open up our Bibles to Acts chapter 24. Acts chapter
24, we're going to be looking at this entire
chapter as we're just making our way here through
the book together. And this morning we're going
to be talking about a few different topics regarding
the truth and at the end of chapter 24 you'll
see Felix entirely turn away from the truth and
procrastinate. from giving his life to Christ
and we'll anyways we'll just be looking through
all of that just walking through this chapter
together and hopefully it will be a blessing
to you. Let me just read for us verse 24 down
to verse 26 or 27 together and then I'll pray
for us and then we'll jump in to what it has.
So it says after some days Felix came with his
wife, Jerusalem, who was Jewish, and he sent
for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ
Jesus. And as he reasoned about righteousness
and self -control and coming judgment, Felix
was alarmed and said, Go away for the present.
When I get an opportunity, I will summon you.
At the same time, he hoped that money would be
given to him by Paul. So he sent for him often
and conversed with him. When two years had elapsed,
Felix was succeeded by Portius and Festus, and
desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul
in prison. Lord, thanks for our time that we
have right now to be in the Word of God. It truly
is the highlight of our time together, because
in these pages of scripture we find Christ. We
find our Savior. We get to learn about the Messiah.
And Lord I pray that as we study the Word that
your Holy Spirit would would move in our hearts
that you would convict us of sin or even convict
us of wrong thinking and you would change that
thinking. Lord that you would bring comfort to
those who are hurting. and Lord that you would
conform us into the image of Jesus Christ. We
depend on the Holy Spirit to do these things
for any amount of change that's going to happen
in our lives. In Jesus name, amen. Well, we've
been studying now the book of Acts for quite
some time and towards the end of this, after
the third missionary journey, you can kind of
feel the story pick up a little bit, but also
feels like it's slowing down as well. That is
because we're starting to hit these these different
trials that the Apostle Paul is going through
and what's happening is the Jews are trying to
convict him and Trying to run him out of Israel
even worse than that trying to kill him So he's
going through all these different trials and
hopes for a conviction And when studying these
trials that we're going to be studying together,
and we looked at one last week, and we'll look
at one this week, and then next week we'll do
the same, we can't help but think about the life
of Christ and the trials that Jesus went through
on the night that he was betrayed, on the night
that he was arrested and tortured and then eventually
murdered the next day on the cross. Jesus would
go before one court and another court in front
of one judge and the next judge and he'd go and
it'd be again through each time he'd be proven
innocent. Each time Jesus not guilty and each
time they weren't sure what to do with him until
finally the crowd took over and chanted, chanted,
crucify him, crucify him and then he would be
hung on the tree. 25 years later or so thereabouts
we have the Apostle Paul Standing before judge
after judge court after court and each time the
courtroom saying we don't know what to do with
this man he's not guilty of what you guys are
saying that he is guilty of and Luke gives us
these trials one after another and and I think
he wants us to go back and even think about the
life of Christ not because Paul is Christ, but
because Paul is proclaiming Christ. And so we
have again another opportunity to see the Apostle
Paul stand before a judge, or in this case, stand
before Governor Felix. In fact, in chapter 23
he went before the Sanhedrin, in chapter 24 he
goes before Felix, and in chapter 25 he goes
before Festus, and in chapter 26 he goes before
King Agrippa and Festus again, and you're gonna
feel like coming to church is like a little bit
of a deja vu. You're going to sit in the same
seat. You're going to grab your coffee. You're
going to shake hands. You're going to open up
the Book of Acts. You go, wait a minute. Didn't
we talk about this last week? It's going to feel
like that for the next couple of weeks as we
come into these courtrooms together to figure
out what's going to happen to the Apostle Paul.
And at the end of the day, no one knows what
to do with Paul because he's done nothing wrong.
And what is really on trial is not the man. but
the message. It's not the guy, but the gospel.
And it's not for crimes, it's because of Christ
and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is
what's really happening in these chapters, in
these four chapters and in these four trials.
