We will read together in Acts
chapter 24 and verse 1. And after five days Ananias the
high priest descended with the elders and with a certain orator
named Tertullus who informed the governor That's Felix against
Paul. And when he was called forth,
Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, seeing that by thee we
enjoy great quietness and that very worthy deeds are done unto
this nation by thy providence, we accept it always and in all
places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. Notwithstanding
that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou
wouldst hear us of thy clemency a few words. For we have found
this man, that's Paul, a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition
among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of
the sect of the Nazarenes. who also hath gone about to profane
the temple, whom we took and would have judged according to
our law. But the chief captain Lysaeus
came upon us with a great violence, and with great violence took
him away out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come unto thee
by examining of whom thyself mayst take knowledge of all these
things whereof we accuse him. And the Jews also assented, saying
that these things were so. Then Paul, after that the governor
had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know
that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do
the more cheerfully answer for myself. because that thou mayest
understand that there are yet but twelve days since I went
up to Jerusalem for to worship. And they neither found me in
the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people,
neither in the synagogues, nor in the city. Neither can they
prove the things whereof they now accuse me. But this I confess
unto thee, that after the way which they call heresy, so worship
I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written
in the law and in the prophets, and have hope toward God, which
they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection
of the dead, both of the just and unjust. and herein do I exercise
myself to have always a conscience void of offence toward God and
toward men. Now after many years I came to
bring alms to my nations and offerings, whereupon certain
Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude
nor with tumult, who ought to have been here before thee and
object if they had ought against me. or else let these same hear
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 more perfect knowledge of that way,
he deferred them and said, when Lysaeus, 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, 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 Jewess, 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 convenient
season, I will call for thee. He hoped also that money should
have been given him of Paul that he might loose him, whereof he
sent for him the offner 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. A lot in this chapter is familiar
to us because it is a recounting of the events that we've already
mentioned in the previous chapter, the previous couple of chapters,
really. But what we do see here from
this repetition is just how implacable the Jews were against Paul. He had gone to Jerusalem at the
Passover in order to worship at one of the most important
feasts. And yet here, within a few days
of that feast, the high priest and the council have travelled
all the way from Jerusalem to Caesarea. What did we say, was
it 75 miles or so? Certainly many miles and I imagine
that because of the scale and the largeness and the organisation
of the feast at Jerusalem that these High priests and council
would have been very much engaged in the activities of the feast. But now they've got to travel
to Caesarea within days of the ending of the feast. And that
just shows us how intense was their passion against Paul and
against the gospel. They even brought with them a
lawyer, a man who was probably a Roman according to his name.
and they would hope that this man having good language skills
and good abilities to speak well and who was speaking as a Roman
to a Roman might endear them to Felix the governor. They had
been ordered to attend, yes, and there was perhaps some anxiety
that having beaten Paul and tried to kill a Roman citizen that
they wanted to make sure that they were able to state their
case clearly. But it was firstly and primarily
because they hated Paul and they hated Christ and they that they
came to speak to Felix at Caesarea. And Tertullus, he knew his job.
He was a smooth talker. He gave plenty of compliments
to Felix, and he was careful in his accusations. He chose
his words carefully. I wonder if you noticed that
he called Paul a pestilent fellow. You know what he said there?
He said, this man is a pest. This man is like a plague. This
man is like a virus. He is causing so much trouble. In the world today, it's like
he's a virus. He's a pestilent fellow and he
creeps around and his message is going into people's life and
causing them damage and causing them trouble. And he also called
him a mover of sedition. And that is a phrase that Felix
would have been very aware of because Rome was very cautious
about anyone accused of sedition. And they always endeavoured to
put sedition down, rebellion down, as soon as it arose. And
they also accused him of speaking against the temple and against
their religious laws. As if to say, you know what,
Felix, you could really just leave this man to us and we'll
deal with him. Because we can accuse him under
our laws and we'll be rid of him and we'll probably be doing
you a favour. And it all sounded very reasonable
when Tertullus spoke to Felix. But he was, of course, spinning
his argument. He was exaggerating and he was
using twisted excuses in order to make the Jews' case sound
good and Paul's case sound bad. Paul, on the other hand, his
defence was very simple. He denied the accusations against
him in the court and he pointed out that there was no proof for
the allegations that were being made. And then he said, let me
tell you, Felix, what this is really all about. These Jews
are offended because I teach the resurrection of the dead,
because I speak the truth. That was what the Lord Jesus
Christ taught and that is what happened to Jesus Christ. He
rose from the dead and of course the Jews hated that because they
wanted to suppress the fact that Jesus Christ had risen from the
dead but here was Paul going around preaching it to the whole
world. and that's what the Jews hated.
