The Qualities of Genuine Faith Part 1

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Qualities of Genuine Faith Part 1. He will be reading out of Acts 8:9-24.

There are people who will miss heaven by 12 inches. That is, they’ve got it up here. They cut their teeth on these pews and they know the right vernacular. They know the right terminology. They grew up in a Christian home, but their heart is far from God.

Hello this is Pastor Mike Sanders and welcome to Hope Worth Having radio program. We’re going to be in the book of Acts chapter 8. Today we’re going to learn about the qualities of genuine faith. Not all faith is sincere and genuine.

And so we need to understand that and distinguish what is false faith or fake and what is real. Join us as we look at the book of Acts verse 9 through 24 of chapter 8. Grab your Bible and let’s get into the Word.

If you have your Bible this morning I want you to join me in the book of Acts chapter 8 and we took a little hiatus from the book of Acts. We’ve been studying the book of Acts together and I want us to come back to Chapter 8.

We’re going to be looking at verses 9 through 24 this morning talking to you about the qualities of true faith, authentic faith, faith that is genuine, faith that really saves our soul. So as we jump back into the book of Acts I want to remind you that the book of Acts is a period of transition.

It is the transition from the old covenant to the new covenant. It is the transition of things being foreshadowed in the Old Testament ceremonies to being something that is completed and finished through the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and through the resurrection.

It is a transition from the 12 tribes of Israel to the 12 apostles who would be living stones in the foundation of the church. It is a transition from the message of salvation being pretty much contained, not completely, but contained to the Jewish nation, the nation of Israel, to now a gospel message of good news that is going to the ends of the earth.

You remember that Jesus told his disciples in Acts chapter one and verse eight that they were to be witnesses and they were to take the gospel message to Jerusalem and to Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And so we are witnessing this transition when we start tracking through chapter one and chapter two, we see that the apostle Peter emerges as a great leader in the church. In the gospels, we saw that Peter was often a person who would open mouth.

enter foot. We would see that there were times that Peter, though true in his faith, would retreat from what was true and even deny Jesus Christ, that he even knew him. We would see that Peter would lead the disciples who had followed Christ for those three and a fishing, and Jesus would restore Peter.

He would reaffirm Peter. He would recommission Peter to feed his sheep, and Peter would become a great leader in the early church. And that’s what we see taking place in the early chapters of the book of Acts.

If you were to divide it out, you would see that chapter one all the way through chapter eight is really about the ministry of Peter. He re -emerges in chapter 10. But chapter nine, all the way to the end of the book of Acts, we see an emergent of another great leader, Saul, who would become the apostle Paul.

And so Luke, who is the human author under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, is pending down the historical counts of the work of the Spirit through the life of not only Peter and not only the apostle Paul, but also of all the apostles.

Tucked into these chapters, we have been introduced from chapter six to chapter seven to a great man of God. His name was Stephen. We talked a lot about Stephen and how he was so bold in his faith and not afraid to stand up for Christ and to speak up for Christ.

We come to chapter eight and we’re introduced to another great man of God. His name is Philip. And Philip is given to us… as an example and he stands before us as someone who was called of God. He was called back in chapter 6 to be a deacon.

His ministry would evolve in that he would be an evangelist. Philip became a mighty evangelist. He took the gospel to Samaria. Remember what Jesus said? That they would first take the gospel to Jerusalem, then to what?

Samaria. And then to the ends of the earth. That is the entire outline of the book of Acts. If you’re trying to figure out what is the big picture, what is going on in the book of Acts, that’s exactly it.

And what you are witnessing, and this is so important for you as you try to understand, as we drill down in some of these verses, I want you to see this as a period of transition. And now we’re witnessing the gospel going not just…

to Jerusalem, but now it’s starting to spread out into Samaria. We know that great persecution has come upon the church. Saul was wreaking havoc upon the church, and now the ministry of the Word of God is moving out beyond Jerusalem into Samaria.

Philip was a dynamic man of God. He was anointed of the Spirit of God, and he enjoyed much success because of the blessings of God, and his faithfulness to follow the leadership of the Spirit. We pick up in verse 9, and we note that the Scriptures teach us that there was a certain man called Simon who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people in Samaria, claiming that he was someone great,

to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, this man is the great power of God, and they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. Now stop right there.

You’re introduced to this man Simon, and what Luke is doing is wanting to show you the contrast of the ministry of a charlatan, of ministry of a fake named Simon, and the ministry of an authentic, evangelist, preacher, anointed man of God.

