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Intro: Piltdown Man
Have you ever heard the story of the Piltdown man.
In 1912, workers were digging at a location in Piltdown England, near Sussex, when they discovered some bone fragments that were strangely human.
They turned those bones over to a local scientist named Charles Dawson.
Dawson soon made the scientific claim that the recovered bone fragments were England’s first ape-man, giving evidence of evolutionary theory.
This evidence proved the transition from ape to man in his mind.
Dawson died 4 years later but not before solidifying himself as a scientific elite only behind the famous evolutionist Charles Darwin.
But 40 years later, scientists actually discovered the entire presentation of Piltdown man, was a hoax.
Although the hoax is not credited to one person, further investigation of this ape-man led to this evidence as evolutionary embarrassment.
Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell of Answers in Genesis writes,
“(scientists) found the impressive cranium belonged to a modern human and the jawbone belonged to an orangutan or a chimpanzee.
All were stained to look old and to match.
The teeth had been filed down.
What no one had remarked for forty years was now plain for everyone to see, and Piltdown moved from the evolutionary hall of fame to the hall of shame.”
What is interesting about the story is that when Dawson made his claims to the scientific community, he took his fraudulent claims to the National History Museum who then reported it to the Geological Society.
Without any tests or examinations performed, the specimens were authenticated and celebrated.
(show painting- notice photo of Charles Darwin overlooking group)
In relationship to our study today and last week, truthful and proper examination is the key.
Not a biased examination based upon presupposed worldviews, but an unbiased one.
Because the English scientific community chose to forgo true scientific methods for the sake of their desire to prove evolution to be true, then they ended up looking the fool.
The church likewise seems scared at times to preach the need to authenticate those who belong to the organized body of believers.
Some might consider it unkind for church leadership to pose questions as to whether a person is truly a follower of Jesus Christ or not.
But as we look at our passage in Acts 8 last week, authentication is necessary if the church seeks to bring glory to the Lord Jesus until he returns.
Jesus Christ is dishonored and the church looks foolish when unbelievers are accepted and included into the body of Christ.
You might say spiritually dead persons attached to a healthy body of believers makes the person awkward and unhealthy.
Many unbelievers can slip into the church membership, do great things for the body of Christ and yet be lost and disjointed from the true body of Jesus Christ- the church.
Be reminded that the church that Jesus Christ died for upon the cross DOES NOT exist upon the foundation of people with community ties, similar political views,
or familial relationships.
It exists on the foundation of spiritually dead persons who were made alive together with Christ when they display a faith in Jesus alone and a turning from sin.
Review:
Remember with me that we saw two evidence of false conversion last week.
4 observations
A work of the enemy
A wrong faith
Not Emotional
Not Intellectual
Full Surrender: Faith and Repentance
3. A MISSING SEAL
As we look in vs. 17-18 we see that Simon was never given the Holy Spirit by the apostles after his conversion even though the other Samaritans did receive him.
Why did Simon not receive the Holy Spirit like the others who placed their trust in Christ?
Why did the Holy Spirit come later following conversion instead of immediately like He does today?
#1 – Why did Simon not receive the Holy Spirit?
Notice the grammar of v 12-13.
They refers to the Samaritans with Simon as a contrasted by Luke.
They believed....even Simon believed.
Now consider verses 17-18 as a similar contrast.
They received the Holy Spirit ....now Simon offered them money.
You could argue that Simon wanted the power to use for his own benefit after he himself received the Holy Spirit with the rest of them, but I would argue otherwise.
The grammar sets the distinction here and Simon’s actions back up the argument.
It is obvious that Simon did not receive the Holy Spirit, or he would not have asked for it, but why?
It is clearly a sign that Simon was not truly trusting in Christ alone for salvation.
Simon was not genuine so God did not grant the Holy Spirit to him.
It was the apostles Peter and John who were laying hands on the believers to receive the Spirit, but God obviously held back Peter and John from laying hands on Simon, since his faith was not authentic.
Peter eventually rebukes Simon and says, !
21 “You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.
Peter meant Simon did not have ownership or partnership with the Holy Spirit or with Jesus Christ.
The Holy Spirit is given to believers who place their trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The purpose of the Holy Spirit initially in the life of a believer is to seal them to family of God.
Eph.
1:13-14
Sealed by the Holy Spirit means that a person is authenticated by God as true believers.
The GK word for sealed in the NT carries the idea of a sealed letter or document sent by a king.
On the letter is placed hot wax and the king’s impression of a royal emblem to signify that the letter is not fake but it is authentic documentation.
When believers receive the Holy Spirit immediately at their salvation, it is as if the King of all Kings places a seal on us that proves that we are His children and we belong to His Kingdom.
This GK word “sealed” also carries the idea of security.
That wax stamp was placed on the container of the letter showing that the documentation was secure.
If the letter arrived without a broken seal, the document could be understood to have remained secure upon delivery.
We have the seal and we can have confidence that once we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, we are secure in Christ Jesus.
There is another interesting note about the Holy Spirit.
In Eph we also read that the Holy Spirit is given “as a pledge of our inheritance.”
This word “pledge” in my bible may be different in your bible.
Yours may say the “guarantee of our inheritance” or the “earnest of our inheritance” or the “deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.
All these different translation are trying to convey that the Holy Spirit is also a mark on us that one day we will inherit the blessings of God in heaven, our inheritance in glory.
Simon could not attain this gift from God because he had not come to surrender himself to God and thus He could not receive the Holy Spirit.
#2- Why did the Holy Spirit have a delayed coming upon the Samaritans?
There was constant bitterness and strife between the Jews and the Samaritans.
Now that God was allowing the gospel to reach to those outside the realm of Judaism, special events were natural to take place.
This instance of the unique coming of the Spirit upon believers is one of three instances where God used these events to teach the Jews about Himself.
In Acts 2, we realize that the coming of the Holy Spirit is delayed as it falls upon the apostles who had confessed Christ as Lord long before they received the Spirit.
It is important to note that this initial coming of the Spirit marked a new era of the Holy Spirit’s power in the church and in the lives of believers.
This era of the Holy Spirit would be like nothing that people had ever seen in the OT.
In Acts 8 in our passage tonight, we see again the Holy Spirit come in delayed fashion because God wanted Peter and John to arrive and see the Holy Spirit fall upon these racial rivals to the Jews.
It opened the eyes of these apostles to God’s intention for the gospel going to the whole world.
Lastly, in Acts 10, as Peter shares the gospel with Gentiles, the Holy Spirit immediately falls upon the Gentiles who believe and then they are baptized.
This again was to show the Jews God’s intention to take the gospel beyond the walls of Judaism.
Although this happened uniquely to the early church, it does not mean that is happens the same for us today.
Instead, Paul tells the Ephesians that :
You heard the word of truth (the gospel)
You believed
You were sealed
There is no evidence in Scripture after the establishment of the church where the Spirit comes later.
Some churches are engaged in teaching a doctrine that you receive the Holy Spirit later in your walk with Christ, as a spiritual level-up of your faith.
This implies a few erroneous and dangerous truths for Christians.
1.
It implies that there is something more for our faith outside of what Christ provides at salvation.
It something that we have to pray for, yearn for and hopefully, receive one day.
This is not true and goes against what Christ paid for by his blood.
The work is finished, the inheritance is granted and reserved and kept in heave for you.
2. It creates an elitism in the church of the have and have-nots.
Oh, you have the Spirit and it don’t.
Let’s have all the Spirit anointed people over here and the the non-Spirit anointed people over here.
This is an evil-disunifying truth that we should reject.
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