Today's sermon text is Acts chapter 8 verses 5-25, Philip went down to the city of Samaria and began proclaiming Christ to them. The crowds of one accord were giving attention to what was said by Philip as they heard and saw the signs which he was performing. For in the case of many who had uncleaned spirits, they were coming out of them shouting with a loud voice. And many who had been paralyzed in lame were healed. So there was much rejoicing in that city. Now there was a man named Simon who formerly was practicing magic in the sea and astonishing the people of Samaria claiming to be someone great. And they all from small as the greatest were getting attention to him saying this man is what is called the great power of God. And they were giving him attention because he had for a long time astonished them with his magic arts. But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized men and women alike, even Simon himself believed. And after being baptized he continued on with Philip and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent them Peter and John who came down and prayed for them. They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus, pardon me excuse me, came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For he had not yet fallen upon any of them, they had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they began laying their hands on them and they were receiving the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles hands he offered them money, saying give this authority to me as well so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit. But Peter said to him, may your silver perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have no part of portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Therefore, repent of this wickedness of yours and pray the Lord that if possible the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in gall of bitterness in the body of iniquity. Simon answered and said pray to the Lord for me yourselves so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me. So when they had solemnly testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. The grass withers and the flower fades. Let's pray together. Father before I presume to teach anyone else would you give me a heart that looks to you by faith and says teach me, O Lord. Before I presume to preach to others will you ensure that I have first preached to my own heart from this text. Before I proclaim the gospel to others and proclaim Christ and the news of his kingdom to this assembly father will you make me a man who has received and rested upon that gospel himself first. And so father now I pray that for each of us that we would be those people who look to you and say teach us, O Lord, with hearts that are ready to follow you where you lead. And we pray Lord Jesus had even now by your spirit, the same spirit whom you graciously gave to the Samaritans that you would now seek in this room in these moments and save that which is lost. And that you would build up your people and beautify your bride this morning. We pray in your mighty and saving name. Well, we'll be in Acts for a while now. We're back. And Acts 8, it's funny to see how the Lord works. It's funny to me because I'm such an opinionated turkey sometimes and have opinions about everything. And I had an opinion before I started preaching Acts that I had an opinion about Acts 8. That Acts 8 was going to be a real quick journey. I was wrong, right? God has just continued to show me things in Acts 8 that I had never seen before and I have just fallen in love with the Samaritan people through this text. And think that the Lord has really spoken my own heart through the story of Philip's ministry there. But as has been a few weeks since we've been in Samaritan, I want to make sure that we remember a couple of things at the outset that are very important in terms of what they reveal to us about the heart of Jesus Christ. They are very important. And the first is that Philip's ministry in Samaria follows and fulfills the promise of another. And what I mean by that is Philip is not the pioneer in Samaria, is he? Now, there was one who went to Samaria before him whose name was Jesus Christ and he had an appointment which his father had scheduled for him, an appointment to keep at a well in Samaria just a few years before this passage. He had an appointment that his father had scheduled for him with a woman who was haunted by history of moral failure and collapse and shortcomings and who was very conscious of her own separation from God. And he had an appointment to keep with this woman for one purpose and that was to announce to her that God, his father was seeking worshipers from the midst of Samaria. An outlanding content that God would come to Samaria, the God of Israel would come to the place of people who had been so unfaithful and would say to them, I want you, you to worship me. And then he would send his own son, no mere foot soldier, to bring that message, is an astonishing statement about the value of the Samaritan people to God and to Jesus Christ. Now, Philip's presence in Samaria in Acts 8 proves that that conversation at the well was no fluke that God really is determined to raise up worshipers from Samaria and that Jesus' conversation with the woman was just the first of many gospel conversations with the people of Samaria. That's a wonderful thing because it proves to us and reminds us that Philip's ministry in Samaria is something we can look at and say Jesus is faithful to