So we pick up in verse 12, you see that contrast. Verse 12, the word, but when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.

Do you see the difference between Simon? Simon is astonishing the people. He is doing it by not only claiming to be great, but he is doing it through the means. of magic and sorcery. We see that in verse 11.

We come down to Philip’s ministry. His ministry is a ministry of preaching the things of the kingdom of God, the name of Jesus Christ. His ministry is a ministry where people are responding to the gospel, receiving Christ, and being baptized.

There Simon is a ministry that is about him. He is letting everybody know. He is claiming that he was someone great. Philip is claiming that he knows someone great. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ.

I need to let you know, how do you know the difference between a fraud and a real man of God and a real preacher? and a real teacher of the word of God is that anyone who lifts up themselves, anyone who is all about their name and their ministry and trying to promote themselves to you does not come from God.

But anybody who’s lifted up the name that is above every name, the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is a true person who is sent from God and God has sent him to proclaim the wonderful message of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because friends I want you to know there’s only one way to be saved. You can’t get saved by religion, you can’t get saved by all the razzle dazzle out there that the world might want to try to present to you.

You only get saved through Jesus Christ. Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life and no man comes to the Father but by me. Can God’s people say amen? Now friends you only get saved by Christ. Our job is to lift him up not ourselves and that’s important as you are understanding this distinction and Luke wants us to see this as the Spirit of God has given him the words to pin down and to present to us as the inerrant infallible word of God.

He wants us to see the distinction. Now we’re back in verse 13 and an amazing thing takes place. Look at verse 13. Then Simon himself also believed and when he was baptized he continued with Philip and he was amazed seeing the miracles and signs which were done.

Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God they sent Peter and John to them who when they had come down prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit for as yet he He had fallen upon none of them.

They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that, through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, the Holy Spirit was given.

He offered them money, saying, give me this power also that anyone on whom I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him, your money perish with you because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money.

You have neither part nor portion in this matter for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Look at verse 22. Repent therefore of this your wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you where I see that you are poisoned.

by bitterness and bound by iniquity that Simon answered and said, pray to the Lord for me that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me. Simon, he is a picture of a false believer. The reason I wanna share with you the qualities of genuine faith is that I want you to see what brings about true faith in the life of a person, and what can bring about what we might refer to as a false faith,

or perhaps even as James described it, a demonic faith. You remember that James remind us that even the demons believe. The Bible tells us that Simon was so fascinated with the message and the ministry of Philip that the Bible says that he believed, but he not only believed, he was baptized, and that he continued with Philip.

He became someone who kind of followed the ministry of Philip in Samaria. He was amazed as he watched Philip perform miracles and signs before the people. So what are those qualities? We’re gonna pull some of these things out this morning, and I want you to do a heart check.

I want you to look at each of these qualities and say, Lord, is this true in my life? Is there any area in my life that I need to make sure is right with you? Is there any area that I am failing and faltering in my authentic faith for you?

I want you to make sure that you examine yourselves. The scriptures teach us to examine ourselves. I know there’s a lot of preachers who don’t encourage. you to examine yourself, but I tell you that they are violating the word of God for the scriptures teach us to examine ourselves and to see if we are in the faith.

So I want you to see the first quality, number one, a willingness to admit our sinfulness. You say, what is the first quality of genuine faith, pastor? It is a willingness to admit that you are a sinner.

We go back to verse 9, and we see in Simon that he was a man who practiced sorcery in the city. He astonished the people of Samaria, and he claimed that he was someone great. Simon was someone who attracted people to himself.

He attracted people to himself. He believed that he had the great power of God. According to the early church father writings, they claim that Simon would eventually become the founder of the false religion of Gnosticism.

Gnosticism is simply the belief somehow that there was a greater knowledge, there was a mystical knowledge about God that could only be attained by certain people and that they believed you had to work your way to heaven.

Oh Jesus was good and he was nice and he was a wonderful teacher but you needed more. All that Christ had provided in dying on the cross and resurrecting from the dead was not sufficient to save one.

The Gnostics believed this, that you had to do more to achieve salvation. And Simon stands before us as an example in this text that he was not a true believer. Notice back in verse 21 of chapter 8, the apostle Peter said to him, you have neither part nor portion in this matter, meaning that even though he had believed and even though he was baptized, he had no part in the gift of the Spirit in that the Spirit of God fills those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We’ll break that down more for you in just a few minutes but I want you to see this. Peter says to Simon, you have neither part nor portion in this matter for your heart is not right in the sight of God.

