Now, turn on your Bible again
to the book of Acts, chapter 24. Acts chapter 24, and I want
to try to bring you this sermon that Paul preached before this
governor, Roman governor, named Felix. Paul, after certain days,
it says here in verse 24, Acts 24, verse 24, after certain days, don't know how many days, may
have been months, may be longer. After Paul had answered his defense,
in his defense, and after Felix had heard both sides of the argument
from the Jews' perspective and from his own mouth, He said,
I'm going to defer the case. I'm not going to make a decision
on the case until I hear from the arresting officer, Lysia. When he comes down, then I'll
make a decision. Well, we know from reading the
rest of the chapter that he never did make a decision one way or
the other. But he did do this. After certain
days, it says in verse 24, when Felix came with his wife, He
asked for a private audience with the Apostle Paul, Felix
and his wife, and she was of Jewish heritage. He sent for
Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ Jesus. Now, this phrase, the faith in
Christ, is the same thing as saying the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And when Paul came before this
governor, Who had the power to release him? Who had the power
to execute him? Do you think Paul is going to
trim his message a little bit? Or tone it down just a little
bit, maybe to save his own hide? Or maybe to get in good company
with this guy, with Felix, and maybe butter him up a little
bit and be friendly toward him? Or is he going to tell him the
truth about salvation in Christ Jesus? Well, he's going to tell
him the truth. He heard him concerning the faith in Christ, which is
the gospel. And then it says in verse 25,
he reasoned. He reasoned of three things.
And that word there, reasoned, is the same word that's used
in other places. He preached unto him. He declared
unto him. And the word also is used, reasoned,
means disputing with him. To clearly set forth three things. Righteousness. temperance, which
is submission, and then judgment to come. Oh, the wrath to come. George Whitefield, a preacher
from years back over in England, back in the 1700s, he used to
close his sermons. He was a street preacher. He
wasn't very welcome in most churches because of his message. He preached
in this country in the 1700s. 30, 1740, and he was used of God, what
they call in this country the first great awakening, the first
great revival that spread over this country in New England back
in the 1700s, was this man George Whitefield. But they tell me
he used to always close his sermons by this scriptural saying, Oh,
the wrath to come. The wrath to come. The judgment
to come. And that's what Paul is saying
here. He preached of righteousness, temperance, judgment to come. To come. Now look what happened. Felix trembled. Felix trembled. And answered, he said, I don't
want to hear any more of that. I don't want to hear another
word. You go away. this time, and maybe when I have
a convenient season, I'll call and I'll hear more of this, but
not now. Not now. Now, here's the thing. We see that Paul was given an
open door to speak plainly the gospel of God's grace and to
declare the gospel of God's grace, and when he was given the opportunity
to do so, that's exactly what he did. Notice it says, He heard
him concerning faith in Christ. Now, Paul, when he was given
an opportunity, didn't lecture Felix on the evils of Roman society. And I'm sure there was a lot
of evils that went on in Roman society, and Paul could have
straightened him out and lined him out on all the moral issues
of the day. But he bypasses that. As if it
was a non-issue, and as far as salvation is concerned, it is
a non-issue. All the religious, all the moral
evils that go on in society, that's not the preacher's business
to try to put the abortionist out of business, or the moonshiner
out of business. The preacher's business, the
main emphasis, is preaching Christ and Him crucified. And that's
what Paul did. Nor did he try to do this. He didn't try to straighten out
all the moral evils of the Roman society. Nor did he explain to
him all the legal aspects of the Jewish law. Paul could have
done that. He was a Pharisee. He grew up
in that religious tradition, and he could have lined him out
on all the aspects of the Day of Atonement, and all the legal
aspects of the Jews, and all the Pharisee rules and regulations,
but he didn't do that either. He was given an opportunity of
God and an open door, and this is what he did. He told him about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ. Paul reasoned
or preached to him. You see in verse 25, this word
reason. Now, I want to show you a few
