Open your Bibles, if you would, to Acts chapter 24. We're going to continue our study in this wonderful book. After today, we only have four chapters left. Don't know how long that's going to take for us to get through those four chapters, but hey, we're getting closer to being finished. It's been a wonderful journey through the book of Acts, hasn't it? wonderful.

Open your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Acts chapter 24. And today we'll see Paul before Felix. And Paul reasoned with Felix concerning faith in Christ Jesus. And it's the only salvation for sinners. The name of the message is procrastination. You know procrastination is deadly? when it comes to spiritual things.

People say, well, well, I was talking to my daughter the other day and she said, she said, yeah, I used to say, well, I'll come to Christ later on because I got so much to live for right now. She goes, I'm so thankful that he, he bought me to him. Isn't that wonderful? But so often we say, nah, I'm so young. Or even if we're older, I got lots of time. Lots of time.

We're going to see Felix. He's one of them fellas. I got lots of time. Well, none of us know when it's time. I read today, I read this week of some people dying real young in their teens. Did they think they had more than that day that the Lord said, it's over? Well, probably. Yeah. And even older folks, when we get older, we think, well, I got lots of time. Well, I'm learning. Are you learning the older we get, the faster time goes? The 24 hours seems to be like 12 hours now. Isn't that amazing? It's like somebody flipped the switch when I turned 50. Not even not, 40. But time is something we have, but time is fleeting.

And so here we're gonna read, let's stand up and read verses 22 to 27 together of Acts chapter 24. Lord willing, we'll finish this chapter today, but let's read this. And it's Felix calls Paul to come before him. And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them and said, when Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know the utmost of your matter. And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him. And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled. and answered, Go thy way, for this time, when I have a more convenient season, I will call for thee. He hoped that also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him. Wherefore, he sent for him the offender and communed with him. But after two years, Porchus Festus came into Felix's room, and Felix, willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul behind.

Oh my. My oh my. So in those latter verses there, we see that Felix gets replaced by Festus. But the main thrust of this message is look at verse 25. And he reasoned Paul, so what's Paul preaching? He's preaching Christ. He's reasoned of righteousness. Who's our righteousness? The Lord's our righteousness, right? Temperance, that's self-control. We believers, we try to exercise self-control, don't we? Yeah, oh yeah. And judgment, there's judgment coming. There is judgment coming. Oh my, and Felix trembled. And answered, go thy way for this time. He trembled. Not in saving trembling. No. He was pricked in his conscience. Right? And then he says, then he says, Go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. When it's convenient for me, then I'll call you. That's called procrastination. And so many people do that with Christ. and perish in their sin, just like Felix did.

I was talking to my daughter yesterday. She goes, what are you teaching tomorrow, Dad? And I said, well, I'm teaching about Paul before Felix. And she goes, oh, really? Tell me a little bit about it. And I said, well, Paul goes before him and preaches that salvation's only in Christ alone, right? And through his blood and righteousness. And Felix, I read the scripture there where Felix says, well, go away for a while. When it's convenient, I'll call you again." And I said, sweetie, he died in his sins. He procrastinated, and he died in his sins.

Now, is Felix fully responsible for his sin? Absolutely. What did God have to do for him to go to hell? Just leave him alone. What did he have to do to save us by the time he did everything, didn't he? Everything. Everything. Praise His mighty name.

And we read it, we sang that wonderful song, the Lord is King. He's King. My. It's wonderful. And see, we're not willing to come to Him That text that Travis read, but they would not. Jerusalem, Jerusalem. Did you catch that little section in the end? But you would not. That's a natural state of man right there. That's Felix's state. Not right now. Aren't you thankful? Oh, aren't we thankful that God made us willing? because otherwise we've done the same thing. Isn't that amazing? Praise his mighty name for his mercy and his goodness showing towards us. The King has had mercy on us.

