Well, let’s study Simon’s offer. He wanted to be able to have this ability. “Give me this ability also so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” Simon is a brand new Christian. How is Peter going to handle this situation? How should you treat a brand new Christian who sins? What does Peter say? He says, “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could buy the gift of God with money!” It says, “You have no part or share in this ministry because your heart is not right before God.” Peter tells Simon to “repent of this wickedness and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for having such a thought in your heart. For I see that you are full of bitterness and captive to sin.”

We see many times where people are misguided—times where Christians sin. In the book of Acts, let’s see how this is handled.

Back in [Acts] chapter 5, we have Ananias and Sapphira. And if you remember the story there, what happened was that people were selling their land, and they would come, and they would lay down the money that they received for their land at the feet of the apostles. And Ananias and Sapphira sell some property, and they come before the apostles and lay down a portion of the money. Well, there was nothing really wrong with that except they laid the portion of it down and made people think that this was the total money they got for the land they had sold! And, thus, they were lying! And Ananias was told in Acts 5, and verse 4, “Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied to men but to God.” Well, you know the story. Ananias falls down dead!

The young men carry him off and bury him. The people that did that come back in, and about that time the wife of Ananias is there. She is confronted. “Did you sell the land for this much money?” She answers, “Yeah, we did.” And she falls down dead.

You know, you always hear that the Old Testament is full of stories of God being very swift in judgment, and that the New Testament is just the opposite of that. Some people say that we have a different God in the New Testament than we did in the Old Testament.

Well, let’s keep looking. We have Ananias and Sapphira. We have Simon, who has been confronted there by Peter. And in Acts, chapter 12, we have Herod. Beginning in verse 21 of Acts, chapter 12: “On the appointed day Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, ‘This is the voice of a god, not of a man.’ Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died,” [Acts 12:21-23]. Well, that doesn’t sound like “kid gloves” there either! That doesn’t sound like trying to do something not to offend somebody!

In chapter 13 of Acts, there is an account of another sorcerer. He was a fellow named Elymas. Beginning in [Acts 13] verse 9: “Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, ‘You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the light of the sun.’ Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand,” [Acts 13:9-11]. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever!

We have in Acts, chapter 18—this will be the last example I’ll use here, but in [Acts,] chapter 18, verses 18 and following, we have Aquilla and Priscilla and Apollos. And Apollos was a real good evangelist, a real good person. But he didn’t know accurately about baptism. Well, what happens? We’ll begin down in verse 24—Acts 18:24: “Meanwhile a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was a learned man, with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and he spoke with great fervor and taught about Jesus accurately, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they invited him to their home and explained to him the way of God more adequately,” [Acts 18:24-26].

So, what is tolerated? Was a sin tolerated? No, the sin is hit head on, point blank. Being misguided and teaching misguided things—was that tolerated? Well, perhaps it was dealt with a little more calmly, but no. God’s church should be pure. God’s people should strive to do those things that HE wants us to do.

This morning, John Phillis talked about Cornelius and his family. And often you hear something about Cornelius when you try to talk about baptism among people who belong to a denomination. And just a side note here. You know, we talk about people who are in denominations, and we talk about folks who are “nondenominational.” It used to be, back in the old days, that the church of Christ, as an organization, considered itself undenominational—not a church that could be combined together with other “nondenominational” groups. But the churches of Christ were a group of folks who believed that there should not be any denominations. “Nondenominational” has a meaning to it that, “Oh, it’s okay. Whatever denomination you belong to, we all just sort of believe the same thing. Come on anyway.” Whereas “UNdenominational” has a sense to it that there is one true church, and that THAT is what we strive to copy and to go back to [in the New Testament, as our example and pattern].