Look at verse 25 again. And as he reasoned of righteousness,
temperance, and judgment to come. I've entitled this message, Righteousness,
Temperance, and Judgment to Come. Now, during the course of this
message that Paul delivered, he said in verse 21, except it
be for this one voice that I cried standing among them, touching
the resurrection of the dead, I am called into question by
you this day. Now, this is the issue. the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead. This is the issue. When the writer to the Hebrews
talked about the first principles of the gospel, he talked about
the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. This is key to an
understanding of the gospel. It's a key to my comfort. It's
a key to me believing the gospel. Having some understanding of
this thing of the resurrection of the dead. Now in the doctrine
of the resurrection of the dead, there are three resurrections. There's the bodily resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. There is spiritual
resurrection, and you hath he quickened, hath he given life
to who were dead in trespasses and sins, and there's the final
resurrection. And those three resurrections
correspond with righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. The bodily resurrection of Christ
has to do with righteousness. The spiritual resurrection of
every believer has to do with temperance. And the final resurrection
has to do with the judgment to come. Now let's consider those
three resurrections before we consider how they correspond
to righteousness and temperance and judgment to come. The Lord Jesus Christ died. Graveyard dead. One of the great mysteries of
the gospel. Jesus Christ, who is life, died. Now he never went through the
process of decay because of what took place when he died. Complete
satisfaction to God. God said I'm satisfied with what
he did. And I'm completely satisfied with everyone he did it for.
He never went through the process of decay like you and I one day
will because of his complete satisfaction. Now what took place
during that three day period of death, nobody knows, but he
really died. And there's only one reason for
death, sin. That's the only reason. The wages
of sin. is death. Christ took upon Him
the sins of all of His people and He became guilty of the commission
of those sins and God put Him to death. That's why He died. No other reason can be given. He died because of sin And three
days later, in that tomb, God raised him from the dead. I love
to picture this in my mind. He's been in that tomb, dead,
three days. Dead, graveyard dead. And all of a sudden, his lungs
heave. His heart starts pumping blood. He opens his eyes. He gets up. He removes those grave clothes. And he walks out of that tomb. I am he that liveth and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore. Jesus Christ was physically raised
from the dead. Now, the second resurrection
taught in the scripture is the spiritual resurrection. Ephesians
2, verse 1, and you hath he quickened, and you hath he given life to,
who were dead in trespasses and sins. You'll remember when God said
to Adam, in the day you eat thereof, you shall surely die that very
day. Now his body didn't die that
day. His soul didn't die that day. He still had a living body
and a living soul, but his spirit died and his spirit was no longer
spiritually dead. And you and I are born into this
world spiritually dead. I wish I could say that with
the way it ought to be said. I mean, I don't want to just
give it as a fact. It's, it is a fact, but spiritual
death, a dead man, you think of a dead man physically, he
can't hear no matter how you articulate the words and how
clear they sound. You can play beautiful music.
He can't hear cause he's dead. You can show him the most beautiful
portrait. He has no appreciation. He can't
see. He's dead. You can have the most
sweet smelling fragrant, put it right up to his nose. He can't
smell. He's dead. He can't taste. Put the best
tasting food in his mouth. There's no taste there. He's
dead. He can't feel. He's dead. Now, a spiritually dead man,
he can't hear the gospel. Oh, he might hear it audibly,
but he doesn't hear it as gospel. It doesn't really come as good
news to him because he's dead. He can't taste and see that the
Lord is gracious because he's never tasted His grace. He's
dead. It doesn't make any sense to
him. He can't see the beauty of Christ. He can't see the glory
of how God can be just and justify the ungodly. It's meaningless
to him. He can't feel the joy at seeing him or the awe at seeing
his glory and his majesty. He's dead. But when God gives
life, and the same power that was used in raising Christ from
the dead is used in giving a believer life. spiritual life, and he
can now see the glory of Jesus Christ in salvation. He now hears
the gospel as good news. It's not just a song to him. He hears it as the best news
he's ever heard. He can now feel the joy Joy is
a feeling. He can now feel the joy and peace
of believing. He now mourns over his sin. He
now experiences feelings that he couldn't experience apart
from the grace of God. Oh, he can now smell the sweet
savor of Christ. He's been given life. He can
believe, he can do things he couldn't do before. There's a
time I can remember in my own experience what I think, what
in the world does it mean to believe? I'd hear preachers talking about
believe and I'd think I would if I knew what it meant. This
thing of repentance. What does it mean to repent?