his word. God is not simply temporary seeking worshipers, He's always seeking worshipers. That's a great promise that we can bank on even this morning that God's not done looking for people to worship Him through Jesus Christ and that ought to encourage you. The second thing that I want to make sure we have in front of us is that the Samaritan salvation has a very high value to Jesus Christ. Just think, not only about that first conversation that he had with the woman at the well, much to the consternation of his bigoted disciples, but I want you to think about what we've learned just in the book of Acts, what did it take to get Philip to Samaria with the gospel? Well, first you want to talk about value, how about the sacrifices of Jesus Christ? The highest sacrifice you could imagine. But then, at the beginning of chapter 8, what do we read about? We read about a persecution, right? But something happened before that persecution and that was the martyrdom of Stephen. Remember that in chapter 7? Stephen is murdered for testifying to the Jewish authorities that God, the God of Israel is not content to simply be the God of Israel. He wants all peoples to worship Him and Stephen is murdered for just that fact. And then Luke tells us in chapter 8 at the beginning in verse 1, really a very frightening thing. He says, and on that day, the day of Stephen's death, a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem. And they were all scattered, now notice, where the persecution drives the gospel, throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. So this means that the Samaritans who come to faith under Philip's ministry are immensely valuable to Jesus Christ because he was willing not only to sacrifice himself, but also to give up Stephen over to martyrdom and to sovereignly direct a persecution in such a way that the gospel would be carried to Samaria. So that means that everything that happens in chapter 8 and all the questions that are raised, and there's a big wapper question that gets raised in this morning's text, that these are really important for us to think about because the Lord himself considers these questions to be very important. This text this morning, where we're going to focus on verses 14 through 17. This text presents a very important question. Now, I want to help you see that question, and what we're going to do this morning is I'm going to identify the question for you. Then we're going to analyze the answer biblically, and we're going to reflect on two lessons that flow out of the question and its biblical answer. But first, I have to help you see the question. Let's look at verses 12, let's start by looking at verse 12, because Luke tells us something in verse 12, and then tells us something in verses 15 through 16 about the very same people, and that he is able to make those two statements about a same group of people ought to shock you. And it raises an enormous question that goes to the very heart of what the gospel is and what it isn't. Verse 12, but when they believe Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized. Men and women alike, these people are being saved under Philip's ministry. This is no shadow profession of faith. This is a real coming to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the way you know that is when the apostles, Peter and John, show up. They don't correct Philip's teaching. You notice how Luke is very careful to pin out that all the apostles did when they came. The authoritative apostles laid their hands on the Samaritans and prayed for them. Why? Here's the second fact that Luke tells us about these people that raised a question. Luke informs us, starting at verse 15, that Peter and John came down and prayed for them, why? That they might receive the Holy Spirit for he had not yet fallen upon any of them. They had simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Now those two things that they can be true about the same group of people in this passage should raise an enormous question for you because what the Samaritans go through is a two stage experience. Don't they? They're converted genuinely under verse 12, under Philip's preaching, and yet they do not receive the Spirit at the moment of their conversion. Do they? In fact, I would imagine that there is some lapse of time here between the end of verse 13 and the beginning of verse 14 because the news didn't travel by email. Did Jerusalem, that Samaria had received the Word of God? How did it get there? Feet. It's going to take a while. And then the apostles have to meet and have to say, wow, Samaria has received the Word of God. We need to send somebody here. So there is a huge gap between when the Samaritans were converted and when they received the Holy Spirit. Is that normal? Is that what you are supposed to expect? Is that a template for ordinary Christian experience that you can be converted and live without the Holy Spirit and wait for some post conversion experience or maturation to the point where God will suddenly say, okay, now I'll give you my spirit. Is that what Christianity is? There are a lot of people who read this passage that way and they come from very divergent camps, Roman Catholic theology teaches just that fact. That's what the sacrament of confirmation is about. You can be baptized and not receive the Holy Spirit until you're confirmed through the laying on of hands of a bishop. Is that what this passage teaches? How about Pentecostal teaching, which teaches that you can be converted. You can repent of your sins and