Dave's Diary

Daily Reading: Acts 8:1-25

Once the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the apostles and the early disciples of Jesus, a remarkable change of heart was evidenced. Whereas once these Jewish disciples had shared the general animosity of Jews towards Samaritans and had wanted to call down the fire of judgment on them, now they were moved by the Holy Spirit to preach the saving Gospel of Jesus in Samaria. Philip is an example of one such disciple. His Gospel preaching in Samaria was accompanied by great signs and wonders. Acts 8:7-8 reports that “unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralysed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city.” Faith in Jesus Christ brought them eternal spiritual salvation, as well as immediate spiritual deliverance from the powers of darkness. It was a glorious season of Gospel power!

But there is a word of caution in verses 18-23. Simon was a Samaritan man who had practised sorcery for many years in that city. Through Philip’s preaching, Simon genuinely believed in Jesus and was baptised. But there was a latent sinful pride and desire for power that carried over into his new life. He had been saved, but he had not yet been transformed through the renewing of his mind (Romans 12:2); and so, when he saw the power of the Holy Spirit working through the apostles, he coveted being able to mediate this kind of power. He knew what it felt like to be at the centre of a display of dark spiritual power, and now he saw the opportunity to get back this “buzz” of power as a Christian. So he offered money to the apostles in exchange for this ability. Their rebuke was immediate and absolutely clear (See v.21-23)! They saw his desire to have power and to be the centre of attention as proof that Simon’s heart was not right in the sight of God, and that he needed to repent of his wickedness.

This call to repentance is a stark reminder that salvation through faith in Jesus depends on repentance and does not come by paying lip-service to the Gospel. Jesus longs for sinners of every description and every ethnicity to be saved. But salvation comes to any of us only through faith and repentance. Without repentance there is no genuine salvation nor inclusion in the Family of God. This does not imply that we have to make ourselves perfect before God accepts us. Not at all! But there must be a genuine repentance and a recognition that our hearts are “poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity” (v.23) without Jesus. God’s love for Samaritans does not mean that all Samaritans are suddenly accepted into God’s family. It means that, like the Jews, they too have every opportunity to repent, believe and be saved. Simon’s salvation (which was completed in v.24-25) is clear evidence of this truth.

Lord, thank You for including me in the offer of salvation. Please help me to continue in the path of faith and repentance all the days of my life, so that I may continually be saved from the power of sin and transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. Amen.