What's that mean? And then when I'm given life, I find myself
believing. I find myself in a state of repentance. Now that's the second resurrection.
The first is the bodily resurrection of Christ from the dead. The
second is the spiritual resurrection. And you have he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. And the third resurrection is
the final resurrection. Would you turn with me to John
chapter five? Two scriptures I want to look
with regard to this. Verse 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you,
John 5, 24, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that
sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation
but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto
you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the
voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in
himself, me and you don't have life in ourself. We're utterly
dependent at all times. But the Father has life in himself. He's utterly independent. So has he given to the son to
have life in himself and has given him
authority to execute judgment also, because he's the son of
man. Marvel not at this for the hours coming in which all that
are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth.
They that have done good under the resurrection of life. and
they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. Now here he tells us of the final
resurrection. Let me show a passage of scripture
in Revelation 22. This is talking about on final
judgment, verse 11. He that is unjust, Revelation
22, 11. He that is unjust, Let him be unjust still. And
he which is filthy, let him be filthy still. You'll spend eternity
that way. And he that's righteous, let
him be righteous still. Continually, nonstop. And he
that is holy, let him be holy still. Now, go back to our text
in Acts chapter 24. Remember the issue was the resurrection
of the dead. Verse 22. 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 uttermost of your matter. I'm going to hear you again about
this. And he commanded a centurion to keep Paul. TO LET HIM HAVE
LIBERTY, AND THAT HE SHOULD FORBID NONE OF HIS ACQUAINTANCE TO MINISTER,
OR COME TO HIM. THIS WAS WHEN HE WAS ANCESTORATED.
HE HAD NOT BEEN TAKEN TO JERUSALEM YET. HE WAS KEPT IN A CONFINEMENT,
BUT ALL OF HIS FRIENDS COULD COME TO HIM. VERSE 24, AND AFTER
CERTAIN DAYS, WHEN FELIX CAME WITH HIS WIFE DRUSILLA, WHICH
WAS A JEWESS, HE SENT FOR PAUL and heard him concerning the
faith in Christ. He heard him concerning the faith. There's only one faith, the faith
of Christ, the faith of God's elect, the acknowledging of the
truth, which is after godliness. He heard him concerning the faith
in Christ. Now, there's either faith or
works. You can't mix the two. Faith,
depending on what Christ has done only. Works, in some way,
depending on what I do faith or works. He heard him regarding
the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned, now this
is a word that's used quite often to describe Paul's preaching. Look in Acts chapter 17 verse
two. And Paul, as his manner was,
went unto them and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of
the scriptures. Look in verse 17 of the same
chapter. Therefore disputed he, that's the same word there translated
disputed. Therefore disputed he in the
synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons in the market
daily with them that met with him. Look at chapter 18 verse
four. And he reasoned. in the synagogue
every Sabbath and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks look in verse
19. And he came to Ephesus and left
them there, but he himself entered into the synagogue and reasoned
with the Jews. Look in chapter 19, verse eight.
And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for the space
of three months disputing, that's the same word, reasoned or disputing
and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. But when
divers were hardened and believed not, but spake evil of that way
before the multitude, he departed from them and separated the disciples
disputing daily, reasoning daily in the school of one Tyranus.
Look at chapter 20 verse seven. And upon the first day of the
week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul
preached to them. That word preached, it's the
same word, preached. This was his manner. He preached,
he disputed, he reasoned. Look in verse nine. And there
sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen
into a deep sleep. And as Paul was long preaching,
I think this is almost funny. He preached so long, somebody
fell asleep. fell out of the high place and died. And he came
and gave him back life. And then he continued preaching
a long time after that. I just wonder what had happened
if I was long time preaching all night. Somebody might die
of, well, whatever. But this was Paul's manner. Now
go back to our text. As he reasoned of these three
things, righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. And my
dear friends, that's the gospel. The reasoning of righteousness,
the reasoning of temperance, and the reasoning of judgment
to come. Now this can only be understood
in light of these three resurrections. I think you'll see this. When
Christ was raised from the dead, righteousness. Temperance means strength from
within. Greater is he that's in you.