And I love that part of that song which says, his banners fling. And you guys know I like to read a lot about Roman history and they carried banners and those banners flung behind the general as they're going into battle. My, and some generals, some tribunes weren't like a lot of the aristocratic officers. Some came up through the legions. And do you know where those guys were? Right in the front lines with their fellow soldiers. And their fellow soldiers go, what are you doing here, sir? I'm fighting just with you. Oh, my. Our king goes before us, doesn't he? We follow him with his banners and he's conquering King. That's our Savior the King the Lord whose King is our Savior And that's who Paul's testifying of before Felix. He's testifying of Christ in his blood and his righteousness

The only way for a sinner to be saved is through his blood and righteousness the blood and righteousness of Christ And Felix we see trembled at the preaching of Christ alone for salvation. But there's a certain doom, certain doom, for those who reject Christ. It's not make-believe. It's certain. Absolutely certain. Praise God, He saved us. Praise God he didn't leave us where we were. Oh my.

So Phil, his conscience was awakened and it accused him. His own conscience accused him of the injustice of sin that he'd been guilty of. His mind was filled with horror. He trembled. You know, a person can be filled with horror over their sin, and can tremble at the Word of God, and not be saved. He saw judgment coming.

What do most men fear? I'll tell you what. People say, I don't fear death. They sure do. You know the ones who don't fear death? Is believers in Christ. Now, we tremble when that time comes. We tremble like everybody else. But we're going home, beloved. Some people stay up at night worrying about death. We don't have to do that. We can put our head down and go, Lord, my soul is in your hands. and put our head down, no matter what's going on in this world, and just put our head down on a soft pillow, can't we? The soft pillow of God's sovereignty. Right? Oh, yeah.

But men fear death. And they fear the judgment. Some folks say, oh, I don't believe that. Well, you will when the king of terrors comes to you at your death. Oh my. Oh my. My oh my. He's real. Judgment is real. And you know who will be sitting on the great white judgment throne? The Lord Jesus Christ. The very one they rejected. And the very one who by the mercy of God, we didn't reject, because we were made willing in the day of God's power. And we're going to give him all the glory. All the glory. We won't look and say, oh, look how wicked they are. Because we're just a bunch of wicked sinners that have been saved by the grace and mercy of God, aren't we?

As I said in Sunday school, the wicked don't think they're sinners. Right? And those who are saved, born again, know that they are sinners. Who made them to differ? God and God alone. Only God. Just look back in our state. We didn't think we were sinners before we were saved. Those were fighting words. Oh yeah, somebody called you a sinner, you're ready to box with them. Now we're like, yeah, I own it, man. I'm the chief of sinners. And as, again, as we grow in grace, as you believer grow in grace, as I believer grow in grace, we will see ourselves more and more sinners, and we will see the greatness of our Savior. What mercy. What grace!

And you know, the only reason we don't go to hell is because Christ suffered in our room and place. The punishment that was due us, the wrath that was due us, He bore it all, and He extinguished it. Gone. There's not even, you know when a house fire happens, there's smoke coming off for a few weeks sometimes? There's no smoke coming off this offering. The wrath of God has been totally quenched for his people. How? By the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how.

And this is what... How do we know? How do we know that's what he preached? Look at this in verse 25. And he reasoned of righteousness. He reasoned about the righteousness of Christ. He told them, well, you're just a sinner. You need to be saved. I'm a sinner, he said. I'm a saved sinner. And he reasoned with him, which means he had the scriptures. And notice too in the text that Felix's wife is a Jewish. She's a Jew. And as I was putting this message together, several commentators said she would have been interested to hear about the things of the Messiah. And some of them believe that's why Felix waited for her. He actually went and got her and brought her back. because he departed and brought his wife back with him. And she would have wanted to hear about this, because she was a Jew. My. Who is this? Is this the Messiah that the Scriptures talk about?