It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is on trial
through the Apostle Paul. You say, why is it
that the Romans got involved anyway? Well in
AD 6 this Roman province was established as Rome
would extend its reach all throughout the known
empire back then. Judea was a critical spot because
it was kind of a land bridge between Egypt and
Syria. It was a spot that the Romans really really
liked but it was also a spot that was and had
political Instability it was always one of those
places where riots would occur It was always
one of those places where they couldn't settle
the people down but room wanted this tight coverage
over this area because They wanted to tax the
people there. They were in it for the money The
Jewish high priest was there and the Jewish high
priest was Ananias and he he could help Settle
the people at times, but Rome controlled the
courts Rome was the only one that could enact
capital punishment. And during this time, the
Roman emperor was a man by the name of Nero.
And he reigned from AD 54 to 68. Underneath him
was Governor Felix. And he was part of Judea
and the governor over that area. And he resided
in a city called Caesarea. And Felix had judicial
authority. He could hear trials like this one.
He had military authority. He had the power to
imprison people. He had the power to release
prisoners. Ananias didn't have that kind of power.
He was appointed, in fact, by even Rome. Ananias
was over the Jewish council, which handled religious
law. But when it came to executing capital punishment,
That could not happen without Roman approval.
So what the Jews were doing is they were like,
okay, let's get him in front of the Felix, let's
get him in front of Festus, let's make sure that
he's in front of these people who could actually
say, yes, you are guilty and you deserve the
death penalty. So we have these trials going
on for that very reason. The goal here, For the
Jews is to have Paul killed remember in Last
week we saw this there was a plot even to kill
him if you look in in chapter 23 in verse 12
It says when it was day the Jews made a plot
bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor
drink till they had killed Paul All right. This
is how hostile the area is right now Jerusalem
is in an uproar they're all searching for this
man Paul and the Jews want to have him killed
but they can't kill him unless the Romans tell
himself so let's get him in front of the governor
let's get him in front of the king let's do all
that we can to get the Apostle Paul killed but
when he goes before the Rome the Roman governors
they look at him and go hey you've done nothing
wrong sound familiar yeah this is exactly what
happened to Christ they put him before the Roman
they said oh I find no fault in this man And
here it is happening yet again the gospel on
trial and the gospel again Being the very thing
that the people hate but the gospel is the very
thing that that brings peace and salvation to
the hearts of men So here's Paul he's in prison
right or even before that during this plot to
kill him remember his nephew came right out of
nowhere it's like oh nephew didn't even know
he had a nephew right he came and heard what
was going on he heard that his uncle was about
to be executed once he left prison and these
people were going to come and kill him so he
let the romans know and and they went ahead and
they got as it says in verse 23 of chapter 23
they called two of the centurions and said get
ready 200 soldiers 70 horsemen 200 spearmen And
let's get him take him to Caesarea there and
the third hour of the night We're gonna provide
mounts for Paul to ride on and we're gonna bring
him safely to Felix so he has this this entire
entourage around Paul as he makes his way out
of Jerusalem and into the coast there to Caesarea
where Felix is and he stays there the night and
it says in verse 35 Felix says I will give you
a hearing when your accusers arrive Alright,
so that's where we're at now. He's in front of
Felix chapter 24 verse 1 gives us then a unique
trial a new trial There's some new faces here
in this trial. I want to give you these these
faces as we we say these names We know about
Ananias. He's the high priest. We've been introduced
to him before He's the high priest of the council
of the Sadducees and the Pharisees Then you got
a man it says there there's some elders that
are there so Ananias brought with him from Jerusalem
All right, some of some of the elders of the
church some of the men with authority brought
them with him These were were men who could understand
political matters. They're representatives of
the Sanhedrin They're there in this courtroom
and then we've got a new person here It says
there in verse 1 and a spokesman won Tertullius
The the the most easiest way to tell you who
this man is is to say this the Jews lawyered
up The Jews lawyered up They found the best lawyer
and all of Judea to ride along with them and
to take them into this courtroom They wanted
to have the Apostle Paul executed so they so
Ananias said I know what I'll do I'll grab some
of the men will try to intimidate him with all
these guys and then we'll grab the the best lawyer
in the entire country will bring him and we'll
let him just say what he needs to say in front
of the governor and for sure Paul is going to
be accused of all these things Also you have
and I read it already at towards the end here
at the when Paul is in custody here We have Felix,
right? That's the governor and then we're introduced
to his wife Jerusalem it was a Jewish woman and
there's an interesting story there. Maybe we'll
have time to get to it but this is the this these
are the the ones who are here in this this courtroom
and There's three parts to this that I want to
show you three parts to this in chapter 24 this
Courtroom scene that I want to show you and let
me just walk through them with you This morning
number one part one is this I want you to see
Tertullius's Prosecution and what he does is
he twists the truth And the principle here, let
me just give you this upfront as well So that's
part one principle number one is this is that
the world will lie or twist the truth to stop
the advancement of the gospel That's the principle
that I want you to think through as we study
this part of this passage. Here's what it says.