Temperance is a fruit of God the Holy Spirit. It's the last
fruit mentioned in Galatians 5.22. The fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, and temperance. It's the fruit of God the Holy
Spirit, and everybody God has raised from the dead has this
thing of temperance. And judgment to come has to do
with that final resurrection when we're raised from the dead
and judged by God. Now, the whole gospel is in that
message, righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. Now, the resurrection of Christ
from the dead, Righteousness. Why did he die in the first place?
The righteousness of God. You see, when the sins of God's
elect became his sins, and he bore them in his own body on
the tree, and actually became guilty of the commission of those
sins. Now, you and I both know that he never sinned, even when
he was made sin, he never sinned in his person. But he became
guilty of the commission of the sins that I've committed. And
God, in His justice and in His righteousness and in His holiness,
put him to death. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. have put him to grief. When thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed,
he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. Now, the only hope that I have
that God can actually be pleased with me and embrace me and see
me as not guilty is because Christ took my sin and made it not to
be. It's God. God's justice was satisfied.
That's why he never went through the process of decay. The moment
he died, the justice of God was completely and absolutely satisfied. And he is completely satisfied
with everybody that Jesus Christ died for. You know what that
means? That means God's satisfied with me. approval. Well, I've got God's
approval in Christ. complete satisfaction. You know
why God raised him from the dead? The righteousness of God demanded
his resurrection. He made full payment. He completely
kept God's law and God's righteousness demanded his resurrection and
he demanded the salvation of everybody he died for. That bodily
resurrection of Christ speaks of the righteousness of God. I love that scripture, Romans
1, 16 and 17, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. And
I'm not. I'm proud of the gospel of Christ.
I'm proud of the gospel we believe. It's a gospel worthy of God.
I'm not proud of religion. It's a shameful thing, but I
am proud of the gospel. Oh, how glorious it is. I'm not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek, for therein in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed. You'll never see the righteousness
of God if you don't see, and if I don't see, the gospel of
Jesus Christ. That's where the righteousness
of God is revealed. Turn with me to Romans chapter
10. Romans chapter 10. You know one
of the glorious things about this, and I don't know how long
I've been a believer. I don't know for sure. But I know
this, this message is more thrilling to me now than ever. The righteousness
of God revealed. Thrilling Romans chapter 10 verse
1 brethren My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved I Bear them record that they have a
zeal of God, but not according to knowledge For they being ignorant
of God's righteousness Now this is true of every unbeliever ignorant
of God's righteousness, ignorant of His righteous character. And
if you think you can please Him, all you've proved by that is
that you're ignorant of His character. If you think He can be pleased
with you, you're ignorant of His character, ignorant of His
righteous law. If you think you've ever kept
one commandment one time, you're ignorant of the righteousness
of His law. And what about His righteousness in my condemnation?
Now, I have to say this the way it ought to be said. I know that
God would be righteous in my condemnation. I know it. But
a lot of times I don't feel it. But I still know it. And you
know how I know it? By what Christ experienced on
Calvary's tree. He was condemned by God. That
is what I deserve. And if God cut me off, if God
left me to myself and sent me straight to hell, I've got no
claims on God. He's perfectly right in doing
it. That's who He is. But thank God the righteousness
I love to think of most is his righteousness in salvation. That
the righteousness of God demands me to be brought into heaven
because I deserve it, because of what Christ did for me. Now that is glorious. Righteousness. Now, the second
resurrection spoken of is the spiritual resurrection, and that
corresponds with the word temperance. Now, what do you think of when
you think of temperance? When you think of temperance, it's
a good thing. You think of being temperate
in drinking and eating, not overeating, not becoming intoxicated, having
discipline in your life, being temperate and moderate in all
things, and that's a good thing, isn't it? Temperance, that's
a good thing. A lost man can do that. A man
who is unsaved, who doesn't know God, can be very temperate. in all of those things. When
he's talking about temperance, he's talking about the temperance
that comes from the new birth, the fruit of God, the Holy Spirit. Every believer has this thing
of temperance, control from within. And here is why. Greater is he that in you. He's stronger, isn't he? He's
stronger than the old man. He's stronger than the old nature.