So Paul reasoned from the Scriptures, opened up the Scriptures. Talk to them about righteousness, temperance, which is self-control, and judgment to come. And notice that, judgment to come, not may come. Judgment to come. It's gonna come. Now we humans often procrastinate over many things, and we see here in our text that Felix trembled at the preaching of the gospel, and yet he procrastinated. He just procrastinated. Paul reasoned with him of righteousness, of temperance, of judgment to come. Temperance is self-control, trying to... What that would bring forth is resisting sin. I know we're sinners from the top of our head to the bottom of our feet, but we try to resist sin, don't we? We call out to our King, Lord, help me! I don't want to fall into this again. Give me strength. Give me strength. And He does. That's why we're to confess our sins. That's why we're to cry out to our King, right?

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. Are you heavy laden with your sin? Even us as believers, come to the throne of grace boldly, boldly, and find grace to help in time of need. Are you needy? I'm needy all the time. Are you? Oh, my. Let us carry it to Christ, our King. Let us carry our sorrows. Let us carry our cares. Let us carry our worries. Let us carry anything going on in this world. Let us carry it to Christ. Because He's our King. He's our helper. He's our helper. Cast all your cares upon Him. For what? for he careth for you," Peter wrote, to the saints that were scattered in Galatia and Pontius and Cappadocia. He careth for you. Brother Tom, that means he cares for you and me, his believers. He cares for us. So we cast our cares upon him. Well, what about the little cares? Cast them on. What about the big cares? Cast them on. Cast all your cares upon him, right? For he careth for you. Oh, he loves you with an everlasting love, beloved. That's not changed from eternity. Oh, it's wonderful.

And look at, look at Felix here. It says in verse 25 again, And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled and said, go thy way for this time. What he's saying is, right now, just go away, Paul. See, he'd reached his fill, hadn't he? Paul's simply by preaching the gospel exposing his own sin, exposing Felix's sin. That's a temperance part there. He didn't have any temperance. Just like none of us did before the Lord saved us either. Scripture says we drank sin like water. And we still have problems, don't we? After we're saved. Praise God for a Savior who's washed all our sins away. Praise God for the victory in Christ, because there ain't victory in myself. Oh my. And what cleanse us from all our sin? The blood of Christ. What are we clothed in now? The perfect righteousness of Christ. No wonder we say, praise your Lord, praise your name, hallelujah. No wonder we say that. Is it not glorious? It's glorious, isn't it, beloved? Oh my. It's wonderful, I'll tell you.

My and look what he says then he also says this when I have a convenient season. I will call for thee. Oh, yeah Okay Well that convenient season never came did it Felix died in the sins and went to hell and will face the judgment The judgment that is to come And he might have said, well, I don't believe in the judgment, I don't believe in all, well, you're gonna face it. I don't believe in hell, you're there now. My, sobering, isn't it? And we know the only thing that made us to differ from Felix is the grace of God. That's what makes this salvation so incredible, beloved. Why do I get excited when I preach the gospel? Because this is a wonder of salvation. God saved me from all my sins by his almighty work. It's amazing. We humans couldn't write a story like this, could we? You know why? Because it'd always be something we had to do. Ah. This is done. Done. Finished! Praise His mighty name. And many, like Felix, have trembled at the gospel. Many. Many have had the gospel preached to them and said, Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll trust Christ tomorrow! And tomorrow never came. Either tomorrow never came because they died, or tomorrow never came because they just lost interest and just kept getting caught up in the world. Procrastination. And that day never came and they perished in their sins. Fully responsible for all their sin.

My. Sobering, isn't it? I was putting this message together. This is a very sobering topic. Procrastination is deadly. Spiritual procrastination is deadly.

And this is why it's so amazing. Because in that text, Brother Travis would, but you would not. That's our natural state. No, I don't want God. And then what does he do? He makes us willing in a day of his power. And we say, I want Christ. He's all I want now. And are you not finding that more and more every day that passes, you want him more and more? Yeah, we love him more and more by God working in our hearts, don't we? And as we're being conformed to the image of Christ, which is what the Holy Spirit does for us, we see ourselves more of a sinner, and we see Him as, more and more, a great Savior. Isn't that wonderful?