come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and yet you must mate for a spirit baptism, which is usually signified by speaking in tongues. Is that the gospel? There are people in this room who have been affected by both extremes of that teaching and I am so jealous for you that you would hear this morning that both those are seriously wrong. Because what's at stake in this passage is what is the work of Jesus Christ? Is the work of Jesus Christ enough? Is grace really grace? I know you didn't come in here this morning with this burning question on your mind, probably many of you saying, I am just so perplexed I stayed up all Saturday night wondering is at 814-17 teaching that a two-stage initiation into the Christian faith is what God's will is for us. Anybody stay up late last night wondering about that? Well, I did. But here's the thing. Let me just try to persuade you very quickly that this question is really important because I need you to listen to the whole message and I want to lose you at the front end as soon as I identify the question. So I need to help you feel the questions importance. Let me try to do that by restating the question in other terms that are related and that I hope to show you in fact are exactly the same question. Does it matter to you beloved to know to a certainty that 100% of your sins 100% of your sins passed present and future are forgiven and that you stand right now in a place before God where there is no condemnation over. Does that matter to you? Does it matter to you to know that right at this moment you are fully reconciled to your creator and that there are no open questions between you and him such that your fellowship with him would be hindered or impeded? Does that matter to you? Does it matter to you to know that once you repent of your sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation that you're not put into some kind of probationary holding night by God conversion doesn't lead to probation. It leads to reconciliation. Does it matter to you to know that when you are converted you are permanently and indelibly was looking for the right adverb indelibly reconciled to God does that matter. Of course it does. Well those are all the same question. Biblically speaking as whether or not God designs or you to be initiated into the body of Christ by a two stage experience or by one stage of conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ being linked inseparably with being indwelt by his Holy Spirit. Those are the same thing Biblically speaking and if you get that wrong you will have peace with God. So now when you have a biblical question like this and you've got a passage like this what do you do? How do you go about solving a biblical question like this? Well one way to do it and I think the best way to do it is what I'm going to do for you which is we're going to start in the passage itself. You look at the immediate context then you look at the book in which the passage is found and then you test your hypothesis against the wider context of New Testament teaching on the subject. Does that make sense? You start and you make sure you understand the passage. It is amazing how many biblical questions are resolved by just looking at a passage carefully. And then you test it against the book is it is the author of the teaching this and then you look at the wider New Testament context. That's what we're going to do. So let's start with the passage and let's begin with a couple of things. First observation I want you to notice that we can't let ourselves off the hook here. It would be nice to be really easy. We could just move on quickly to the Ethiopian unit if verse 12 wasn't just staring us right in the face. We cannot wiggle off the hook here and say that the Americans weren't actually converted until the apostles came down. Luke's just not going to give us any room for that because as I pointed out earlier verse 12 is very strong. They believed the message that Philip was preaching they believed about the kingdom of God. They believe the name of Jesus Christ. None of which is affirmed about Simon by the way in verse 13. We don't know what Simon believed, but we know what the Samaritans believed. And they believe the gospel and then when the apostles come and they don't correct the teaching that led to the Samaritans profession of faith. We've got we've got staring at us right in the face genuine conversion. So we've got a face issue. But as Luke telling us anything in the passage it should make us question whether this experience of the Samaritans is intended to be kind of programmatic for ordinary Christian experience or whether it's an exception. And I think there's a very important word in verse 16 that is a window onto what Luke thinks about this. I think Luke is just a surprise. Look at verse 16 he tells us for he the Holy Spirit had not yet fallen upon any of them. They had most translations say only some say simply been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. See Luke is highlighting that he's saying something unusual has happened here and he's wanting us to understand that what's happened is unusual. That's a very important piece of evidence. How about the place we're in Samaria. Does it make a difference to how you analyze this that we're in Samaria. Does that is important in the passage and in the book. Yes, it's hugely important. The first thing to remember here is that when when Philip preaches the gospel in Samaria, that is the first time that is the first time the gospel has been preached