places that we've seen this word in Acts chapter 17. Turn over
there. It's the same word that's used
in different places, disputing or preaching. And I'm pointing
this out to show you that Paul, when he was given an opportunity,
he clearly set forth the gospel as he did in times past. In chapter
17 of Acts, when Paul came into their synagogue there in Thessalonica,
verse 2. And Paul, as his manner was,
went in unto them, and three days he reasoned with them out
of the Scriptures. He reasoned with them. He preached
to them, opening and presenting, alleging that Christ must needs
have suffered, risen again from the dead, and this Jesus whom
I have preached unto you, He is the Christ. In the same chapter,
verse 17, therefore Paul, see that word disputed? The same exact word that we read
over in chapter 24, reasoned. He disputed, reasoned in the
synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons in the market
daily with them that met with him. There in Athens he preached
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Again in chapter 18, look at
verse 4. In chapter 18, verse 4, it says
that he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded the
Jews and Greeks. And when Silas and Timothy were
come from Macedonia, Paul was pressed in spirit and testified
to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. You see, this is his
pattern. When God gave him opportunity
to preach the gospel, he clearly set forth Christ and Him crucified. Now in chapter 19 of the book
of Acts, in verse 8 and verse 9, and he went into the synagogue
and spoke boldly for the space of three months, disputing, now
it's the same word, reasoning, persuading of the things concerning
the kingdom of God, that is Christ, salvation in Him. Divers were
hardened and believed not, and spake evil of that way. He departed
from them, and separated the disciples, disputing." And that's
the same word, reasoning, daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
Now, if you'll turn to chapter 20, verse 7 and 9, I'm trying
to show you from Paul's past preaching exactly what he did
when he had the opportunity to preach to Felix. In Acts chapter
20, it says here in verse 7, And upon the first day of the
week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul
preached, now that's the same word, reasoned, in the original,
unto them, ready to depart on the morrow. And continued his
speech until midnight. And down in verse 9 it says there,
Set in a window a certain young man named Eutychus, being fallen
in deep sleep, that Paul was long preaching. That's the same
word. Reason. So Paul was a preacher
of the gospel. And when he came before Felix,
he wasn't concerned about offending him. Often times people will
say, well you know that preacher was stepping on my toes this
morning. Well listen, I'm not aiming for your toes. I'm aiming
for your heart. I'm not interested in stepping
on toes. I'm aiming for your heart." And that's what Paul
was doing. He wasn't interested in stepping on his toes. He wanted him to hear the gospel
and pray that God would do something in his heart. You imagine what
would happen to this man. We read this story in Acts chapter
10. There was a centurion under the
command of Felix. You remember Cornelius? a Gentile
Roman soldier, and Peter went down there and preached to him,
and God saved that man. And Paul was expecting the Lord
to do the same thing with this man, therefore he was very diligent
to tell him the truth of salvation in Christ Jesus. Now, in case
you don't know, some of you know this, but maybe some of you have
not figured it out yet, The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
I mean by that God's sovereign, saving, free, gracing Christ,
when it's truthfully, plainly declared, is offensive to the
natural man. It's offensive to the flesh,
especially to religious flesh, especially to those who are hiding
in a refuge of lies. The carnal mind is still enmity
against God. Now the truth, the truth as we
see salvation in Christ Jesus, the truth is not offensive to
a believer. When you tell someone he's a
sinner, who is a believer, and that God chose a people and salvation
is all of grace, that doesn't offend a believer. He knows it's
true. But the truth to an unbeliever
is offensive. I know that. I understand that. I want you to find Galatians
chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. And unless God is pleased to
subdue and do a work of grace in the heart, the unbelieving
heart, in that old fallen rebel nature that we all have by nature,
unless God is pleased to do something for us, the truth of God's grace,
sovereign grace, will offend the natural man. Understand that. Find Galatians chapter 5. Galatians
chapter 5. And this is what Paul says here.