See, in God's economy, we go down, and He goes up. In man's economy, God's down here, and man's up here. And we're all born in that natural state, aren't we? Where God's down here and we're up here. And then he saves us and oh my. Oh, it's wonderful. And we say the Lord is king. King of my life and king over all. Praise his name for saving my soul. The God-man, Jesus Christ, the one who came down from heaven, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, is our Savior. Purchased with his precious, precious blood.

And Paul actually, earlier in this chapter, has told the Jews and told, when he was by at Caesarea there, he said before the trial, he said, the way that they call heresy, the way that the Jews call heresy, that's what I believe. That's what I believe. The way that the self-righteous call heresy, we believe.

I had a fellow this week, I was talking to a fellow this week, and he says, oh, I know what you preach over there. And I said, no, you don't know what I preach. He goes, what do you mean? You preach Calvinism. I said, I'm Calvinistic, but I said, I preach the doctrines of grace. That's what I preach. Salvation's only in Christ alone. And he's like, oh, no, you don't. I said, number one, you never heard me preach, have you? He goes, no. I go, then you don't have a clue what I preach. You don't have a clue, right? And he starts popping off, oh, you bunch of Calvinists, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And I said, you know what? I finally had my fill. I looked at him and I said, your opinion means nothing to me. You should have seen his face. He looked at me, and I said it again, I said, I quoted what Paul said, I said, I counted a small thing to be judged by you, therefore your opinion means nothing.

See, we have to put that, sometimes you reach a point where you gotta say that. You know? Because it's true. If Paul said, I don't, I don't, I count it a small thing to be judged by you, what he's saying is to, he's saying to the folks that are accusing him of not preaching the gospel, accusing him of not being an apostle, he's saying, it's nothing. Isn't he, brother Chris? He's saying, it's nothing. Whatever. Next, right? Preaching the gospel. And that man, I've set the gospel before him for 10 years. And Lord willing, will I keep setting the gospel before him? Absolutely. Absolutely. Some people say, well, how can he still be your friend? Well, he's my friend. He's just, he reminds me of me in my natural state. I was religious as all get-go. After I had a religious experience. You ever been like that? You get all pharisaical? And he was sitting there telling me he belongs to a fundamental Baptist group. And I said, I said, you believe you guys are the only ones going to heaven? He said, no, I don't believe that. I said, yes, you do. And he finally admitted he did. Well, that's a cult, isn't it? Because God has churches all over this world. He's got his people scattered all over this world, doesn't he? And I guarantee you, The preachers that are preaching them are preaching the same gospel I'm preaching. Yeah. The gospel of God's sovereign grace, the gospel of righteousness through Christ in him alone.

I asked a couple of religious fellows, I said, you know, what's, you know anything about the righteousness of Christ? And they said, what's that? Never heard of it. And I said, well, it's, it's, it's the thing that God saves us with the blood and righteousness of Christ. No clue. There are churches like a social event. Here we come here. You come here to hear Christ, don't you? I come here to proclaim Christ. That's all that matters. We see things going on in the world, but you know what? Christ is King. Christ is King. Put your head down on the pillow of God's sovereignty and have a nice sleep. Right? Isn't it wonderful? Be aware of what's going on, but put your head on that beautiful pillow of God's sovereignty and sleep like a baby.

My. So Paul says, the way they call heretical or division-producing, they called Christianity a sect, they called it heresy, and Paul says, well, that's what I believe. that sinners are only saved through Christ and Him alone. Paul, he'd been taught that, right? By God, the Holy Spirit. Look at this again. Listen to that verse. And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them. Look at verse 22. Felix is governor of a Roman province, or be like a state. He's an unbelieving Gentile, but again, he's married to a Jewish lady. Who again, no doubt would have talked to him about the Messiah, would have talked to him about what the scriptures say. And so, we see here that he wants to know about that way in verse 22. But Felix deferred them. Well, that's because he wanted to go and get his wife and bring her with him. This means, deferred there, means he dismissed them. He dismissed them. For the time being, saying to Paul and his accusers, when Lystia, the chief captain, shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter.