outside of Jerusalem. Is that significant in the book of Acts? Well, remember Luke's account of what the risen Lord said to the apostles in chapter 1 verse 8. Why don't you turn there with me. About a year ago, we spent time thinking about how Acts 1, 8 is really a template from Luke's perspective. It's really Jesus's perspective for how the gospel is going to advance from Jerusalem into the world following Pentecost in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And he says to the apostles in verse 8, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and even to the remotest part of the earth. So Samaria is a significant place. It's a significant milestone. It's one of the places specifically named by the risen Lord in the commission to his apostles. So perhaps we need to take account of that fact in the way we analyze this. Is there something very significant about the milestone, about Samaria such that it's like a milestone in the gospel's advance? And I would argue yes because when you move out of the context of the immediate passage and you look at the larger book of Acts, if you're going to argue that chapter 8 teaches that it is an ordinary thing for God to withhold the Holy Spirit from those who are genuinely converted to Jesus Christ, then you're going to have to convince me that that's going to show up elsewhere in the book of Acts. And it shows up this many times, zero. You can't go to chapter 19 and say when Paul found those disciples in Ephesus, that those were Christians. They were Christians. They were disciples of John the Baptist. Hello. So that's not an example. So what you're left with in the book of Acts is Peter's sermon on Pentecost, Acts 238. And remember the promise that Peter says to his audience on Pentecost, go to chapter 2, verse 38. This is very important. Look at the way Peter preaches the gospel to the Jews assembled of Pentecost. He says Peter said to them, repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Now it doesn't end there, right? So repent, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. So Peter's very clear. And in fact, if you put weight down on what Peter says, the ordinary experience is going to be, then verse 16 ought to shock you in chapter 8. And sure enough, when we think about what's going on in the book of Acts as the gospel is advancing out of Jerusalem to the very remotest parts of the earth, I think the only reasonable conclusion that you can come to here is that Luke, but more importantly than Luke, the Lord Jesus himself, the risen Lord himself, is highlighting through this event. And he is highlighting the significance of the gospel's advance beyond Jerusalem as he promised into Samaria. Now that's very important for Jewish apostles to appreciate who have been bred with a, what's the nicest thing I can say, a sense of superiority over against other races and cultures. And it comes out in the gospels you see it all the time, right? I mean, when they're in John chapter 4, how, how enthusiastic are the cycles that they're in Samaria? Not too enthusiastic. In fact, they are just constantly doing this. What are we doing here? I can't believe you're talking to this woman. And then in Luke chapter 9, when there's another story, which is very important and that involved John as a matter of fact, in Luke chapter 9 verses 52 through 54, Jesus is going to a village of the Samaritans and they reject him and won't receive him. And you remember what to John and his brother James, the sons of thunder, these guys are great. I love these guys because they're so predictable. Remember what they say? Hey Lord, how about we ask God to bring fire down on that village of Samaritans? Remember that story? So these, these, these, these apostles who have some prejudice against the Samaritans, they need to see this. Because what's happening when the gospel goes into Samaria is something that can never be repeated again. It can only enter Samaria for the first time once, right? And that's a big deal. And so I think you have to find the explanation for this delayed outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Samaritans in that, in that structure that Luke has given us in the book of Acts and that the Lord follows as the template for the advance of his gospel. Into the very ends of the earth. Now if that hypothesis is correct, then we should when we look at the rest of the New Testament, we should be able to find a lot of evidence that, that supports that conclusion that indicates that when you are converted, the Holy Spirit is part of the gift of that process of being brought to the Lord Jesus Christ and isn't separated. So that argument that I just made only holds out the rest of the New Testament supports it. So that's pretty important. Let me take you to four texts. First, if you go to 1 Corinthians 12, 13. You know, work your Bible's form. Go to 1 Corinthians 12, 13. And I want you to, in each of these texts, I want you to notice what Paul assumes about the connection between being identified at Christian. Either in the church or before God and the Holy Spirit's life in you. Look at verse 13. For by one spirit, we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit. Now, what is Paul saying there? Well, what he's saying just very basically is if you're a member of the body of Christ, if you're a genuine member of the church of Jesus Christ, which is simply another way of saying, if you're a Christian, then you have the Holy Spirit. You've been made to drink of one spirit and there's no category for Paul in verse 