After five days the high priest in Ananias, chapter
24 in verse 1, he came down with some of the
elders and a spokesman, one a lawyer, Tertullius.
They laid before the governor their case against
Paul. And when they had been summoned, Tertullius
began to accuse him, saying, since through you
we enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight,
oh, most excellent Felix, reforms are being made
for this nation, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Right, just buttering up the governor. In every
way and in everywhere, we accept this with all
gratitude. Verse four, but. To detain you no
further. I beg you in your kindness to hear us
briefly For we have found this man a plague One
who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout
the world and is is a ringleader in the sect
of the Nazarenes He even tried to profane the
temple, but we seized him By examining him yourself
you will be able to find out from him about everything
of which we accuse him. Everything of which we
accuse him. There's three things that Paul is
being accused of. Number one, it's right there
in verse five. He's being accused of sedition,
which is he is someone who is starting riots
all throughout the land. This is what Christ
was also accused of. A man who starts riots all
throughout the land. He says, oh he's one who
stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout
all the world. He's being accused of this. Secondly,
he's being accused of being the leader. The sect
of the Nazarenes, which is so wild and bizarre.
We've never even heard this yet before maybe
they thought because he took a Nazarite vow This
could have been why he did this but the net the
Nazarenes are are are during that time They were
one of the most dangerous of all the Jewish sex
and in in Judea So so he's he's Causing all these
riots. He's he's the leader of this dangerous
group and number three it says in verse six He
even tried to profane the temple, but we seized
him He's also a man who profanes our religion
and our temple now remember all that felix cares
about is this he cares about money and he cares
about peace and He's got a guy now on trial the
apostle paul who's being accused of what? of
causing riots, being the leader of a dangerous
group, and profaning the temple. So Felix must
be thinking, well, I don't want a riot to happen,
because if a riot happens, then Rome's gonna
hear of this, and Rome's gonna hear of this,
they're gonna remove me from being a governor,
so I need to keep the peace, we need to take
this seriously, we need to figure this out, because
I don't want any trouble in the land, I need
order, and I need people to be taxed so that
I can have the money. So Tertullius goes on with
twisting the truth. He doesn't just twist the
truth, he gives a flat -out lie. Verse 5, we
found this man a plague who stirs up riots among
the Jews when in fact it wasn't Paul who stirred
up any riot. It was the opposite. It was the
opposite that happened. He just straight lies,
twisting the truth here. He's not the leader
of the Nazarenes. He never profaned the temple,
although the Jews may accuse him of that. He
never did it. What is he doing? He's just simply
twisting the truth. And this is a reminder here,
and this is where our principle comes into play
here. This is a reminder here that the world
will do anything to oppose the advancement of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. The world will twist
all kinds of truths to stop the gospel. They
will twist, they will distort, they will stretch
the truth in hopes to stop the advancement of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Because the
gospel is always on trial. And it will always
be on trial. The church is always the beacon
of hope for the community. The gospel of Jesus
Christ is always the hope of the community and
always the hope of the people. And when you have
those who are against it, they will do everything
they can, including twisting the truth, to stop
the gospel from going forward. Many of you maybe
saw the news last Sunday morning. Minnesota when
agitators went into the church service proclaiming
to be protesters storming into a live service
standing up chanting with with their signs when
there's children in there and there's people
in there simply worshiping pastor there they're
standing there trying to have some sort of control
in inside this worship service and maybe you
guys have have seen the news clips. These agitators
just coming in with a single purpose to disrupt
the worship of Jesus Christ. A journalist walks
in and wants to interview the pastor right in
the middle of the service. Twisting the truth.
Claiming that the mob had every right to be there
when the mob did not have every right to be there.
Twisting the truth, it was nothing more than
a lie. All to what? To stop the advancement of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Church, this is not
new. This is something that's been around for
years and years and guess what? It's gonna continue.