And I brethren, verse 11, Galatians 5, 11. And I brethren, if I yet
preach circumcision, that is, if I bring in Christ plus something
I must do, if I preach Christ plus legalism, morality, or other
things for salvation, if I add something to the gospel, then
Why would I suffer persecution? The offense would be gone. Then
is the offense of the cross ceased? If I mix grace and works, well,
the offense is gone. But if I preach plainly and clearly
salvation by grace alone, then that's offensive to the natural
man. You see, my friend, it's not a part Savior. and part grace
that religious people get upset about, is when you declare the
whole of salvation and all of salvation totally dependent,
conditioned, and accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, then
that offends the unbeliever. But not the believer. Now I want
to give you five things, five things today, on what is the
offense of the cross. What is the offense of the gospel?
And I believe I've given these to you before. But it bears repeating. What is the offense of the gospel
that Paul talks about? Then is the offense of the cross
ceased? What does it mean? Well, here's five things, valid,
these are true, these are certain. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ addresses all men as guilty, vile, wretched sinners. That's
what the gospel clearly describes. It addresses all men as sinners,
and this offends man's dignity. And this offends man's self-esteem. When he tells someone he's totally
depraved and unable to do anything to merit God's attention or anything
to merit God's favor, then, well, he gets upset because that offends
His dignity. You see, the Scripture clearly
declared that there is none righteous, no, not one. Can you take your
place before God Almighty this morning as a sinner? Guilty? Vile? Wretched? Does that offend
you? I'm a sinner. Through and through. Born that way. Raised that way. Lived that way. I'm a sinful
man. And this offends those who are
unbelievers, but it doesn't offend the believer. Secondly, the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed by sovereign revelation of God
the Holy Spirit. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Neither can he know them because
they are spiritually discerned. I can preach and preach and preach
the truth. The character of God is holy.
The character of Christ and His deity. The effectual atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I can declare the truth and read
and read and read. But I can't make you a believer.
I can't make you see these things. God has to do something in you
and reveal Himself to your heart. We call this sovereign mercy.
Sovereign mercy. all through the Scriptures. And
I know that this offends man's lofty thoughts of self. It does. When you tell him that salvation
is not in his hand, you tell him that as the Lord
said, no man can come to me except the Father which sent me, draw
him. This offends man's lofty thoughts
of self. He thought salvation was in his
hand. And yet we clearly read in Scripture, it's not of him
that willeth, nor of him that runneth, it's God that shows
mercy. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will, and whom I will I'll harden. How does He do that?
He simply leaves hardened rebels to their selves, and they perish
in their willful unbelief. And this offends man's lofty
thoughts of self, but to the believer, oh, this is not offensive. The believer knows and understands,
had God not chosen me, had God not called me, had God not loved
me, I never would have loved Him. I never would have called
upon Him. You see, the Scriptures teach,
blessed is a man whom God chooses and causes to approach unto Him. That doesn't offend me. Does
it offend you? Oh, I tell you, the offense of
the Gospel. This salvation in Christ Jesus
is received by God-given faith. And this offends man's wisdom. This offends man's wisdom. Salvation
in Christ is received by faith alone. And we know that faith
is not something we conjure up. Faith is not something that blooms
in this dead, depraved, guilty heart. Faith is something that's
heavenly. Every good gift and every perfect
gift comes from above. It's given by the sovereign hand
of God. And He implants that in our heart
when He gives us life in Christ Jesus. And the fruit and result
of that life in Christ Jesus is that we believe. Him, who
is altogether lovely, this salvation in Christ received by God-given
faith alone, this offends man's wisdom. It does. It's offensive
to his wisdom. He thinks he knows better than
God. Find 1 Corinthians chapter 1. 1 Corinthians chapter 1. The offense of the cross. Not
offensive to the believer, but it is offensive to the unbeliever,
and especially to religious unregenerated flesh. 1 Corinthians chapter
1, verse 18. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish, or her perishing foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it is the power of God, the wisdom of God. For it is written, I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise. I will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent." Well, where is the wise? Where
is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom, No, not
God. It pleads God. By the foolishness
of preaching, it saved them that belief. The Jews require a sign. The Greeks seek after wisdom.