13 of a person who would have authentically repented other sins, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and yet not have seen the Holy Spirit. That just wouldn't ever enter Paul's mind. Verse 13. You see that? How about Galatians 3, verse 2? Again, in each of these, here's the point. Christian identity and being in dwell by the Holy Spirit are inseparable. You can't have one without the other. Galatians 3, 2. When Paul writes to the Galatians who are struggling with understanding the gospel and his implications for whether or not you must obey the law in order to be right before God, he says this to the Galatians. This is the only thing I want to find out from you. That's quite a statement. When somebody says something like that and they're inspired by the Holy Spirit, then what he says is really important. Did the only thing I want to find out from you, did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by him with faith? What's he talking about there? What he's saying is he's saying when you were converted. Did you do that by faith or when you went by works? No, he said when you received the Spirit, did you do that by faith or by works? He's talking about justification. How has somebody justified before God? They're justified when they repent and believe not by works but by faith. Paul is linking receiving the Spirit to conversion there to being justified. So again, Paul has no category for somebody who could be justified and yet not have received the Spirit. If you are saved, if you are forgiven, if you are pardoned, if you are justified, you have received the Holy Spirit. Now, how about Ephesians? Chapter 1, verses 13 through 14. This is very important text, starting in verse 13. In him, that's in Jesus. You also, now what I want you to notice here is when the Holy Spirit acts. In him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation, having also believed. You were sealed in him with the Holy Spirit of promise, was given as a pledge of our inheritance with a view to the redemption of God's own possession to the praise of His glory. Very clear there, Paul is saying when you believed, when you were converted, when you received the Lord Jesus Christ, what happened? You were sealed in him, meaning you were reconciled, you were joined to Jesus Christ, and you were reconciled to him, how? How was that applied to you through the ceiling of the Holy Spirit? You see that? Once again, no possible category for somebody to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ and yet not have been indwelt or sealed by the Holy Spirit. That is so important to see that conversion and indwelling come together. And then finally, Romans make you go to the left now. It's good for you, right? Just don't get carpal tunnel syndrome. Romans 8, I want to start in verse 9. Now, Romans 8, from Romans 8, 1 to Romans 8, 17, there are 14 references to the Holy Spirit. So Paul fits that the Spirit is very, very important to understanding what it means to be a Christian, essential. And in verse 9, he says something that every time I read it makes me tremble. However, you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, what? He does not belong to him. It could not be any clearer than verse 9, right? If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to whom? The Spirit? No, to Jesus Christ. So again, Paul has an understanding of the Christian life in which reconciliation to God the Father through Jesus Christ is always inseparably invariably inexorably linked to being in dwell by the Holy Spirit. Now, when you go back to verse 1, which we love to quote, right, in our assurance of parting, love, this is a great memory verse. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Now, watch as I read down to verse 17, how many times the Spirit is linked to what it means to be a Christian for the law? Why is there no condemnation? Why are you under no condemnation of verse 1 for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the love, sin, and death? You want to know pardon? You want to know acceptance? You want to know freedom with God? There is no way, according to Paul, to know that, apart from being in dwell by the Holy Spirit. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did. Sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh. In order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, okay? So now, who is it true as to whom is it true that the righteous requirement of the law is fulfilled? That's a really important question that you ought to listen to. Because if the righteous requirement of the law is not fulfilled as to you, then life is true. You're bearing the weight of your own judge, and you're not strong enough to do that. So look at what Paul says. In order that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. In other words, if you don't have the Spirit, you're not under the covering. A dissatisfaction given by Jesus Christ for the law's righteous requirements overall flesh. Huge. That's the heart of the gospel, by the way. Now come down with me to verse 14. For all who are being led by the, oh, here we go, who are being led by the Spirit of God. These are sons of God. What's the implication there? If you don't have the Spirit of God, what? You have no identity as a child of God. Again, Paul has no, no category for somebody who could be reconciled to God, and yet not being dwelt by the Spirit. Everything that it is to be a Christian depends upon being dwelt by the Holy Spirit. For you have not received a Spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received