A representative even from Arizona even doubled
down on this and he even said that these agitators
had every right to be in that church. That's
a lie. That's not true. But yet we should not
be surprised by this as if this is something
new and this is something that should cause alarm
to us. No, we should know that this is exactly
what the world wants to do. to stir up dissension,
to stir up discord, to cause these things to
come into the church to cause us to stop preaching
the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is what they
did to Paul. Hey, he's doing all these things.
No, actually, he's not even done any of those
things. He's accused of all these things. He
hasn't done any of them. But they're twisting
the truth. Look what happens in verse 9 The Jews
also joined in the charge Affirming that all
these things were so All right. They're like,
yeah, it's it's pile on now Yeah, we're behind
him and what he says and this is exactly how
it goes And so now you've got now you've got
inside this courtroom now right there. You've
got all these Jews are saying Yeah, yeah. Yeah
that that's the truth. That's the truth Ganging
up on Paul, affirming and confirming these allegations
against him, was nothing more than lie upon lie
upon lie. Well, how does Paul respond? That gets
us to the second part of this scene. Part two
is Paul's profession, and he testifies to the
truth. He testifies to the truth, and the principle
here, We'll see this is keep a clean conscience
and speak the truth when lied against That's
the principle that I want you to see keep a clean
conscience and speak the truth When lied against
there's a response here by Paul and there's three
parts to this response That I want you to see
number number one is this is that Paul responded
with respect He responded with respect verse
10 when the governor had nodded to him to speak
Paul replied Knowing that for many years you
have been a judge over this nation. I cheerfully
make my defense He affirms that Felix is the
governor he affirms that he is the judge over
this he doesn't flatter him he just makes a respectful
comment I Cheerfully make my defense. He he he
has his opportunity with gladness He gets to
defend himself Yet he does so with respect to
everyone that is in the room and the word there
there it says to Cheerfully make my defense that
word therefore defense. Maybe you've heard of
it. It's the word That we get the word for apologetics
from The word means this to speak in one's defense
against charges presumed to be false Apologia
was a technical word in the Greek law They would
use it in courts That was used of an attorney
who talked his client off from a charge preferred
against him Our English word apology originally
did not mean to say I'm sorry, but it but it
actually referred to a defense presented in court
And this is Paul's opportunity I'm going to make
my defense but but he makes his defense very
much so with with respect to the court, respect
to the Jews, with respect to Felix. He doesn't
just say, oh, finally I get my chance. By the
way, these guys are a bunch of liars. And how
dare you just let them get away with this, Governor?
He doesn't come across that way at all. He comes
in with respect to knowing, hey, I know what
the truth is, and I can speak the truth in love,
even though I'm getting ganged up on and lied
upon right here, and I know that with a charge
of guilty, I will be killed. He still has a calm
demeanor of, hey, I'm gonna be respectful in
this courtroom. And he makes his defense. The
same word that's used in 1 Peter chapter 3 and
verse 15 and 16 to defend and give a reason for
the hope that is within us. Verse 11, you can
verify, he says, it is not more than 12 days
since I went up to worship in Jerusalem. Secondly,
Paul responded with the truth. He responded with
the truth. He comes and he just speaks the truth.
He says verse verse 11 you can verify It's not
more than 12 days since I went up to worship
in Jerusalem It's been 12 days all these things
have been going on verse 12 and they they did
not find me Disputing with anyone or stirring
up a crowd either in the temple or in the synagogues
or in the city neither Can they prove to you?