But we preach Christ crucified. Under the Jews, it's offensive. It's a stumbling block. Under
the Greeks, it's just pure nonsense. But under them which are called
Jew or Gentile, Christ the power of God, Christ the wisdom of
God, Salvation in Christ is received by God-given faith alone, and
He can give faith to whom He will, or He can withhold faith
as He sees fit. Fourthly, that offends man's
wisdom. Fourthly, not the believer now,
talking about the unbeliever, the offense of the cross. Fourthly,
the effectual blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ The
effectual putting away of the sin by the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ offends man's pride and self-righteousness. You see,
the Lord Jesus Christ by Himself, by Himself purged our sin. And He put away the sin of God's
covenant people, not for all the sins of all men, but for
all the sin of some man, those given to him in the covenant
of grace. And this offends man's self-righteous pride." Pride. God hates a proud heart. Men
don't object to a part Savior. It's the complete Savior that
they despise. We will not have this man reign
over us. Give me a part. Give me something
to do. And yet we read plainly in Scripture,
it is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy He saved us. It is God who has called us and
saved us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to God's own purpose and grace. The effectual blood
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, particular, definite, powerful,
that puts away all the sins of God's covenant people, this offends
the unbelieving man's pride in self-righteousness and self-glory. Does that offend you? That you
have nothing to do with the putting away of sin? Do you think that
sin is done, put away by something you do, something you add, something
you bring? Not at all. All of God All of
grace, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. All creature merit is excluded
in the atonement. We are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ, not with silver and gold, not with our vain tradition,
but with the precious blood of Christ and the effectual atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is offensive to the unbeliever. and to religious flesh, depraved
flesh, but not to the believer. The believer loves the successful,
victorious, efficacious, blood atonement of Christ, the victorious
Lord. When He put away our sin, He
set down the right hand of God. This is good news to the believer,
and it's not offensive to the believer. The Gospel of Christ
rightly gives God all the honor and glory. Not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto Thy Name do we give glory for Thy mercy
and for Thy truth's sake. Gives God, rightly so, all the
glory and honor alone. We are the true Israel which
worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh. This offends man's desire, religious
man's desire, unbelieving man's desire for praise and self-recognition. Does it not? It's a stumbling
block. I know that. I understand that. Find 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter chapter
2. Where is the offense of the cross?
Defensive to the unbeliever, but oh, to the believer, it's
everything. Look what he says right here,
1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. Look at verse 4. To whom coming as
unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of
God and precious, You also, as living stones, are built up a
spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore, also it is contained
in Scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect
and precious. He that believeth on him shall
not be confounded, shall never be ashamed, never be forced out. Look at verse 7, Under you, therefore,
which believe, he is precious. But under them which be disobedient,
If the stone which the builder disallowed the same has become
Lord, head of the corner, a stone of stumbling, look at verse 8,
a rock that is offensive to you who believe not, even to them
which stumble at the word being disobedient, whereunto also they
were appointed." But you are a chosen generation, you are
a royal priesthood, you are a holy nation, a purchased peculiar
people that you should show forth the praises of Him who called
you out of darkness unto His marvelous light. Now I don't
want to needlessly offend anyone, and I try not to, but I will
not, yea, cannot, trim off the edge or trim off the offense
to keep from offending someone. The charge to me as God's servant
is this, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. And woe is unto
you if I preach the gospel and you refuse to hear it. If I preach in such a way, turn
to Galatians chapter 1, if I preach in such a way, as to please men,
then mark this down. If I come with a goal and ambition
to gain a following, or to be popular, or to, as they run that
contest every year in the paper, the best doctor, the best dentist,
the best restaurant, the best business, I'm not running for
the best preacher. Not interested in that. You know
what I'm interested in? I'm interested in telling the
truth of who God is, the truth of salvation, the truth of sin
and ruin, and the truth of salvation in Christ alone. And if I fail
to do that, I fail in my calling unto God. And if I just simply
preach to gain a following or to fill these seats, I can fill
these seats. I can do it in a heartbeat. Next
