Acts chapter 24. Now we left
off in verse 16 last week. And picking up in verse 17, Paul
is still speaking before Felix. And he's telling him that, he
said, After many years I came to bring alms to my nation, and
offerings, wherein certain Jews from Asia found me purified in
the temple, neither with multitude nor with tumult, who ought to
be here before thee, and object if they had anything against
me. Or else let the same here say, if they have found any evil
doing in me, while I stood before the council, except it be for
this one voice, that I cried standing among them, touching
the resurrection of the dead, I am called in question by you
this day." And when Felix heard these things, having perfect
knowledge of that way, he was aware of who Jesus Christ was. He knew something about it because
he was the governor of Judea. And his wife was Jewish. His wife was Jewish, so, you
know, she no doubt talked to him about their way, you know,
the Jews and their expectation of a Messiah, and so he had some
knowledge. So he deferred, he said here,
he deferred them and said, when Lysias, the chief captain, shall
come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter. And he commanded
a centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, this
is God's mercy to Paul, 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 Jewish, he
sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And the
rest of that is Paul preaching to Felix. And I titled this procrastination
equals damnation. Procrastination equals damnation. He said, I'll call you when it's
more convenient for me to listen to you and deal with this. And
as we know, that never happened. He actually committed suicide
not too long after that. But we have before us here three
people. We have Felix, the governor, Drusilla, his wife, and the Apostle
Paul. Felix is the governor, and Drusilla,
his wife, and Paul, the prisoner, are the three subjects that make
up this message this morning. We have a message given by a
prisoner. We have a message given by a
prisoner. Now, you would think that the prisoner would give
some flattering words to the governor. What would you do if
you were a prisoner and you came before a governor? Well, I know what most would
do. I know what most would do. They would be like Tortullus
there in the beginning of this and, oh, he'd just flatter the
daylights out of the governor and try to seek, you know, release.
But Paul doesn't do that. Paul is honest with the Word
of God and he's honest with his audience. And as a pastor and a preacher,
I tell you, that's so important that he's honest with his audience.
And listen, he speaks to the audience he's standing before.
That's important, that's important to me, that I speak to the audience
that I'm speaking to. I need to think of the ones that
are going to show up and speak to them, speak to your heart,
from my heart to your heart. And so here Paul stands before
Felix and Drusilla, And he's going to be honest with them.
See, he's not going to flatter him. He's going to shoot at his
heart because he's interested in that man and woman's salvation. Now, I know he is. I know he
is. He's interested in them. He truly
desires their salvation. Now, who was Felix and who was
Drusilla? Well, Felix was a slave at one
time. He was a slave. And he was freed by Claudius
Caesar. And he rose through the ranks.
until he climbed to this point of being a governor of Judea. He was a wicked man. He was an
extortioner. As you see here in verse 26,
he called for Paul at the end of verse 25. He said, When I
have more convenient season, I will call for thee. He hoped
also that money should be given him of Paul that he might loose
him. He called for Paul a lot, often and often, but he was hoping
that Paul would pay him off. He gave him some money under
the table, and that's the kind of man he was. He was a wicked
man. Wicked man. But Caesar promoted this man
to be governor of Judea. And Drusilla, she was Jewish.
She was the daughter of Herod Agrippa the Great, the one that
was eaten by worms. She was fiancé to Antiochus,
but after her father died, He dropped her. Well, you know,
he did. That's all the reason he's going
to marry her, is for political reasons. And when he died, he
just dropped her. And she married a king named
Azesus, king of Emesa. And she married that king. And then Felix come along. And
he wooed her away from her, and she became his wife. That's the
situation Paul was dealing with. Here is an adulterous marriage. He's dealing with a corrupt governor
and an adulterous marriage. Now, Paul, don't touch that. Stay out of the personal lives.
Somebody said one time, if you want to have a ministry, don't
get into personal lives. I don't know how you can do that
and be a preacher of the gospel and be honest. I don't know how
you can do that. I don't know. John the Baptist, he said to
Herod, he said, it's not right for you to have your brother's
wife. And he got his head cut off. He lost his head, but he
didn't lose his life. But he was honest. He was honest
with his audience. Honest with them. Well, now they
come to the judgment seat and they call for Paul, and Felix
and Drusilla are curious to hear about this Messiah, this resurrection
that Paul talks about. And you see, she's Jewish and
she wants to hear more of it. And I'm sure they thought that
it would be entertaining, interesting, to hear what Paul had to say.
