their cult (Acts 8:9-11), which first of all underlines the power of the gospel to penetrate even those communities and hearts that may seem to us most dark or enslaved: modern cults, Islam, the LGBT jihad, your family, even you.   

HYPOCRISY & SALVATION

This story underlines one of the hardest areas of faith to understand: the mystery of regeneration and apostasy. Here the text says that Simon “believed” and he was baptized (Acts 8:13). And yet, very quickly, a deep gall of bitterness is revealed with a tangle or conspiracy of evil (Acts 8:23). This should be something of an encouragement just to know that this kind of challenge has faced the church from the very beginning: Jesus had Judas and Paul had Demas (2 Tim. 4:10). We are in good company, if the church continues to deal with some who turn away. Jesus taught that His word would go forth like seed on different kinds of soil (Mk. 4:3-20). Some branches in the covenant vine of Christ are cut out (Jn. 15:1-7). And yet, all whom the Father has given to Christ will be preserved and raised up at the last day (Jn. 6:37-39).

So how do we parse this? The tendency of many has been to either downplay the word and sacraments, since it is sometimes empty or hypocritical, emphasizing the “invisibility” of the true church, or else over-emphasizing the efficacy of the visible ministry of the church, while making salvation something that comes and go, depending on the day or week or year. The Reformed tradition has sought to avoid both extremes by emphasizing the sovereignty of God and faith His Word. This translates into a high view of the word and sacraments, and the efficacy of the visible church, while insisting that the Spirit is totally free. Calvin described it as “all men have not that grace given them in baptism, which grace is there figured.” God really does give grace, but not all men receive it by faith in Christ. Calvin says this of Simon: “And although the receiving of baptism did profit him nothing then, yet if conversion followed afterward, as some men suppose, the profit was not extinguished nor abolished.” Many prodigals come home.

CONCLUSION

This story does not tell us what happened to Simon. It only closes with Simon asking the apostles to pray for him and the word continuing to go forth (Acts 8:24-25). Church tradition mostly suggests that he continued in his sins (hence the sin/crime of “simony”), but this story is what God has given us. And this is for our good: both a warning and a comfort. 

The warning is to guard your own hearts and watch out for all bitterness and tangles of evil. We have no official system of simony in our modern evangelical churches, but there’s plenty of buying and selling of favors and flattery and popularity contests and man-pleasing. This game can be played with hospitality, friend groups, educational methods, or even theology. But you can’t buy the Holy Spirit. And this is where the poisonous root of bitterness fundamentally comes from: the sovereign Spirit who gives and rules as He pleases. Contentment is the opposite of bitterness: it rests in the Father’s gifts of His Spirit in all things (Phil. 4:11). 

But there is a great comfort here as well: the gospel came to the Samaritans. While wicked men were plotting, Christ was saving all kinds of Samaritans. While the nations rage, Christ is still saving sinners, including the ones who once professed faith and have turned away in bitterness or apathy. We serve the God who raises the dead. Why does God allow this? For His own glory, but also so that we will pray more faithfully, so the Word will go forth, and so our joy will be even greater when He saves.

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