week I can have this building jam-packed and have to have my
neighbor cut down the chains over here to use this parking
lot. That's simple. But I'm not interested
in filling the building. I'm interested in telling the
truth because God says this truth will set sinners free. Look what he says here, Galatians
1, verse 10, For do I now persuade men Or am I God's servant? Or do I seek to please men, men
or God? For if I yet please men, mark
it down, I'm not His servant. I'm going to preach the gospel
and I pray I can preach the gospel in love, in kindness, But I will
not, yea, cannot trim off the offense to keep from offending
some religious Pharisee. I will not. My pastor taught
me, when you take the offense off the message, you've taken
the power out of the gospel. I'm not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ. It's the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that will believe it. Now, notice what happens when
Paul preaches the gospel here. Back in Acts chapter 24, Paul
preached to Felix the gospel of Christ, and he reasoned of
three things, disputed and preached of three things concerning faith
in Christ, the offense of the cross, righteousness, temperance,
and judgment to come. Righteousness, temperance, and
judgment to come. Righteousness. Felix, he said,
You don't have any righteousness. And Felix, you need a perfect
righteousness to stand before God justified, and you can't
produce it. You can't bring it. My friend,
you see, the righteousness this sinner needs to stand before
God justified, is wrapped up in Christ, who is the Lord, my
righteousness. He is all my hope before God,
Christ only, Christ alone. Blessed is the man to whom God
would impute, give, reckon, righteousness, without any contribution on my
part. He has a perfect righteousness
provided in the gospel at the expense of His obedience. We
are made righteous. God made him to be sin for us
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. And he told old Felix, you don't have any righteousness
of your own, and you need one to stand before God justified,
and that justifying righteousness is only found in the Lord Jesus
Christ alone. He pointed him to Christ. You
see, this is concerning faith in Christ. Secondly, he reasoned
here and preached unto him temperance. Temperance. Now this temperance
here has to do with submission. Submission. Has to do with bowing
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Has to do with submitting unto
Him in all things in the Gospel. It's bowing to Him. It's believing
Him. It's acknowledging and loving
His Lordship. It's not like He's Lord and I'm
mad. No, it's like He's Lord and thank you Lord for saving
my soul. And he pressed the claims of
Christ on Felix, and he said, He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not the Son,
the wrath of God abides on him. And he pressed that issue hard.
That's why Felix trembled. He trembled. And then thirdly,
judgment. Judgment. Judgment to come. to the point where the man wants
to die, and after that, judgment. And we know the standard. What's
the standard of judgment? What's the standard of God's
judgment? The best you can do is 80%? I can do 80%? Well, if you could do 99.999,
and you can't, but if you could, that one percent, one-tenth of
one percent would damn your soul for eternity. Judgment to come. Our Lord said, except you believe
that I am He, you'll die in your sins. The only way for a guilty
sinner to stand before God in judgment and hear Him say, Come
ye blessed of My Father, is to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, in the Lord Jesus Christ
there is no condemnation. There is no judgment outside
of Him God is a consuming fire. And that's the truth. Now notice
this. Felix, his response, he trembled. He trembled. Trembled. He was concerned. He got worried. He got scared. Judgment. God
is holy. I'm a sinner. I've not bowed
to Christ. And he trembled. My friend, now
listen to me, trembling is not believing. Emotion is not salvation. A troubled conscience is not
conversion. He trembled, but he was still
a rebel at heart. He was not broken. His will was
not subdued. And Felix, her God's servant,
preached the gospel and said, Go away from me. I don't want
to hear no more." And I believe the echo of the eternal judgment
against this man will hear these words ring out for all eternity,
and his own words will condemn him. Go away. Go away. Until I have a convenient
season. My pastor used to say, Those who eternally condemn,
it's truth. They realize truth too late. Too late. Too late. True Holy
Spirit conviction leads to repentance toward God and faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this true faith and repentance
acknowledges the truth of salvation. To miss Holy Spirit conviction
is to miss repentance. To miss repentance is to miss
faith. To miss faith is to miss Christ,
who is everything in salvation. Without faith, it is impossible
to please God. A man without faith is a man
without Christ. You see, he reasoned. He preached
the Gospel, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He pointed this
center to Christ. And I've tried to do that best
I can, best as God has given me the gift and the ability to
do so, not with perfection, but I pray with sensitivity, I've
tried to point you to the Lord Jesus Christ and reason with
you of righteousness and submission and judgment to come.