They didn't think it'd be convicting. They thought it'd be entertaining.
But it wound up being convicting. But not all conviction leads
to salvation. We'll see this. His conscience
was quickened, it was awakened by the Spirit of God, but he
was not converted. Well, they take their seats and
Paul, standing there in chains, takes his place before them.
And no doubt, Felix sitting there as the judge, he's going to judge
with Paul, but this scene gets reversed. This thing gets reversed. When God's man stands to preach,
it's not God's man being judged. It's the Word of God judging
those who hear it. And all of a sudden, Felix and
his wife are being judged. And they're being judged by the
Word of God, not by Paul. They're being judged by the Word
of God. The Word of God is what judges us. That's what matters. In verse 24, And after a certain
days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was Jewish,
he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Paul spoke to him about faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke to him, no doubt, about
the person of Christ, the work of Christ, the substitutionary
work of Christ, the satisfaction of Christ, the resurrection of
Christ, and called on him to believe. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." He spoke to him of
Christ. He's risen, He's not dead. He
died, yes, but He's not dead. He's ascended back to the Father,
and there He sits and makes intercession for transgressors. And there
He sits as the Judge. This One who was crucified, who
was despised and rejected of men, This one is now enthroned
and all judgment has been committed to the Son. All judgment has
been committed to this man, Jesus Christ. And Felix, being a judge,
knew something about what that meant. As Pilate said, don't
you know I have power over you to release you or to crucify
you? He knew what that meant. He knew
what it meant to be a judge. And Paul, I have no doubt, said
that he commands all men everywhere to repent no matter what rank
they are. You're never above this rank
of repent and believe the gospel. Well, as Paul preached, as he
preached, I want you to notice in verse 25, And as he reasoned,
he preached is what he did. And he reasoned, and listen,
he reasoned out of the Scripture. Now, Felix, this is what I think.
It doesn't matter what you and I think. Honestly, it's what
does the Word of God say. So he reasoned with him out of
the Scriptures. That's what I do every week, isn't it? I reason
with you out of the Word of God. Always take a Bible with you.
No matter where you go, and you're going to listen to a man preach,
you take the Bible with you and see that man's telling the truth.
See to it. Don't ever just assume it. See
to it. And he reasoned with him. And
here's what he reasoned with him about. He reasoned with him
of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come. He reasoned
with him of righteousness, God's righteous character. God is a
righteous God and God demands righteousness. He reasoned with
him of the righteous character of God. He reasoned with him
of God's demand of righteousness. And he reasoned with him of Christ
providing that righteousness, of a righteousness provided by
Jesus Christ, by His obedience to the law. He reasoned with
him concerning righteousness. And Felix heard Him. He heard
that. He knew something about that.
He knew this. I know he knew he lacked what
Paul was talking about. He knew he lacked what Paul was
talking about. Because he knew he was a crook. He knew he was
an extortioner. He knew he squeezed people for
money. He knew that. He knew he took
advantage of widows. He took advantage of prisoners
like Paul. He tried to get money out of
Paul to release him. He would have released Paul and
said, Get out of town, Paul. Get out of town. He reasoned with him of righteousness. And no doubt he pointed out to
Felix his lascivious way of life and how he extorted all these
things and did all these things in reasoning with righteousness.
No doubt he did it. No doubt he pointed it out. And
then he reasoned with him of temperance. Temperance. You know what that is? Self-control. That's restraint. Something we
don't want and something this country doesn't want. It's sad,
but don't we live in a day when we want to live without constraints?
Why do you think they want to defund the police? It ain't because
they're crooked. It's because they don't want
law. We don't want anybody telling
us what to do. I'll be a law to myself. I'll be a law to myself. So he reasoned with him of temperance,
self-control, self-discipline. You know, through all of Paul's
writings, he spoke of mortifying the deeds of the flesh. He spoke
of that. Paul said that he kept his body
under subjection lest when he preached Christ that he himself
would be a castaway. So he spoke to Felix about this,
and Felix didn't know anything about temperance. What he wanted,
he went after. What he wanted, what he desired,
he did all that he could to fulfill the lust of his flesh. And Paul
pointed out that that's evil. That's sinful. That's wicked.