What they now bring up against me But this I
confess to you that according to the way which
they call a sect I Worship the God of our fathers
believing everything laid down by the law written
in the prophets Having a hope in God which these
men themselves accept that there will be a resurrection
of both the just and the unjust So I always take
pains to have a clear conscience towards God
and man Now after several years I came to bring
alms to my nation and to present offerings while
I was doing this They found me purified in the
temple without any crowd or too old But some
Jews from Asia They ought to be here before you
and to make an accusation should they have Anything
against me or else let these men themselves say
that wrongdoing they found when I stood before
the council Other than this one thing that I
cried out while standing among them It is with
respect to the resurrection of the dead that
I am on trial Before you this day. What is Paul
doing? He's just reiterating the truth of what
happened He's not spinning it He's not Sugar
coating it he's just simply saying hey, this
is what happened And by the way, if anybody should
be here, it should be these Jews from Asia. You
say well, who is that? We'll go back to chapter
21 in verse 27 Right when Paul got there to Jerusalem
He purified himself. He he paid for the these
haircuts for these guys Verse 27 when the seven
days were almost completed Jews from Asia Seeing
him in the temple stirred up the whole crowd
and laid hands on him What's he saying? He said
hey if anybody should be on trial, it should
be these guys who came from Asia Not me. I haven't
done anything They should be brought before you
they can make an accusation against me they they
can let you know what's going on here You know
all Paul is doing here is he he is simply just
just saying the truth and he even says He even
says in here one time. He says I confess to you
as I it's if he's saying hey Here's what I will
confess to you these things and then he says
it's with respect to the resurrection that that
I that I'm here Here is actually why I'm on trial
He he just comes across as a man who just wants
them to understand the truth of the situation
And I'll even confess this to you That I believe
And I worship the God of our fathers Everything
that's laid down in the law and in the prophets.
What is he saying? I believe in the full inspiration
of the Old Testament. I believe in it all And
I stand here as a man who defends himself because
of the truth of God's Word He stands on the truth.
This was his confession. Yeah, I'm a Christian.
Yep, I believe in the Old Testament. Yep, I believe
in the law and the prophets. I believe all that
is taught there. And then he goes straight to,
in verse 21, the centerpiece of it all, the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. This is really what's on trial
This is really what's going on Felix. You want
to know the truth They don't like the fact that
Jesus rose from the grave and that there's going
to be a resurrection of the dead J Vernon McGee
says this have you noticed that the resurrection
is the very center of Christianity? It has been
from the beginning friend. What do you think
of Christ is? Always the test did he die for
your sins was he raised from the dead? Paul immediately
comes to the core, the resurrection. Paul would
also go back to this in 1 Corinthians chapter
15. He would say this, now if Christ is proclaimed
as raised from the dead, how come some of you
say that there is no resurrection of the dead?
But if there is no resurrection of the dead then
even Christ has not been raised and if Christ
has not been raised Then our preaching is in
vain and your faith is in vain It always comes
back to the resurrection of Jesus Christ if he
did not rise from the dead Church you have no
hope of rising from the dead But because Christ
has risen from the dead You will be raised to
newness of life if you place your faith in Jesus
Christ as your Lord and Savior Or you'll be raised
to eternal death And the Jews didn't like this
They didn't like that that his message of the
gospel dealt with the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
but this is what he does He just speaks the truth.
He says this is what I'll confess to you This
is what happened if you want to bring in some
more people go to go find these these these people
from Asia and bring them in this this is just
the truth and Paul can respond this way number
three. He can respond this way. Why because he
has a clear conscience Okay, we cannot miss this
church Verse 16. I always take pains to have
a clear conscience towards what towards both
God and man He says I do my best I exercise my
my heart my all my diligence my study all of
it to have what a clear conscience before God
and Before before man listen, it will be really
hard for you to speak the truth to anybody if
your conscience is not clean It'll be hard for
you to stand upon the Word of God if your conscience
is not clean before God and man. Especially if
you know that what is hanging in the balance
is a guilty not guilty and if you are guilty
you're going to die. And the only way for you
to be able to speak the truth and to hold fast
without apology in the face of uncertainty is
to have a clear conscience before God. You say,
what does that mean? What is the conscience?
Well, the conscience is, listen to this, it's
the alert system that's built inside of you that
God has given to you to alert you to what is
right and to what is wrong. And when you sin
and when you do evil, when you do things that
you know is wrong, you soften your conscience
and you cover that alert system. There's one
time I I had my alarm next to my bed and in the
middle of the night I threw my pillow I Don't
always throw my pillow, but this night I did
I don't know why but and it covered the alarm
clock and The alarm clock was going off into
the morning, and I did not hear it Why because
I had covered it In this case with a pillow when
you sin church When you dilute your heart and
mind with things that are not pure and holy and
right You are covering the alert system to tell
you what is right and wrong And you can't hear
that alarm go off in your mind this is wrong.
This is wrong. This is wrong This is sin. This
is sin. This is sin. You can't hear it anymore.
