Don't Procrastinate

open up our Bibles to Acts chapter 24. Acts chapter

Acts 24 · chapter mention Acts 24 · chapter mention

24, we're going to be looking at this entire

chapter as we're just making our way here through

the book together. And this morning we're going

to be talking about a few different topics regarding

the truth and at the end of chapter 24 you'll

see Felix entirely turn away from the truth and

procrastinate. from giving his life to Christ

and we'll anyways we'll just be looking through

all of that just walking through this chapter

together and hopefully it will be a blessing

to you. Let me just read for us verse 24 down

to verse 26 or 27 together and then I'll pray

for us and then we'll jump in to what it has.

So it says after some days Felix came with his

wife, Jerusalem, who was Jewish, and he sent

for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ

Jesus. And as he reasoned about righteousness

and self -control and coming judgment, Felix

was alarmed and said, Go away for the present.

When I get an opportunity, I will summon you.

At the same time, he hoped that money would be

given to him by Paul. So he sent for him often

and conversed with him. When two years had elapsed,

Felix was succeeded by Portius and Festus, and

desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul

in prison. Lord, thanks for our time that we

have right now to be in the Word of God. It truly

is the highlight of our time together, because

in these pages of scripture we find Christ. We

find our Savior. We get to learn about the Messiah.

And Lord I pray that as we study the Word that

your Holy Spirit would would move in our hearts

that you would convict us of sin or even convict

us of wrong thinking and you would change that

thinking. Lord that you would bring comfort to

those who are hurting. and Lord that you would

conform us into the image of Jesus Christ. We

depend on the Holy Spirit to do these things

for any amount of change that's going to happen

in our lives. In Jesus name, amen. Well, we've

been studying now the book of Acts for quite

some time and towards the end of this, after

the third missionary journey, you can kind of

feel the story pick up a little bit, but also

feels like it's slowing down as well. That is

because we're starting to hit these these different

trials that the Apostle Paul is going through

and what's happening is the Jews are trying to

convict him and Trying to run him out of Israel

even worse than that trying to kill him So he's

going through all these different trials and

hopes for a conviction And when studying these

trials that we're going to be studying together,

and we looked at one last week, and we'll look

at one this week, and then next week we'll do

the same, we can't help but think about the life

of Christ and the trials that Jesus went through

on the night that he was betrayed, on the night

that he was arrested and tortured and then eventually

murdered the next day on the cross. Jesus would

go before one court and another court in front

of one judge and the next judge and he'd go and

it'd be again through each time he'd be proven

innocent. Each time Jesus not guilty and each

time they weren't sure what to do with him until

finally the crowd took over and chanted, chanted,

crucify him, crucify him and then he would be

hung on the tree. 25 years later or so thereabouts

we have the Apostle Paul Standing before judge

after judge court after court and each time the

courtroom saying we don't know what to do with

this man he's not guilty of what you guys are

saying that he is guilty of and Luke gives us

these trials one after another and and I think

he wants us to go back and even think about the

life of Christ not because Paul is Christ, but

because Paul is proclaiming Christ. And so we

have again another opportunity to see the Apostle

Paul stand before a judge, or in this case, stand

before Governor Felix. In fact, in chapter 23

he went before the Sanhedrin, in chapter 24 he

goes before Felix, and in chapter 25 he goes

before Festus, and in chapter 26 he goes before

King Agrippa and Festus again, and you're gonna

feel like coming to church is like a little bit

of a deja vu. You're going to sit in the same

seat. You're going to grab your coffee. You're

going to shake hands. You're going to open up

the Book of Acts. You go, wait a minute. Didn't

we talk about this last week? It's going to feel

like that for the next couple of weeks as we

come into these courtrooms together to figure

out what's going to happen to the Apostle Paul.

And at the end of the day, no one knows what

to do with Paul because he's done nothing wrong.

And what is really on trial is not the man. but

the message. It's not the guy, but the gospel.

And it's not for crimes, it's because of Christ

and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is

what's really happening in these chapters, in

these four chapters and in these four trials.