That's wicked. Paul, I thought of this, I thought
Paul standing there in the power of God's Spirit preached. He
didn't preach before Felix. He preached to him. That's the
difference. Have you ever had someone just
preach before you and then have someone preach to you? I've had,
many, many times I've sat and listened to Henry preach and
I felt like I was the only person in that congregation he could
have been talking to. He couldn't have been talking to anybody
else but me. He preached to my heart. I mean, it was like shooting
arrows from the pulpit right at me. But that was God. That's God. I come here on Sunday
morning and Thursday evening to preach to you, not down to
you, not down to you, but to preach to you. I want you to
hear it. I want so bad for you to hear
what the Word of God has to say, to get a hold of it, or for it
to get a hold of you. For you to lay hold of eternal
life, and for me to lay hold of eternal life. And so when
Paul's standing here preaching, he's preaching to Felix, he talks
to him about righteousness, because without righteousness, no man's
going to see the Lord. And in that man's position, especially
in that man's position, God demands him to be righteous in his judgments.
You treat people right. You have judgments right. Don't
have respect of persons. Felix, God puts you there. And
He's going to hold you responsible for the judgments that you execute
on people. I've thought of this, I've thought
how many times have judges sentenced men and women to prison and even
to execution who are just as wicked as the people they judge
and are gonna be in the same hell that he condemns them to? I thought, oh, if you only knew,
judge, that you're gonna be right there with the one you're condemning.
And that's what he's making Felix understand. God holds you responsible
for the position he's put you in and to do right, to be righteous,
to be righteous before God and to be right dealing with men
and women. He didn't put you in that position
for self gain. I tell you what, I hate to be,
I would not want to be any of these politicians that are up
there in Washington, up there for the whole purpose of serving
themselves and getting rich. I mean, some of them have got,
I mean, they're two-thirds of the way in the grave already.
You can look at them, they're almost there, and they're about
to stand before God, and they don't even have a clue that they're
going to be called into judgment for their conduct and the way
they handle that office that God put them in. But Paul made Felix understand
this. He didn't back down. Paul didn't
take the edge off of it. He didn't back down. He told
him the truth. He reasoned with him of righteousness and temperance and judgment. Listen, listen. Judgment to come. Know what it says? Judgment's
coming. Judgment's coming. You reckon
that's what Noah was saying for 120 years, building that ark?
Judgment's coming! They laughed at him. Man, no
doubt in my mind. What's rain? What is a flood? They've never
seen rain. The mist, it just went up as
a mist. They had no idea what a flood... What's a flood? The
water never left its banks, ever. The creek stayed the same level
all the time. The rivers were the same level all the time.
And he's building an ark. And he said, it's going to flood.
God's going to destroy this world. And they laughed at him. And
he spoke to Felix. Judgment's coming. And God's
going to call you, Felix, into judgment for all that you are
and all that you have done. God's calling you into judgment.
You know the scripture says that He's going to call into judgment
every idle word? I mean, an idle word? Just talking? Just foolish jesting? We'll see this in Ephesians chapter
5 here in a little while. Just joking and jesting and you
know God's gonna call in a judgment for every idle word spoken. That's
how strict judgment is. That's how strict it is. Judgment's
coming. We can't say that enough. And I tell you this, all who
are not in Christ, and I'm sure he made this evident to Felix,
all who are not in Christ, all who believe not on Christ, all
who love not Christ are going to perish under God's judgment.