Now, remember, that's the fellow that went and got Paul when the mob at Jerusalem, remember? That's the, that's, he was, actually I found out he was a tribune of Rome. So he was in charge of about 1,000 men. And so he's saying, well, when he comes, I'm gonna know more of this matter. And remember, Felix had no spiritual wisdom. He's like all of us, dead in trespasses and sins in our natural state, right? No spiritual wisdom. But as governor, he had a lot of power, didn't he? And he could judge and matters of the world. And under his rule, But notice he's wise enough not to pass judgment until he gets more information. You see God's sovereign hand? You see God's sovereign hand at work? We're gonna find out. Paul spent two years with Felix. But why? Because it wasn't the time for him to go to Rome yet. Brother Zane, remember, you said that first year, it wasn't time for me to come. But after that, it was time. And I love what Norman Nancy said, watch the cloud. Remember the Israelites? What did they do when the cloud moved? They moved. What did they do when the cloud stopped? They stopped. Nancy said, keep looking to the cloud. That's Christ. That's Christ. So let's put that to practice in all our lives too. Keep offering stuff up to Christ, and when he makes it known to you, it'll come to pass. Isn't that wonderful? And here we are now 10 years together. Absolutely amazing. God is so gracious, so merciful.

But he, Felix, this Felix fellow, he had a lot of power, so. And he was probably personally equated with with Lysia, who actually was acquainted with the whole situation that had happened. May God, the Holy Spirit, give us wisdom to hold our tongue. We can even learn from this unsaved man to hold our tongue when it comes to judging others, even if we think we have all the facts. May we hold our tongue. Hard for us parents to do sometimes, isn't it? Let's be honest. What's the one thing we didn't like from our parents? Unsolicited advice. Right? Let us hold our tongues. Let us hold our tongues. Tell them about Christ, but hold our tongues about passing judgment upon them.

Look at verse 23 of Acts 24. He commanded a centurion to keep Paul. That's a man over 100, a Roman centurion. He's got 100 men under him. To keep Paul and to let him have liberty, that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come to him. I love this portion. You know, you could read that verse and just overlook it and go, oh, he gave him a centurion, right? He assigned a centurion to him. Well, don't forget, wasn't it four watches in a day or three? Three watches in a day? 24 hours split up into three or four watches. There would be different guards on Paul all through the time. And did you notice what it says? Felix, by the sovereignty of God, did not forbid Paul to have his companions with him. What would they have talked about? What would those soldiers be exposed to? The gospel, beloved. Don't overlook these small little things in these verses. My, it's wonderful, isn't it? Yeah.

Now Paul, by the sovereignty of God, was allowed to have his companions with him. He was there for two years. So they probably ministered to him and uplifted him and read scriptures with him. They talked about Christ. It'd be a wonderful time for them to learn more and more about Christ through Paul, because Paul couldn't go nowhere, right? He was in chains, but by the sovereignty of God, right? He was right where God wanted him. And we don't know, maybe some of the soldiers heard the gospel, and by the grace of God, they believed. We don't know. Wouldn't surprise me. Wouldn't surprise me. Again, all that verse 23 is all purposed by the Lord Jesus Christ. He providentially arranged all this.

And then look at verse 24. And remember, those liberties Paul had there in verse 23 were not normal for prisoners. It was not normal for the Romans when they had someone in chains or bound, it was not normal for them to have visitors. My, oh, my. Look at verse 24. And after certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, so he's gone and got his wife and he's bringing his wife. She must have been away from Caesarea at the time when Paul spoke at the first of this chapter, which was a Jewish. He sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now look at that. Isn't that wonderful? He's inquiring about faith in Christ. Which is what? The gospel. Tell me about this. God has opened a door for him. And as I was studying this too, this was fantastic. Because later on, Paul's gonna appear before Nero. God, by his providence, had opened the door for Paul to speak to all these leaders. Remember we saw in Cyprus, the governor of Cyprus, the Lord saved him? That's a high-ranking, that's a high-ranking Roman. The Lord saved his soul. Oh, praise his mighty name.

