Lesson 290 - Senior
Memory Verse
"The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also" (John 15:20).
Cross References
I The Persecution and Spread of the Gospel
1. The saints were scattered throughout Juda and Samaria, [ACT:8:1]; [ACT:1:8].
2. Paul wrought havoc in the Church, [ACT:8:2-4]; [ACT:26:9-12].
3. Philip's ministry at Samaria was attended with conversions, [ACT:8:5-8]; [MAK:16:15-18].
II Simon's Conversion Through Philip's Ministry
1. Simon practiced sorcery among the Samaritans, [ACT:8:9-11].
2. The Samaritans were delivered from sorcery through the Gospel, [ACT:8:12].
3. Simon was impressed by the miracles he saw, and was converted, [ACT:8:13].
III Simon's Wrong Spirit and His Downfall
1. Peter and John were sent to the Samaritans, who then received the Holy Ghost, [ACT:8:14-17].
2. Simon offered money for power to impart the Holy Ghost, acts 8:18-19.
3. Peter rebuked Simon, [ACT:8:20-25].
Notes
Into All the World
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” [MAK:16:15]). Was the last commission of our Lord to His disciples. (See also [MAT:28:18-20].) Since this commission applies to all Christians, it is often called the Great Commission. The disciples had tarried for the endue-ment of power, and the Holy Ghost had been given according to the promise. But it seems that they were content to dwell around their own home fires. They were having a good time. The Lord was healing their sick, people were being saved, and they were rejoicing in the wonderful things the Lord was doing in their own land. They might have asked, "Why leave the revival at home and suffer the hardships of going to other countries?” But the Lord had said, "Go.”
Persecutions
The devil is always trying to conquer and destroy the Church of Jesus Christ. Tradition tells us that there were 2000 early Christians martyred in this initial persecution of the Church. But the very means devised by Satan to destroy the Church became the instrument of its diffusion and establishment. The Jews could not bear the doctrine of Christ's resurrection. Therefore, when this point of doctrine was taught and proved, it established the enormous guilt of the Jews for crucifying their Messiah. As the Apostles continued to stress the resurrection of Christ and the guilt of the people, the persecution against them increased.
Persecutions have never hindered the Church; but, rather, the Church has always thrived and grown under such trials and testings. Stephen did not realize, when the stones were pelting his body till he "fell asleep,” that his death was the beginning of a persecution that would cause the Gospel to be spread to many lands. He probably did not realize what the far-reaching effect of his firm stand for God would be.
Saul, authorised by the Sanhedrin, and a leader of the persecution against the followers of Jesus, was persecuting men and women everywhere. He even went into their homes to drag them out and send them to prison -– quite like that which has been done in many countries during the past few years.
The Lord said, "When they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another” [MAT:10:23]). Therefore, they "went every where preaching the word.” It was God's plan for getting the Good News out. Someone has commented that these holy fugitives were like so many lamps, lighted by the fire of the Holy Spirit, spreading everywhere the sacred flame by which they themselves had been illuminated.
World War II
In recent years many of our young men felt the call of God resting upon their lives. They wanted to spread the message of salvation and tell others of the way out of their sin and trouble. During the recent wars they availed themselves of their opportunities to witness for the Lord; and when in the service of our country, in far lands and countries, they lived for Jesus. In doing this they proved the power of God to keep them living as Christians and to give them the authority and guidance they needed in their work for God. Because of their faithfulness, and because of their greatly increased trust in God, they returned with the fire of God burning in their soul, ready and willing to take up the work He had for them to do, no matter where that work might take them.
Preaching the Word
In this persecution of the early Church, the disciples of Jesus went everywhere preaching the Word of God. The Gospels and Epistles had not yet been written, but the disciples were familiar with the Old Testament writings and drew from them freely in their ministrations to the people under their influence. But the main theme of their message was Jesus. They told those to whom they preached the things that Jesus had taught -– and one of the things that Jesus had taught His disciples was that He was the promised Messiah, the Son of God [JHN:5:17-40]).
Jesus had taught His disciples about the new birth [JHN:3:1-16]). He had taught them about His second coming and His Kingdom (Matthew 16). He had taught them the doctrines of holiness and righteousness and had prayed for them that they might be sanctified [JHN:17:1-26]; [MAT:5:48]). He had taught them about the coming of the Comforter, and the power that the Holy Ghost would impart to them [JHN:14:15-18]). He had taught them about His second coming and His Kingdom (Matthew 24). He had told them about His death and resurrection -– and they were eyewitnesses of those things. In fact, everything embraced in the whole Word of God was their message to the lost world.
Baptism in the Name of the Lord Jesus
Philip, one of the seven deacons who were chosen to assist the Apostles went to Samaria and preached Christ to the Samaritans. The Samaritans believed and received his preaching, and the Lord worked miracles among them. There was great joy in the city, and many were baptized in water.
It is said, in the Scriptural account, that these converts were baptized "in the name of the Lord Jesus.” Those who oppose the Scriptural doctrine of the Holy Trinity have seized this text and isolated it from its context in an attempt to counteract the irrefutable evidence of the Trinity present in the baptismal formula given by Jesus [MAT:28:19]). Here is another instance where a Scripture passage, torn from its proper setting and its true meaning perverted, has been used by Satan and his emissaries to further a false doctrine.
The thought being taught in this particular lesson is that these people who formerly had had no contact with the Gospel of Jesus Christ because they were Samaritans, were now true disciples of Christ because they "had received the word of God.” That denial of the doctrine of the Holy Trinity is made here is apparent, for the names of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son are mentioned in a single verse [ACT:8:12]), and in this lesson we read that the Holy Ghost is asked to come into the hearts of these new converts as He came into the hearts of the 120 on the Day of Pentecost.