He's not saying, Felix, God loves you. Smile, God loves you. He doesn't. He's saying, Felix,
God's going to pull you into judgment if you're not found
in Christ, and you're going to pay for everything even to an
idle word. God's going to call you into
judgment. This is Paul talking to the governor. That's courage. That's what you
call courage under fire. He's courage. Paul let Felix know that there's
a day of judgment coming. And I know this world laughs
at it when we talk about it. They think we're idiots. They
think we're just goofballs. We're just whatever. You know, they said, well, the
world, you know, you've been saying this since the beginning, and,
you know, here we are. We're still here. You just keep
saying this, but I tell you what, I bet you when God brought the
rain and flooded those people, they wished he'd listened. That
rich man wished he'd listened. I know he does. Felix knew something about judgment
since he acted as a judge. He acted as a judge, and he knew
something about it. And Paul pointed out to him,
Felix, apart from Jesus Christ, you're going to perish for your
sins. Apart from that man, Jesus Christ, apart from faith in Him,
apart from being born of God, apart from love to Him, apart
from following Him, apart from Him, you'll perish. The love
of God is where? In Christ. The love of God was
found in the ark. The wrath of God was found outside
the ark. That's what was outside the ark.
The reason, I tell you what, the reason that there's no, even
just any kind of fear of God in our day is because we've watered
God down so much. We've watered God down so much.
We've watered his anger against sin down so much. And we've just,
I don't say we, and when I say we, one time we did, didn't we? But the preaching that goes on
in our day has just made God so lovey-dovey, mushy-mushy that
nobody fears Him. The Old Testament called Him
the great and terrible God. He's great and He's awesome to
stand before God. Who can stand? The prophet said,
Who can stand before this great and dreadful God? Those in Christ. Those in Christ. Those outside
of Christ are not going to stand. Boy, I say to any, any, any sinner,
flee to the Lord Jesus Christ, look to the Lamb of God, because
outside of Him is nothing but wrath. That's what the Scriptures
teach. And I tell you what, we need
to set forth God in all that He is. We don't just pick this
little aspect that appeals to people. We preach God in the fullness
of His character. I preach it, and then I just
go home. How many converts have you had? I've never had a convert.
God's had some. The Holy Spirit is one who converts.
I'm a messenger. I'm just like the mailman. I
watched him yesterday come in, put the mail in my box, and leave.
He didn't come over and beg me to go down there and look at
my box. He put the mail in my box, and he left. I come here,
and I preach the gospel to you, and I go home, because I know
that salvation's of the Lord. True conversion and the new birth
is the work of God. It's not of me. I'm just a voice. Isn't that what John said? I'm
just a voice. That's all I am. John said, I'm
not the Christ. There's nothing about me. I'm
just a voice in the wilderness. That's all I am. That's all I
am. Every person, every human being
that's not in Christ is going to stand before his judgment
seat and going to be judged. He's going to be judged. And
you know what happened? Here's something that's really,
really interesting. Felix trembled. Felix was He's
shaking. I mean, he's literally going
like this. He was just shaking. I have no doubt, as Paul preached
to him in the power of God's Spirit, God, the Holy Spirit,
God took control of that courtroom. That's His courtroom. God established
that. That's God's courtroom. And God
took control of it, and He put His man on the judgment seat,
and Paul preached, and Felix sat there just visibly trembling. And this is astounding to me. The Holy Spirit quickened his
conscience, no doubt. This conscience that he had sinned
against so many times to the point where he didn't feel anything
for a little bit, he did. He made Felix to understand this
is the truth. He's faced with the truth. He understood what Paul was saying.
He understood it. The Holy Spirit sent the Word
of God in power. In power. This shows us, listen, this shows
us how dead sinners are. How dead they are. How dead they
are. Even with powerful convictions,
Felix could not leave his sins. Isn't that amazing? Unless you're born of God, unless
you're born of the Spirit of God, unless you're converted
by the Spirit of God, if you're confronted with it in a powerful
way, I mean, you understand what's being said. You understand it.
To the point like Felix, he trembled. But he couldn't let go of his
sins. He just couldn't let go of them. This shows you how dead we are
and how powerful sin is. Many won't come to Christ, even
though they understand what's being said. They understand what's
being said, but they will not come to Christ. They will not
follow Him in baptism because they can't let go of sin. Now if all I got up here and
preached to you was a place called hell, people let go of things
and they'll make a profession. They'll do what they need to
do to not go to that place. But they don't want to be saved
from their sin. They love it too much. Man drinks
iniquity, it says, like water. It tastes good. There's pleasure
in sin for a season. And they can't let go of it.