So now here, he's before another governor now. And the door's been opened for him to preach. And you know what? There'd been other people there too. Because Felix would have had a court. There'd been other people there. And Paul's got this opportunity. What's he do? Well, he preaches Christ. That's what Felix wants to hear about, right? Look at verse 24. Concerning the faith in Christ. What is this? To them, he was just another person claiming to be deity. To Felix, he probably never heard of that. Because the one that claimed to be deity was the emperor in Rome. Basically, Rome had emperor worship. They worshiped their emperor as a god. My oh my.

So eventually, Drusilla comes to Caesarea, and Paul's bought before her and Felix. And again, she's a Jewish woman, so she'd want to hear about this. one who Paul claimed to be the Messiah. Our text tells us that Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. And Felix trembled, and then he answered. Here's the procrastination. Go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. How many people have perished in their sins in this same way? Millions. Millions. My, oh my. Sobering, isn't it? It's sobering that God, in his mercy and grace, didn't have us say those words. Because we're no different than Felix by nature. It's wondrous that God made us willing in a day of his power. And now we sing from our hearts, the Lord is King. Rebels, lawbreakers, covered in the blood of Christ, washed clean from all our sins. And now we gladly own Him as King, don't we? Gladly.

So here's Felix, he's curious about what Paul proclaims. The faith in Christ. And he imagined that Paul was like a philosopher. That he'd come and flower him with all this flowery language of philosophy.

My. That's nothing but vanity, is it? Oh my. Actually, Paul warns the Colossians to not be carried away with vain philosophy, traditions of man. Felix certainly did not expect his prisoner to expose his sin, did he? He thought, well, he can come in and puff me up. And actually later on we find out he thought by holding Paul that some money would be given to him to release him.

Paul's being held captive by the sovereignty of God, beloved. Felix is just an instrument in God's hands. See, men think they have all the power, don't they? And we read in the scripture, this is what's amazing. We read in the scripture and we see who has all the power, don't we? It's our God. And I love what that scripture says. He moves the king's heart like rivers of water to do whatever he pleases.

You ever see a river wind through? Hardly ever see a straight river, do you? You always see them winding. Some place they're winding. Oh my, they're heading one way and all of a sudden, turn to that side, turn to that side. That's what God does with kings and presidents and leaders in this world. Ain't that amazing? That's our God. That's our savior. What peace that can bring our hearts.

So he didn't expect his prisoner to expose his sin. He didn't expect Paul to set forth before him repentance and faith in Christ. But that's exactly what Paul did. That's exactly what God's servants do. Right? We preach the gospel. We warn people of the judgment to come. We warn them not to tarry. Today is the day of salvation. Today, may God make you willing today to come to Christ.

In Felix, Paul exposed his sin, both the corruption of his heart and the evil of his deeds. And this pagan governor, he says, I've had enough of this. You go away. And when it's convenient, I'll call you. I don't want to hear any more of that. That's us in our natural state, beloved. This is what makes grace so amazing, because that's us in our natural state. In our natural state, before the Lord saved us. Go on. Chris, you're nodding your head because you remember that. Go on. I want to hear nothing of it. And then the Lord saves us and we're like, tell me more. Keep telling me, keep telling me more about how my Savior is so great and how he saves his people from their sins through his blood and righteousness. Tell me how salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, not of works lest any man should boast. Tell me that God chose me in Christ before the foundation of the world. That leaves my heart in awe of my majestic God, because I never would have chose Him. Oh, isn't that God's grace overflowing, pressed down, sister? It's overflowing and pressed down, isn't it? It's so wonderful. I'll tell you. And those who are born again, we do hunger and thirst for righteousness, don't we? We hunger and thirst for Christ. We never used to. Oh, it's amazing.