Why because you've diluted the conscience You've
covered the conscience with one sin upon sin,
with one show you shouldn't watch, with one website
you shouldn't look at, with one comment after
another, gossip, gossip, gossip, anger, anger,
anger. You're covering your conscience. You no
longer know what is right and wrong. And Paul
is saying what I take great pains I I spend so
much energy to have a clear conscience before
God so that I can stand up on trial and just
Deliver the truth unapologetically and say God
whatever happens happens. I've got a clear conscience
between God and man Not all that I could The
only way to have a healthy conscience and a clean
conscience is to feed your soul the Word of God
and to repent of sin as quickly as it comes into
your life. Turn away from that sin. Repent of
that sin. Keep your conscience clear before God
and keep your conscience clear before man. and
build that conscience up, strengthen that conscience.
You can do that. You can do that through the
reading of God's Word. This is why we want you
in the God's Word. This is why you say, why do
I have to have devotions every day? Why do I
need to be in the Word every day? Why do I need
to pray? Because you're building up a clean conscience.
To be able to stand up for the truth of God's
Word. To be able to stand in front of people
to say, no, my conscience is cleared. I've worked
hard to have it. This is the truth of what happened.
And when the conscience goes off, you listen
to it. That's wrong. I shouldn't do this. I shouldn't
watch this. I shouldn't listen to this. I shouldn't
talk like this about people. I shouldn't... Talk
like this behind their back. I shouldn't do this.
I I want to have a clean conscience before God
And the conscience is a trustworthy compass when
God's word is your true north and paul worked
hard at that Worked hard to have this clear conscience
so that he can speak the truth Let me give you
a third major point here as we work through this
together number three We've seen Tertullius's
prosecution, Paul's proclamation, and now I want
you to see Felix's procrastination. His procrastination,
what does he do? He turns from the truth. The
third principle then I want you to look at as
we wrap it up here is don't delay trust in Jesus
today. Verse 22, but Felix having a rather accurate
knowledge of the way put them off saying When
Lesus the tribune comes down, I will decide your
case. He's a commander of the armies there. He
gave orders to the centurion that he should be
kept in custody, but have some liberty and that
none of his friends should be prevented from
attending to his needs. And after some days,
Felix came with his wife, Jerusalem, who was
Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him. There
it is, and heard him speak about what? Faith
in Christ Jesus. And as he reasoned about what?
Righteousness, self -control, coming judgment.
Felix was alarmed and said, go away for the present.
When I get an opportunity, I will summon you.
At the same time, he hoped that money would be
given to Paul, so he sent for him off and conversed
with him. So he kept going back. Why? Because
he was hoping that Paul would be able to get
some money and then pay him off. When two years
had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Portius Festus
in desiring to do the Jews a favor. Felix left
Paul in prison. So here's Felix. Verse 22 he
says a rather accurate knowledge of the way.
He has an understanding of the truth We don't
know exactly how maybe from his wife His wife
is is Jewish and maybe she was helpful and helping
him understand a little bit about what the believers
the Christians believed He gave orders to the
centurion that he should be kept in custody so
Paul still in custody here, but but he'd have
some liberty and that none of his friends should
be prevented from attending to his needs. So
I think that the governor let Paul do this because
Paul could say to him, hey, just give me some
money and let's bribe him out. So he wanted him
to see his friends so that he could get money
from them because he had already told him that
he was there in Jerusalem to give them money.
This whole thing. Now at this point it's down
to the exchange of money. Verse 24 after some
time Felix came with his wife, Jerusalem. I say
who's this Jerusalem? Person this is his wife
and this was a wife that That Felix basically
took her out of a different marriage and and
and Married her so okay, you're done with that
marriage. You're coming into my marriage and
now we're gonna get we're gonna get married That's
essentially how that went down So they're in
this marriage that they should have never been
in in the first place And after some days here
phoenix goes down to him. He starts talking to
paul and and heard him speak about faith in christ
jesus Now notice what the apostle paul specifically
talks about here. He talks about what there's
three things he reasoned about righteousness
self -control and coming judgment If the guy
that You talk to is the one that could say I'm
going to charge you as guilty. Are you going
to say hey look buddy? What you did in your marriage
was wrong You're out of control You're not living
in righteousness and oh by the way, you're gonna
be judged for all these things Right. How does
how does the apostle Paul do that? He does that
because he understands the power of the gospel
He does that because he has a clean conscience
He preaches righteousness. He preaches self -control.