And Paul says, this is what it's about, the resurrection from
the dead. He is saying, I preach that believers
will be raised to everlasting life and that the wicked will
be raised to judgment and damnation. And he spoke too about hope.
He spoke about hope towards God. Now the Jews allowed for religious
people to have hope, but Paul preached about hope to sinners. And that was the big difference
between the Jewish religion and the gospel of Jesus Christ. And
that's an important point, because religion teaches people to be
good, to do good, and therefore to expect good. But the gospel
offers hope to sinners. And that's the great deception
of religion. Religion has no hope in it. Religion actually mocks men and
women. Religion laughs at men and women's
inabilities by selling them a lie. But the gospel meets sinners
at the point of their need and it shows them hope. It shows them the way of life
in Jesus Christ. It gives hope to dead men and
women and it speaks of a resurrection from the dead. Whether that is
to new life in Christ and the spiritual rebirth or whether
that is at the end of time when all men and women will be raised
again, Those believers will be raised to everlasting life and
those who are unbelievers they will be raised to everlasting
punishment. And perhaps Felix realised that
there was something very powerful in this gospel message because
he clearly did not want to make a judgement at that time. He
realised that there was something here which intrigued him and
maybe even interested him. And so he postponed the judgement
and he said that he planned to hear Paul again on this matter
at another time. Now I imagine, although we're
not told, that the Jews simply now returned to Jerusalem, and
I can also imagine that there was a lot of uncertainty about
what this meant. And Paul was detained in what
seems to have been some kind of open prison, because he really
wasn't a threat to anyone. But it's what happens next which
I think is interesting and I just want to close on this point today. The end of this trial, the end
of the passage, gives us something to think about. Felix did hear
Paul again. and he brought his wife to hear
Paul. She was a Jew or a Jewess and
she came to Caesarea and he brought out Paul in order to let her
hear him speaking too, thinking perhaps since she's a Jewess,
she might have more understanding about what Paul was talking about.
But when Paul began to speak, we're told that Felix trembled. He trembled at the power of Paul's
speech. He trembled at the effect of
Paul's message. He trembled in the light of the
ministry that spoke of the risen Christ. And in verse 25 of the
passage that we read, we see there these words. As he reasoned,
that's Paul, as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and
judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, go thy way for
this time. When I have a convenient season,
I will call for thee. The righteousness that Paul spoke
of here is a righteousness that is required of God and a righteousness
that is unattainable by men and women, by boys and girls. A righteousness that is available
only in the Lord Jesus Christ and by faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, by trusting him and believing in him and committing our lives
to him. And the temperance of which he
spoke, that's an interesting word, we don't use it very much
these days, but it was perhaps a plight way of exposing Felix's
sin and exposing Felix's guilt. It's as if to say, thou art the
man, to Felix. Paul was saying, you know what,
Felix, you haven't been a good man. And as he spoke about temperance,
he was showing that Felix was a sinner, and he did not have
the righteousness that God demanded. And then he spoke about judgment
to come, the certainty of justice, of accountability and of eternal
damnation. And well might Felix have trembled
as these three topics were explained and set out to him. We all should
take note of these three topics because they comprise that gospel
message which shows us that there is a righteousness that is needful
but is found only in Christ. and that our sin will be judged
and that God will be vindicated. Felix asked for a convenient
time. He thought there would be another
time, a later date, when he could think more about these things.
And you know, many people have rejected the gospel, imagining
that they would have another opportunity to hear about the
Lord Jesus. but that opportunity never came. Felix did speak to Paul again,
but we are never told that the gospel convicted him in the way
it seemed to have convicted him on that day. He was more interested
in money. He was more interested in pleasing
the Jews. His opportunity had passed and
the gospel had passed him by. O might we be people who hear
the gospel both in our ears but in our hearts, both in the preaching
of the gospel but in the power of the gospel. And may God the
Holy Spirit give us grace to realise that that righteousness
that we need is to be found in Jesus Christ and in trusting
him. There is a warning here for us
all. All who hear the gospel of salvation by Christ and ignore
it, reject it or despise it, will be judged and damned and
separated in hell forever. May God grant us grace to hear
and believe the Lord Jesus Christ, the way of peace with God and
the way of escape from judgment. Amen.