Water baptism is spoken of here as baptism "in the name of the Lord Jesus” to distinguish it from that water baptism by John the Baptist. The Bible very distinctly makes a difference between John's baptism and that of Christ, as we shall see from the following quotations.
In the first place, John's baptism was a "baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” [MAK:1:4]; [LUK:3:3]; [ACT:13:24]; [ACT:19:4]), but that which was instituted by Jesus is only for believers and is a symbol of the new life they already have entered into through the Blood of Jesus [ROM:6:1-6]).
The people who were present, when Jesus stated the position occupied by John in relation to other Old Testament prophets, were divided into two groups. The individuals in one of these groups were "baptized with the baptism of John,” and the Bible says they "justified God.” The people in the other group were not baptized by John, and it is recorded that they "rejected the counsel of God against themselves” [LUK:7:29-30]). The Bible states elsewhere that the people came to "his [John's] baptism”; and the term "baptism of John” is used several times in the Scriptures besides those instances we have quoted here. (See [MAT:21:25]; [MAK:11:30]; [LUK:20:4], for examples.)
In addition to this, the disciples at Ephesus, when questioned by Paul concerning the baptism of the Holy Ghost, stated that they knew only John's baptism, to which Paul answered that "they should believe on him, which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.” The account states that when these Ephesians Christians heard the words from Paul's lips they, too, "were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” [ACT:19:1-5]).
By this we can see that the Holy Spirit is teaching that water baptism is a part of God's plan for us and our redemption. He is teaching us that after these Samaritans were converted they were baptized in water, not in the former baptism of repentance by John the Baptist but in the baptism of the newly regenerated or converted as instituted by Christ. Water baptism, as instituted by Jesus Christ, is clearly taught in the Bible as being "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” It is by a single immersion, not three separate immersions, one for each Person of the Godhead. By this we can clearly see that the contention that Christ's baptismal formula is merely based upon three different names for Jesus is a false doctrine put forth by Satan to deceive the people of the world.
Simon the sorcerer
In this city of Samaria there was a sorcerer named Simon, who had bewitched the people with his witchcraft and made them think he was a great personage. He had deceived them with trickery, but when he saw that Philip's miracles were real, that they were done through the power of God and not through the trickery of men, he also believed and was baptised. That a man of such character should believe in Christ and be saved was, in itself, a remarkable miracle.
The Sending of Peter and John
When the Church at Jerusalem heard that the people of Samaria had received the Word, they sent Peter and John to assist Philip in the revival and to confirm the Samaritans in the faith. The apostles told the Samaritans about the baptism of the Holy Ghost, for they knew that "the promise is to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” [ACT:2:39]). The Samaritans had been saved and sanctified and had given evidence of it by their lives. Therefore, they were eligible to seek for, and receive, the great Gift of Power that God has promised would be given in this dispensation.
A Great Prayer Meeting
The baptism of the Holy Ghost is given only to those whose sins have been forgiven and whose hearts have been cleansed by the second application of the precious Blood of Jesus. The two works of God's grace are called justification and entire sanctification. Peter and John saw the shining faces of these new converts and the Spirit that was manifest among them, together with the hunger that was in the hearts of these new converts for more of God, so the apostles told them about the Comforter that Jesus had sent into the world to lead and guide His people into all truth. The Samaritan converts freely received the truth, and a great prayer meeting followed.
Imagine how thrilled peter and John must have been to see these Samaritans, hated by the Jews, consecrating and yielding their lives into the hands of God! Peter and John joined in the great prayer meeting; and, as they prayed and laid their hands on them, these Samaritans were baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. Now, because the promise was to them and their children, and "to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call” [ACT:2:39]), we know that it is for us today also. It was not restricted to the 120 who met in the upper room. It was not given to the Jewish Christians alone. The promise was not only for the period of the early church. That glorious experience is for all who are sanctified -– Jew or Gentile -– who seek for it with their whole heart. Have you received the promise of the Father since you believed?
The Attempt to Buy the Power
When Simon, the sorcerer, saw this power of the Holy ghost, he wanted it for himself. For a long time he had made these people believe he was a great person, possessing supernatural powers. Possibly he wanted this power so he could continue to be great among them. The Bible says, "If a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself” [GAL:6:3]). Simon did not seek the power in the Bible way, like the Samaritans had done. Simon tried to buy it with money. Perhaps Peter remembered, at this time, what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. But there was no spirit of compromise or desire for money in Peter. He said to Simon, "Thy money perish with thee.”
If every minister in the pulpit today had the spirit of Peter, there would be no people in the church membership solely for the purpose of promoting their personal business. Peter did not take Simon's money and given him a pat on the back and call him a good fellow so that he might retain his good will and temporal favours. Peter rebuked Simon outright and told him to repent of his wickedness, for his heart was not right in the sight of God.
We cannot hide from God. God is a "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart … all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” [HEB:4:12-13]). We are not told whether Simon truly repented, but he did ask Peter to pray that none of these judgments would fall upon him. The Bible says, in warning, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life” [PRO:4:23]).
Questions
1. Who was the main figure in persecuting the Christian at this time?
2. Who carried the Gospel to Samaria?
3. What noted personage in that city was converted?
4. who was sent from Jerusalem to assist in the revival?
5. What great experience did the saints in Samaria receive from God at this time?
6. What did Simon, the sorcerer, want to do?
7. What was Peter's answer to Simon?