As a matter of fact, the elder, the old nature, is gonna serve
the younger, the new nature. How's that? Why, even my old
nature, as bad as I hate it and want to be done with it and look
forward to it being gone forever and me standing in Christ's presence
without sin, my old nature serves me. because it lets me know that
I have nowhere to look but Christ only at all times. In that sense,
that's a blessing. The old nature serves the new
nature. Now this thing of temperance,
control from within, it's the result of being born of the Spirit.
Let me give you an example of it. Look in Romans chapter 12. I beseech you therefore, brethren,
by the mercies of God. That's so important. He doesn't say, I beseech you
because you're going to be in trouble if you don't. He doesn't
say you're going to experience severe trials in your life if
you don't listen to what I'm saying. That's not the argument
he uses. He says, I beseech you by the
mercies of God. What does that do for you? the
mercies, the saving mercies, the free mercy, the sovereign
mercy, the saving mercy of God. That's the one argument he uses.
I beseech you by the mercies of God that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, Which is
your reasonable service? Anything else is unreasonable.
And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed
by the renewing of your mind that you may prove. What is that
good and acceptable and perfect will of God? For I say through
the grace given unto me, here's the first thing he says when
he speaks of that good and acceptable and perfect will of God and demonstrating
it. I say through the grace of God
given to me, to every man which is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think Soberly,
to not be drunken with high thoughts of yourself, but to think soberly,
according as God has dealt to every man, the measure of faith. Now, temperance, Christ in you,
the hope of glory. Now, if Christ is in me, I'm
gonna have temperate views of myself. I'm not going to be, by the grace
of God, drunken with a sense of self-importance and pride.
I'm gonna see that in and of myself, I'm nothing but sin.
That's it. I'm gonna have temperate views
of this world. This world is the world. All that's of the
world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride
of life is not of the Father, but of the world. I'm gonna view
this world properly. Oh, I'm gonna have, A high view of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This new man has the fruit of
the Spirit. Temperance. Temperance. Control from within. You know,
sin shall not have dominion over you. That's a promise. And that
doesn't mean you're going to be, well, I've licked that sin.
That doesn't mean that at all. The Word is actually Lordship.
Sin's not your Lord, Christ is your Lord. Don't you love having
Christ as your Lord? Christ is your Lord. Sin shall
not have dominion over you. And here's why, you're not under
the law. Law never produced love for Christ. Law never produced faith. All
law produces is resentment. You're not under law, but you
are under grace. The third thing he mentions is
the judgment to come, which corresponds with the final resurrection.
We see that righteousness the bodily resurrection of Christ,
temperance, spiritual resurrection, the new birth, the fruit of the
Holy Spirit being in you. And the third resurrection corresponds
with the judgment to come. We will be raised from the dead
to be judged by the things done in this body. Now listen to this
scripture real carefully. I want you and I to have an understanding
of this. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 it says, For we shall
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone
may receive the things done in his body according to that he
hath done, whether it be good or bad. This has been used to teach what
people call the beam of judgment, the judgment of believers. Well,
there will be judged according to the things done in their body.
Well, I will be judged according to the things I've done in my
body. And you know what? It's all good.
You see, the righteousness of Christ is my righteousness before
God, and the things done in my body, they're all good. There's
no sin there! I'm justified, I stand before
God without guilt, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in His sight.
What about all the sins you've done in your body? They've been
put away, they're gone. They're separated as far from
me as the east is from the west. I'm going to receive the things
done in my body, and every bit of it's gonna be good. And if
I stand on my own, I'm gonna receive the things done in my
body. And it's not good. That is the result of everyone
who dies outside of Christ. Look in Revelation 20. 11, verse
11. And I saw A great white throne. Let me
say this before I go on reading this. Justification is not something
simply charged to my account, but I'm still what I am. Justification
means everything done in my body is good. Whatever Christ did,
I did. That's the believer's hope. Whatever
Christ did, I did. That's why I'm going to be justified.