He preaches coming judgment that you will be
judged for what you do here on earth. He doesn't
sweet talk the man who could free him. It doesn't
sugarcoat the gospel and say I'm just gonna kind
of soften it up get kind of ease them into the
gospel You know, we'll just kind of kind of just
ease a man Maybe we'll just throw a few a few
little cultural things at him and we'll just
soften it up and then when his heart's ready
We'll pull the right strings of his heart and
then I'll then I'll go. Hey, you need Jesus No,
he just goes right at it You want to hear the
gospel? Okay. Here's the gospel This is what
it is and you're gonna be judged for this Felix
was alarmed. Yeah, I bet he was alarmed But I
heard nothing like this before and he says go
away And he says this in a verse 25 look at it
when I get an opportunity I will summon you What
is he doing? He's procrastinating the reality
of the gospel and how it could transform his
life. And he's saying, hey, when my time is right,
when it's right for me, when I'm done enjoying
the world, when I'm done enjoying the riches
of this life, when I'm done enjoying all these
things that I love, hey, don't come to me, Paul,
I'll come to you. I'll summon you back to hear
this. And Felix. Like so many others who have
gone before him and many others who have come
past him and come after him, Felix ignored the
message of grace and forgiveness. He missed the
opportunity that God had placed before him for
salvation. When I find the time, all summons
you. When the time is right, when it's convenient,
all summons you, Paul. kicks the gospel down
the road and says, I enjoy my life too much to
dare do anything like that. Too concerned about
enjoyment in this life. More than he was concerned
for his soul and eternity. He kept pushing it
off and pushing it off. He'd go back and he'd
see him, push it off, go back and see him and
push it off, push it off, push it off. Again,
J. Vernon McGee says this, friend, today your
sins are either on you or they're on Christ.
If your sins are on Christ, if you have put your
trust in Him, then He paid the penalty for your
sins over 1900 years ago. They do not lie ahead
of you for judgment in the future, but if your
sins today are still on you, then there is yet
a judgment to come. People don't like to hear
about judgment to come Felix and Felix and Jerusalem
did not like to hear about it either But if your
sins are not on Christ that is if you have not
trusted him as your Savior Then you are going
to come up for judgment You can close the book
right now, but that doesn't alter a thing You
cannot escape the fact that you are coming up
for judgment Listen church souls are lost because
of procrastination. And Felix and Jerusalem procrastinated.
Paul preached the gospel and they said, we'll
wait when we're ready. Church, leave nothing
unsettled that is eternal. Leave nothing unsettled
that is eternal Jc. Ryle says run no risk when
your soul is at stake Second Corinthians 6 2
says behold now is the favorable time behold
now is the day of salvation Hebrews 3 15 today
if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts
and in 4 7 today if you hear his voice do not
harden your hearts. Today is the day. Jesus came
and died for your sins. Hell is a real place
and it's eternal. Heaven is a real place and
it's eternal. Don't keep pushing off Christ.
Repent and believe Felix would one day wake up
and he would find himself in hell because he
procrastinated Place your faith in Jesus Christ.
This was the message of Paul This was a message
to the Jews and this is the message to us today
verse 27 it says Felix Didn't know what to do
with Paul So he left Paul in prison And Paul
was there for two years in prison And the next
time We'll see what happens in the next trial
in chapter 25. Let's pray Lord. Thank you for
this time Lord would you help us? lot of truth
spoken this morning from your word as I prayed
at the top Lord where there needs to be conviction
would you convict us where there needs to be
care would you comfort us and in all things Lord
would you conform us to be like Christ whether
if there's anybody here that does not know Christ
as their Lord and Savior would today be that
day That they summons you That they call upon
the name Of the Lord Jesus Christ repent of their
sins and embrace you as Savior and Lord There's
no better day to embrace Christ than today Lord
would you help us all in our fight for a clean
conscience? Lord would you help us to first of
all have a desire for a clean conscience? And
then would you help us to have the boldness and
the courage to make the right decisions to have
a clean conscience? And Lord when we're lied
upon when there's those who are twisting the
truth May we stand upon the Word of God and the
power that comes from it trusting in you and
all these things and your sons then we pray amen