He calls on Simon to repent. He goes on to verse 23 and say that he is poisoned by bitterness. He is bound by iniquity or sins. And what is Simon’s response? Simon’s response is not repentance. His response is not that he wants to make things right with God.

His response is, well Peter you pray for me. You pray for me that none of these things will happen to me. That’s Simon’s response. A reflection of a heart that does not truly believe. The qualities of true faith is a willingness to say, I am a sinner and I am in need of a savior.

Those who fail to see themselves as sinners will never see their need for a savior. Be careful that you might be among those sitting in this congregation that you have believed intellectually and that you have been baptized, you have taken the classes, you have gone through the process, and you have done what is required for you outwardly, but you have never received the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior.

There are people who will miss heaven by 12 inches. That is, they got it up here. They cut their teeth on these pews and they went to the Christian school and they know the right vernacular, They know the right terminology.

They grew up in a Christian home and they can make the right answers when they are asked the questions, but their heart is far from God. How do you know that your faith is real? You are willing to admit that you are a sinner in need of a savior.

If you think today that you are not a sinner in need of a savior, that you can save yourself or that you can be good enough or that somehow you can be spiritual enough or mature enough that you don’t need all this other stuff.

You don’t need a relationship with Christ. Oh, you’ve got religion. You believe and you’ve been baptized and nobody can take that away from you. I remember when I pastored in Indiana and I remember receiving a phone call from one of our members who was about to die.

And she requested that the secretary have the pastor come see her and to make sure that he brought her baptismal certificate. I went to see her. I didn’t bring no baptismal certificate because I told her it’s just a piece of paper.

What really matters is you have faith in Jesus Christ. Remember the thief on the cross? He never got baptized. I’m not against baptism. I want you to be baptized if you’ve truly believed. But I want to tell you something that this thief on the cross believed in Jesus and the Bible tells us that Christ said, today you’ll be with me in paradise.

So it’s not that baptism saves me. Baptism is about my obedience to God. Baptism is about my maturity in Christ. Baptism is about me growing in Christ. But if I’m gonna be saved, I must be willing to admit that I am a sinner in need of a savior.

No, Simon was not like that. He was fascinated. He had an intellectual knowledge, but he never, ever. ever was willing to humble himself before God. Jesus taught us in Matthew 23, 12, that whoever exalts himself shall be abased and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

My friends, I want you to know that you don’t come to Christ on your terms. You don’t come to Christ with your demands. You come to Christ and you surrender all and you humbly bow before God in your heart and you cry out to the Lord admitting that you’re a sinner and willingly receive him as your Lord and Savior.

I fear that there are many that are full of themselves and they have not truly received Christ as their Savior. D .L. Moody said, God sends no one away, empty except those who are full of themselves.

The Bible reminds us in James 4, 6 that he giveth more grace. Wherefore, he’d say, if God resists the proud, but he giveth grace unto the humble. You want to receive the saving grace of God in your life?

You want to experience the great work of Christ, salvation in your heart? Then it’s essential, friends, that you humble yourself before Jesus Christ. Apart from that, you cannot enter in to the kingdom of God.

The second thing that I want you to see this morning in the qualities of genuine faith is a transformed heart that changes us. What is the quality of a truly saved person? It is that their heart has been transformed.

Let’s go back to verse 13 of Acts chapter eight, and notice the Bible says that Simon himself also believed, and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, he was amazed seeing the miracles and the signs which were done.

But again, we don’t see transformation in his heart. What we see back in verse 19, he says, give me this power. I want this power. Why does Simon want power? Because it fuels his selfish ministry. It fuels the sorcery and the magic and all the things that he was doing to try to promote himself.

He says to Peter, give me this power also that anyone on whom I lay hands on may receive the Holy Spirit. Again, what you are witnessing is a heart that has not been transformed. His belief, his belief was not only intellectual, but it was selfish.

Why did he believe, I try to tell people this all the time, that you can’t come to Jesus and think that, well, I came to Jesus, I’m gonna get saved so he’ll save my marriage. I’m gonna get saved so I don’t lose my job.