Spirit of adoption of sons by which we cry out, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God, and if children airs also airs of God and fellow airs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. You see, this is utterly critical. In Paul's mind, if you asked Paul whether it was possible for somebody to be standing in a place of favor before God without the Holy Spirit, he'd say, Can you regrow and say it? So, friends, you will never hear from me any patience for anybody who teaches you that it's not good enough, that it's not good enough for you to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be indwelt by the Holy Spirit and have the identity as a child of God. I will fight to my last breath to protect the gospel from that lie. Well, does this have to do with our lives? That's a fair question. Lesson one. Both of these are about our relationships. The first is with each other because I think the first way in which I was kind of blown away by this passage this week as the Lord was dealing with my own heart was out of the blue. Out of the blue, out of the blue, something I never thought about with respect to this passage just jumped to the four. It was this. This passage teaches us about the importance of unity in the Church of Jesus Christ. The importance of unity in our relationships with each other. Now, where do I get that? Unity among Christ's people is an enormous and guiding value for the Lord Jesus in what he accomplishes in Samaria here. It's so important that he sovereignly delays. I just want you to feel this unity between the church in Jerusalem and the growing church in Samaria is so important to him that he sovereignly delays pouring the Holy Spirit out in Samaria. Why? So that the apostles will leave Jerusalem to come and lay hands on the Samaritans whom they once despised and to pray for them so that they can look each other in the eyes and know that the gospel of Jesus Christ in his ministry is so radical in what it does to relationships and freeing up people to tear down those old barriers that separated them. That he made in his mercy the Samaritans wait to receive the Holy Spirit so that both the apostles would be there and need to not just be happy at a distance for their prosperity, but to go and to lay hands on them and to touch them. Those who once were unclean and to pray for them that they would receive the very thing that they had received on Pentecost. That's good for the apostles and how about the Samaritans? Oh, how good it would be to be a Samaritan and to have the apostles there and to know that Philips ministry was no fluke after you've been separated from the Commonwealth of the people of God for a thousand years, which was true of the Samaritans. Wouldn't it be good to know that you are not a bastard child in the family of God? Oh so powerful. How important unity is here and it's so important that notice what happens to the apostles in verse 25. They don't just come down and pray for the Samaritans and then go home to Jerusalem. They said, man the ministry to the Samaritans is now our ministry. We're going to go and preach the gospel in the villages of the Samaritans. That's exactly what the Lord wanted to have happen so that the gospel would not have little enclaves of superiority and privilege. That the church wouldn't simply be content to say, well we've got the Jerusalem church and then there's the Samaritan church but we all really have dealings with each other. Now I want you to think about that at the local congregational level. Us, you, me, who do you need to move toward to get close enough to lay hands on and to pray for? Who would you rather avoid in the hallway or at the fellowship lunch? Who do you turn away from and try to hide it? Look and busy. Who have you felt separated from and cooled down towards? It's not even pray for them anymore. Who are you much more content to be happier for at a distance now close? Let me suggest that you need to start in your homes. Husband and wife. Could it be? Husband and wife. Could it be that it's easier for you to pray for others than it is to pray for your spouse? Could it be that you're alienated from the one you sleep next to? Is it possible for you to pray with your spouse or is there too much accumulated anger and resentment and frustration and communication so that you can't even pray together? Husbands, you need to take the lead move towards your wives here and wives, you need to be receptive. How about parents and children? Same household. Is it possible that alienation could exist? Unity is important in the church of Jesus Christ in the family. How about someone in the church you've grown cold towards?
Fellowship lunch. It's going to happen in about 20 minutes. It's going to happen. I encourage you to have a conversation with somebody today to move toward them and sit next to them and listen to what's going on in their life and to begin to pray for that person. I know God is laying people in your hearts right now. Write that name down and you're bulletin. Pray for that person every day this week. That's with each other, the importance of unity. How about with God, our relationship with God? I've alluded to this already. The reason I'm so passionate about this in the end, in the final analysis, the reason I'm so passionate about this is because I believe that the gospel is at stake in the understanding that you bring to this issue. If you get this wrong, then you have no, you're out of sync with what the Bible teaches about the gospel. I