How thankful we should be for God's sovereign love, His eternal everlasting love and grace and mercy that delivered us from the spirit of death that we were in. Dead spiritually. I was listening to Ephesians, and you who were dead in trespasses and sins. Dead. Graveyard dead, that means in the Greek. Dead, lifeless. It means lifeless in the Greek. Spiritually lifeless. Physically alive, but spiritually lifeless, but God who's rich in mercy You're born again He quickened us for by grace he is saved through faith and that not of yourself It's a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast and we say praise the name of Jesus Praise his name for saving my soul. Oh my

so this is what Paul set before Felix and And he talked to him about temperance, which is another important gospel. Righteousness is a very important aspect of the gospel. Temperance, self-control too. Because by nature, we have no self-control by nature. How do we know that? Well, the scripture says we drink sin like water. That's how we were. Right? But praise God, it's not like that no more, is it? We're still sinners, but now we mourn over our sin. Now we repent of our sin, don't we? We come to God and say, oh Lord, please forgive me. And we find grace to help in time of need. Knowing that our sins are already forgiven, but we still confess them to him, don't we? Because he's faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, beloved. Isn't it wonderful?

So we now live a life of repentance before God. Don't you find yourself sometimes working away at the house doing something and all of a sudden you're just like, thank you, Lord. Some old sin will come in your mind and you think, it's under the blood, Lord. Thank you. Thank you so much. It's gone. You don't even see it. It's gone. Most horrendous sin I've ever committed is gone. It's gone. It's washed under the blood. If you're a believer, the most horrendous sin we ever committed is washed in the blood, gone from God's sight. My, that's wonderful, isn't it? Not including all the little sins we do, and we don't even know we're doing them. Sins of omission and commission, right? Washed under the blood of Jesus.

So this is what Paul's preaching to Felix. He's saying, you're a sinner, man. See, just by preaching the righteousness of Christ, that exposes our sin, doesn't it? Because he's righteous and we're not righteous. Now, the believer now is made righteous in Christ, but by nature, we're certainly not. This is wondrous. This salvation is absolutely incredible, beloved. My.

And what does temperance mean for the born-again believer? It means we bow down to our king. We no longer are controlled by our sin. The power's been broken. Not the presence though, right? But one day that'll be gone too, right? When we get to glory. But the sin doesn't have the power it once held over us. We can still fall into sin, we do all the time, but it doesn't have the power, it doesn't have the grip upon us that it once did. And then we confess our sin because we're born again. Isn't that amazing? Again, the wicked don't think, they don't think they're sinners. But those who are saved by Christ, we admit we're sinners. Who made us to differ? God. Praise his name. Ain't it wonderful? I'll tell you, it gets better and better. It does. It just gets better and better.

The Lord Jesus Christ, he bought us with his own blood. And now we're to glorify God in body, soul, and spirit, aren't we? We're to glorify God now. Felix, he's a proud, powerful rebel, just like we were. But God left him in a sin, didn't he? My. Think of this, remember that centurion that called for Paul? And he bought his whole household. Or Peter, Peter thought he was just gonna speak to that one centurion, and he had a whole household of people. And many believed. Right? What's the difference between him and Caesarea and Felix? The grace of God in Christ. Isn't that amazing? Both of them were pagans. Both of them were idol worshipers. Both of them grew up as citizens of Rome. God made that centurion Cornelius to differ, didn't he? Just like he did with us, beloved. It's amazing, God's grace. It's amazing, I'll tell you what. I'll tell you why.

But look at here. Look at what Felix says. He says, go thy way for this time. I don't want to hear it right now. When I have a convenient season, I'm going to call you. Well, like all unregenerate men, as I mentioned earlier, Felix feared death. And he feared the coming judgment. And he feared eternal torment. But what do we see here? He did not fear God. That's the root of it, isn't it? The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But fools despise knowledge and instruction. And that fear of the Lord is not a, it's a reverent fear. It's not a slavish fear, it's a reverent fear, in awe of who God is. He's God. He's the King of all, and He's my Savior. Isn't that wonderful? I'll tell you, it's wonderful.