He was faced with his life. He was faced with his sins. He was faced with what God demands. And you know what he did? He
looked at that and he trembled. He said, I know this is true,
but this is what I love. This is what I love. I love this
adulterous woman. I love this life. I love this
money that I get. I love this position of power.
I love this. And not long after that, he committed
suicide. He committed suicide not too
long after this message. And you know what he said to
Paul? Go thy way. When I have a more
convenient season, I'll call for you. We'll deal with this.
And he didn't do it. Now he did call for Paul trying
to get some money out of him. See how fast that left him? You
see how fast the conviction left? This is what scares me. I'm like,
Lord, Lord, convict me and keep on convicting me. Don't, you
know, I mean, he was convicted while he was standing there hearing
the word. And as soon as he got up and left the judgment seat,
I'm sure him and his wife began to say, well, you know, well,
you know this, well, before you know it, it was gone. It was
gone. He said, I'll call you when I
have a more convenient season, but he never did. He never did.
Sinners are never saved. Now get this. Sinners are never
saved on their terms and their time. Do you get that? You're never saved
on your terms and your times. Nobody is. Now is the accepted
time. Now is the day of salvation.
Right now. Not five minutes from now. Not
five days from now. It's right now. It's right now.
What makes a sinner think that God will ever send the gospel
his or her way again? You ever think of that? Why would
I think that God would send the gospel my way again? The opportunity
to hear? Why would I think that? He doesn't
owe it to me. He doesn't owe it to me at all.
You may die on your way home. I thought about this this morning.
I guarantee you, I guarantee you, throughout this whole world,
somebody's going to hear the gospel for the last time. I mean
for the last time. Henry tells a story of someone
there in the congregation that was there. He preached a message.
and preached the gospel. And this lady, as far as I know,
was a believer, but he preached the gospel, and when she went
home, her son came over to check on her, just for some reason,
whatever, and there she was, dead on the floor. That was the
last message she heard. She walked out of there feeling
good. No one knows, no one knows, when
the last time they'll hear God speak. No one knows it. Now is the accepted
time. When is it convenient to be saved?
Right now. Lord, save me now. I do. I pray that. Lord, save me now.
It's always now with me. You know, I have been saved,
I'm being saved, and I shall be saved. I'm always being saved. Now. Most people think that when
they grow older, they'll get saved, or they'll let God save
them. And this has come from our present-day
preaching. But listen, what it comes down
to is this. They want to sow their wild oats. They want to fulfill the lust
of the flesh. They want to chase their dreams, and they think
the gospel is contrary to that, and so they have nothing to do
with it. When they grow old, it'll be a more convenient time.
They'll have time to be a Christian, to be a believer. Rarely, rarely,
and I mean, I've seen this by experience, and from the things
that I've read, rarely do you see an old person come to Christ. Rarely. I didn't say not. I didn't say
they never do. I'm saying rarely. And it's just
from what I've observed over the years. And like Felix, that day for
most will never come. It'll never come. And let me
close by reading Proverbs chapter 1. Look, over in Proverbs chapter
1. Verse 22, How long, you simple
ones, will you love simplicity, and the scorners delight in their
scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof. Behold,
I will pour out My Spirit unto you, I will make known My words
unto you. Because I have called, and you
refused, I have stressed out My hand, and no man regarded.
But you have said it not, all My counsel. and would none of
my reproof. You wouldn't listen to me. I
also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh.
When your fear cometh as desolation and your destruction cometh as
a whirlwind, when distress and anguish comes upon you, then
shall they call upon me, but I'll not answer. They shall seek
me early, but they shall not find me, for that they hated
knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. They would
none of my counsel, they despised all my reproof. Therefore shall
they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their
own devices. For the turning away of the simple
shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whosoever hearkens unto me shall dwell safely and shall
be quiet from the fear of evil." Powerful, isn't it? Powerful. That's the Word of God. Felix,
you would none of my reproofs. You wouldn't listen to me. And
the day your calamity comes, I'm going to laugh at you. I'm
not going to hear you because you wouldn't hear me. When I
sent the gospel to you, you wouldn't hear me. So now I'm not going to hear
you. All right.