am passionate about the issue because I believe that is one of the things that God has called me to do in my life is to protect you from teaching that would seek to rob you of the riches of the gospel. The reason about here is nothing less than the value of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Let me try to tell you why I think that is and then we'll close. Remember what the gospel is, the gospel is the message of the fathers, now get this unrestrained extravagance toward his people. Unrestrained no breaks whatsoever on the grace of God towards his people, no governors on it whatsoever. If he gave you as the Church of Jesus Christ his son, then how could you ever think Romans 8.32 that there would be any hesitation as part toward you? The gospel is the message of the fathers unrestrained extravagance toward his people. And as I reflected on this passage, I realized that I'm a Samaritan. I am such a Samaritan. My faith is so weak. I need assurance constantly. I am such an assurance junkie. I need more than men from Jerusalem to lay hands on me. I need God's spirit working in me to be sure to where I am in Jesus Christ. I have the same needs that the Samaritan's do. And the reason I'm doing this autobiographically is because I don't want to presume on your part but I am fairly confident that you're going to hear things said from my lips that you would agree with from your experience. And if not, come talk to me at the fellowship lunch and repute me. But I have the same needs as the Samaritan's do. I live in the tension between long to know that I'm fully accepted and incorporated into the family of God's people and that he is holding nothing back toward me. I live in the tension between long to know that and being continually assailed by the temptation to doubt, right? To doubt that I, the Mike Francis I know, not that you know, but that I know, could ever legitimately dare to dream, not just that one day this might be able to be true about me. Not just that this is too good to be true, but to depend daily on the truth that such a thing is true about me. And that every part of my life would be affected by the knowledge that there is nothing the father would hold from me as his child in Jesus Christ. Because the reality, my friends, getting clear about the presence of the whole spirit in your life, getting clear about the gift of the Holy Spirit as part and personal with what it means to belong to Jesus Christ, that helps me here. Because the reality, the Holy Spirit's indwelling of me proves to me, proves to me in graphic terms that there is alienation between God and me any longer. You see, if you think and you live the Christian life thinking that you have to pursue an experience waiting for some post-conversion baptism of the Spirit in order for you to know that you're finally acceptable to God, you have no peace. And the gospel is not meant to give the people of God no peace. When the Holy Spirit comes into your life as the gift of Jesus Christ Himself to His beloved bride, that means two things. It means you're clean enough, you're clean enough for God Himself to dwell in you. I want you to be blown away by that, that the work of Christ is so great and so satisfying to God the Father and so able to clean the weakest person who comes to Him in repentance and faith, that God Himself, the one Isaiah saw, and He said holy, holy, holy, takes up and makes Him as a boat in your heart.
Do you believe that the work of Christ is that great that God could without hesitation come and make you His temple? If you believe the gospel, you believe that? My friends, that's what it is to be a Christian. It means you're clean enough for God Himself to dwell there, the Holy One Himself. It also means that you are close enough to God. If you get this wrong, you're going to think you're separated from God. But if the Holy Spirit who is fully and equally God, if He is it well in you, do you realize how close you are to God? How could you get any closer? He's abiding in your heart. How could you be any more reconciled to Him? How could you be any more at peace with Him? Do you value that? Do you understand the marvels of the riches of what God has given to us in Jesus Christ? Do you live like the wealthy people you are? We are billionaires, trillionaires, in the currency of grace and the favor of God. It is awesome to see this. So friends, I long for you to know this and to live this out in joy and in gladness. And I long for you as an unbeliever if you're here to realize that when we talk about knowing Jesus Christ and being reconciled to God, we are not talking about some Harry Potter kind of spell that you cast over to consciousness of God like some magic recipe. We're talking about a relationship. We're talking about the repairing of the breach that exists between you and your creator. And it is such a complete repair and restoration that God Himself moves inside of you to assure you that the work of His Son has done everything necessary to bring you all the way. So all the way in and all the way home. That is a gospel worth all of your confidence. He is a Savior, worth all of your trust. Give your life to Him and revel in this kind of grace. We are rich, my friends. Father now, we long for the seed of your word first to take root in our hearts and bear fruit there to the honor of Jesus Christ and then in the hearts of all who are here. In the hearts of unbelievers, guard the seed of your word and make the gospel take root there. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.