Felix did what all unnatural men and women do, they turned a deaf ear. He turned a deaf ear to the gospel with these words, go thy way for this time, and when I have a convenient season, I'll call for you. He turned a deaf ear. He turned a deaf ear to the gospel, which was directly preached to him. He just turned a deaf ear. No. Trembling's not salvation, and Felix was still a rebel. We see by his procrastination that he didn't fear God. His heart had not been broken. Oh. And you know, absolutely no one will repent and come to Jesus until God deals with their heart. Yeah. My, oh my. Causing the sinner to mourn before God, to cast themselves upon God, to repent before God, showing genuine remorse for sinning against Him, because that's who we sinned against. And the Word of God does teach the sovereign, irresistible, drawing power of God in bringing hell-deserving sinners to faith in Christ and into the waiting arms of King Jesus. Right? Made willing in the day of God's power.

But the Word of God also teaches man's responsibility, doesn't it? Oh, yeah. People think that what we believe, we don't believe in the responsibility of man. Man is 100% responsible for their sin. The saved sinner is already being paid for. The unsaved man or woman die in their sins and are 100% responsible for their sin. The call goes out, come to Christ. But when sinners wake up in eternal torment, they have no one to blame but themselves. People say, well, if I believe like you believe, you're telling me God sends people to hell. No, they're already going there. God saves sinners. That's what God does. He saves sinners. Isn't that wonderful? Are you a sinner? If you are, it's God who revealed that to you. Are you a saved sinner? If you are, it's God who saved you. My, it's wonderful, isn't it? It's wonderful.

So the Word of God teaches that it's the responsibility of the sinner to come to Christ. And they just turn the deaf ear upon them. There's a general call, isn't it? Come to Christ, flee to Christ. And there's an effectual call by the Holy Spirit of God that makes us willing in the day of God's power to come to Christ. And it's glorious, absolutely glorious. So from start to finish, salvations of the Lord. Purposed by the Lord, Executed by the Lord, so we'll give Him all the glory in heaven. If you're a saved sinner, give God all the glory. Praise His mighty name, because He purposed you and me to be saved. Isn't that wonderful? That's amazing. Me? Yep. All according to His grace and mercy. And those who refuse to bow down to Jesus Christ, giving Him all the glory for eternal life, He who is God's unspeakable gift, right? Do not understand the true gospel of God's amazing grace.

But when God sends the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, what do we do? We cry, Abba, Father, thank you, Lord, for saving my soul, saving an undeserving, hell-deserving sinner such as me. My, then read verse 26, look at this. He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him. Wherefore he sent him from the offender and communed with him. Well, we see Felix was after money. He hoped that Paul or his companions could get enough money together. Just a corrupt leader. This exposes his wickedness even more, right? My, oh, my.

And in verse 27, but after two years, Porcius Festus came unto Felix's room, and Felix, willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound. So here's the replacement time. As far as we know, Felix never called Paul again, and he perished in his sins. That convenient time never came, did it? Nope. Procrastination. Praise God he made us willing. Praise his mighty name. And we see here by the providence of God that Nero, the Roman emperor, removed Felix as governor of that province and replaced him with Festus. We see also in verse 27 that Paul was held a prisoner for two years. Two years! That Felix guy was a wicked fellow, wasn't he? There's no charge on Paul. He's appealed to Caesar. He's appealed to Caesar.

But you know what? It was God's providence at work. Right? Because remember when Paul wrote Philippians? And he said, some of the Patorian guard have believed. And even some of the household at the very end of Philippians, some of the household of Caesar, which is Nero at that time, believed. It was their time of love, that God had purposed that Paul would go to Rome and preach the gospel to them.

Praise his name. Isn't it wondrous to see the unfolding of God's sovereignty as we go through these studies? It's just absolutely amazing. That same thing happened in our lives. God brought us to the place where we would hear the gospel. And he saved our souls. Praise his mighty name.

Our God is so great, isn't he? He's so glorious, I'll tell you what. Brother Neil, will you close us in prayer?