I’m gonna get saved so I can somehow survive. to survive financially, I’m gonna get saved, and you have all these reasons that you’re gonna get saved. Listen to me, friends, if you’re coming to Christ to get saved for any other reason than that you are a sinner in need of salvation, that you’re not really coming to Jesus Christ.

I know that’s hard to swallow. I know that’s hard for us to accept, but I’m telling you that the evidence or the quality of an authentic faith is a heart that has been changed. Simon’s belief was not unto salvation.

It was simply a recognition of what Philip taught was true. It was an intellectual knowledge about God. It was correct in his mind, but it was not correct in his heart, for his heart was far from God.

His faith was dead. His faith was dead. was worthless. Remember what Peter said to him in verse 21, your heart is not right in the sight of God. It’s easy for us to puff our chest down and say, hey, I’ve been a member for how many years?

It’s easy to puff our chest down and say, I’ve been sitting in this pew for the last 70 years. Well, the church hadn’t even been around 70 years. What are you talking about? My point is don’t take pride in your outward actions.

The Bible teaches us man looks on the outside, but God looks at the heart. God knows every one of our hearts this morning. He knows if you’re playing games with him, he knows if you are just kind of going through the motions and just doing the religious thing and trying to get this person off your back because they keep inviting you.

He knows whether you have a real relationship with him. He knows if you’re just a person who’s fascinated with the razzle dazzle and the outward, or whether your heart has truly been transformed by God.

I want you to look at verse 21 again. He says, you neither have part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Can there be a greater indictment upon any person? Your heart is not right in the sight of God.

Now, most people would get mad if the preacher told them that. Peter looked at Simon who had having believed, having been baptized, having followed the ministry and become a fan of the ministry of Philip and witnessing all the miracles and all the amazing things that happened in the mighty works that God did in the life of Philip.

Remember, it’s a transitional period. We’ll talk more about that, but here’s my point. If the preacher comes to you and says your heart is not right with God, he’s only carrying God. out the message that there are people that always are pretenders who claim they know God and you say how do you know that you know God well your heart will change you’ll be transformed I want you to understand it’s not just hey I mentally acknowledge this hey I intellectually acknowledge this it is about full surrender to God if the Bible tells us that with the heart man believes unto righteousness Simon is a classic example of a false believer he was a sorcerer who made a profession of faith he was baptized but as you watch his life he provides us the evidence that his heart never ever chain genuine faith inevitably produces a trans formed heart in a person’s life.

The Bible teaches us that the cross has an awesome power that not only forgives us of our sins, but it transforms our life. The Bible tells us if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation and old things do what?

Pass away. And behold, all things become what, church? Now listen to me, either God lies or he’s telling the truth. There is no in -between with God. He is saying that if you are in Christ, then you will have the passing away of the old things.

I recognize it’s a process. When I came to Jesus, I wasn’t like automatically this super -duper Christian, but I want you to know that when I got up from that altar and I had received Christ as my savior, the Spirit of God was living in me.

And when I used to curse, it never bothered me. But when the Spirit of God was in me and I started to curse, it convicted me. Little by little, God was transforming my heart. And little by little, he was changing me.

Why? Because the evidence of the Spirit was within me. The quality of true faith is that you have a transformed life where the old is passing away. Little by little, it’s passing away. And behold, all things are becoming new.

If you have a heart for the world, if you have a heart for the flesh, if you have the heart for what you want, rather than what God wants, you might wanna get back on your knees and cry out to God for him to save your soul.

I know some of you are praying for your children and I know you pray that they’ll get rededicated, but I’m here to tell you that some of you need to just say, Lord, you need to save my son. You need to save my daughter.

You need to save my mother. You need to save my father, because it’s not about rededication. They never came to Christ. I know they believed and I know they were baptized and I know they got the certificates and I know they went through all the programming.

Rightly so, Mom and Dad, rightly so. When we look at this passage, we see the distinctions of genuine faith. And I hope that you’ll use these marks as a way to measure your own heart and your own faith.

And I pray that God will continue to awaken you and draw you to Him. If for any reason your faith has not been real and it’s been something you’ve been going through, the motions and you’ve not been sincere, this is your opportunity to respond to God and to genuinely express true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

We encourage you to go to our website, contact us and let us know how God is working in your life and how He is drawing you. Remember that you can go to our YouTube channel and you can type in… this very title, The Qualities of Genuine Faith, and you can listen to the entire message that we have here and be able to be encouraged in your faith.

So take advantage of that. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.