It's not just Righteousness charged my account even though I'm still
what I am. No, Christ said, thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness. And when he fulfilled all righteousness,
every single one of his children did too. Now here is that final
judgment to come, verse 11, and I saw a great wide throne and
him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away. And there was found no place for them And I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were
opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of
life. Didn't Christ say, I am the life? His life is my life before God. The book of life with the names
of God's elect written in them, it doesn't have all these individual
lives. This one lived this way and this
one lived that way. There's one life recorded in this book. The life, the merit, the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. And that other books, hard telling
how many of those books there are. I know this is figurative
speech, but every sin everybody's ever committed outside of this
book is written down in these books. I saw the dead, small and great
stand before God and the books, plural, were opened. And another
book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books, plural,
according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them. And they were judged every man according to their
works. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. John said in 1 John 4, 17, here
is our love made perfect that we may have boldness on the day
of judgment. Now, can you imagine standing
before God with boldness and confidence on judgment day? Yes,
I can. And here's why. You go on and
read the rest of that verse because as he is, so are we in this world. Back to our text, we'll close
up with this. Acts chapter 24. And as he, verse 25, and as he
reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, and remember,
in that same message, he said, this is the issue, the resurrection
of the dead. And those three things correspond
with the bodily resurrection, the spiritual resurrection, and
the final resurrection. And as he reasoned of righteousness,
temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled. He didn't understand. It scared him. He couldn't grasp what Paul was
saying. He trembled. Now, if you understand
this, God gave you this understanding. God's been your teacher. That's
why you understand. Felix didn't. All he heard was
righteousness, I don't measure up. All he heard was temperance,
and he thought temperance, and he thought I'm just a corrupt
man. He was scared to death at the thought of judgment to come.
He trembled at this message. And the reason he trembled at
this message is because he had no understanding of it. There
are some people I'm talking to right now that are rejoicing
in this. They see the gospel. They're happy. They're glad it's
this way, but not Felix. He trembled. He was scared. And look what he says. Go thy
way for this time. He put it off. Go thy way for
this time. When I have a convenient season,
I'll call for thee. He hoped also the money should
be given him of Paul, that he might lose him. Wherefore he
sent for him the offerer and communed with him. But after
two years, Porcius Festus came into Felix's room and Felix,
willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound. So we know in
those two years, he never really heard Paul preach. But what I
want us to leave with is this. He hid in the false refuge of
tomorrow. Boast not thyself of tomorrow,
for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Now when someone
hides in the false refuge of I'll get this straightened out
tomorrow, well, you don't know what you have tomorrow for one
thing. And for another thing, when you say that, you're saying,
I've got some ability to take care of this sometime down the
road. You're denying your own sinfulness. You're denying your
own depravity. You're looking to some kind of
work you're going to perform. I need to get this straightened
out. I need to do this. When I get my ducks in a row,
I'll be ready. That day never comes and it never
came for Festus. It never came. Now behold, today
is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Do not wait for anything because
when you wait for something You're looking to the flesh in some
way. You're saying, well, tomorrow when I understand this more,
when I feel more, when I quit committing this sin and when
I start becoming more diligent about reading the scriptures
and I just start becoming a better person and I start growing, then
I'll be ready. No, no you won't. You're farther
off than you ever were. Just as I am, without one plea,
but the shed blood of Calvary. And that thou bidst me come to
thee. O Lamb of God, I come. God will meet you on the ground
that you want him to meet you on. If you want to come on the
ground of your works, he'll meet you there and it won't be good. If you want to come on the ground
of pure, free grace, God will meet you there. The only time to come is right
now. Let's pray. Lord, we are so thankful for the resurrection of our Redeemer
from the dead. And Lord, we confess that is
our righteousness. We're so thankful for spiritual
resurrection where you give dead sinners life. And we're so thankful
to look forward to that final resurrection when we'll be done
with sin and we can behold our Redeemer face to face. In Christ's name we pray, amen.