It is the gospel of Jesus Christ that is on trial

through the Apostle Paul. You say, why is it

that the Romans got involved anyway? Well in

AD 6 this Roman province was established as Rome

would extend its reach all throughout the known

empire back then. Judea was a critical spot because

it was kind of a land bridge between Egypt and

Syria. It was a spot that the Romans really really

liked but it was also a spot that was and had

political Instability it was always one of those

places where riots would occur It was always

one of those places where they couldn't settle

the people down but room wanted this tight coverage

over this area because They wanted to tax the

people there. They were in it for the money The

Jewish high priest was there and the Jewish high

priest was Ananias and he he could help Settle

the people at times, but Rome controlled the

courts Rome was the only one that could enact

capital punishment. And during this time, the

Roman emperor was a man by the name of Nero.

And he reigned from AD 54 to 68. Underneath him

was Governor Felix. And he was part of Judea

and the governor over that area. And he resided

in a city called Caesarea. And Felix had judicial

authority. He could hear trials like this one.

He had military authority. He had the power to

imprison people. He had the power to release

prisoners. Ananias didn't have that kind of power.

He was appointed, in fact, by even Rome. Ananias

was over the Jewish council, which handled religious

law. But when it came to executing capital punishment,

That could not happen without Roman approval.

So what the Jews were doing is they were like,

okay, let's get him in front of the Felix, let's

get him in front of Festus, let's make sure that

he's in front of these people who could actually

say, yes, you are guilty and you deserve the

death penalty. So we have these trials going

on for that very reason. The goal here, For the

Jews is to have Paul killed remember in Last

week we saw this there was a plot even to kill

him if you look in in chapter 23 in verse 12

It says when it was day the Jews made a plot

bound themselves by an oath neither to eat nor

drink till they had killed Paul All right. This

is how hostile the area is right now Jerusalem

is in an uproar they're all searching for this

man Paul and the Jews want to have him killed

but they can't kill him unless the Romans tell

himself so let's get him in front of the governor

let's get him in front of the king let's do all

that we can to get the Apostle Paul killed but

when he goes before the Rome the Roman governors

they look at him and go hey you've done nothing

wrong sound familiar yeah this is exactly what

happened to Christ they put him before the Roman

they said oh I find no fault in this man And

here it is happening yet again the gospel on

trial and the gospel again Being the very thing

that the people hate but the gospel is the very

thing that that brings peace and salvation to

the hearts of men So here's Paul he's in prison

right or even before that during this plot to

kill him remember his nephew came right out of

nowhere it's like oh nephew didn't even know

he had a nephew right he came and heard what

was going on he heard that his uncle was about

to be executed once he left prison and these

people were going to come and kill him so he

let the romans know and and they went ahead and

they got as it says in verse 23 of chapter 23

they called two of the centurions and said get

ready 200 soldiers 70 horsemen 200 spearmen And

let's get him take him to Caesarea there and

the third hour of the night We're gonna provide

mounts for Paul to ride on and we're gonna bring

him safely to Felix so he has this this entire

entourage around Paul as he makes his way out

of Jerusalem and into the coast there to Caesarea

where Felix is and he stays there the night and

it says in verse 35 Felix says I will give you

a hearing when your accusers arrive Alright,

so that's where we're at now. He's in front of

Felix chapter 24 verse 1 gives us then a unique

trial a new trial There's some new faces here

in this trial. I want to give you these these

faces as we we say these names We know about

Ananias. He's the high priest. We've been introduced

to him before He's the high priest of the council

of the Sadducees and the Pharisees Then you got

a man it says there there's some elders that

are there so Ananias brought with him from Jerusalem

All right, some of some of the elders of the

church some of the men with authority brought

them with him These were were men who could understand

political matters. They're representatives of

the Sanhedrin They're there in this courtroom

and then we've got a new person here It says

there in verse 1 and a spokesman won Tertullius

The the the most easiest way to tell you who

this man is is to say this the Jews lawyered

up The Jews lawyered up They found the best lawyer

and all of Judea to ride along with them and

to take them into this courtroom They wanted

to have the Apostle Paul executed so they so

Ananias said I know what I'll do I'll grab some

of the men will try to intimidate him with all

these guys and then we'll grab the the best lawyer

in the entire country will bring him and we'll

let him just say what he needs to say in front

of the governor and for sure Paul is going to

be accused of all these things Also you have

and I read it already at towards the end here

at the when Paul is in custody here We have Felix,

right? That's the governor and then we're introduced

to his wife Jerusalem it was a Jewish woman and

there's an interesting story there. Maybe we'll

have time to get to it but this is the this these

are the the ones who are here in this this courtroom

and There's three parts to this that I want to

show you three parts to this in chapter 24 this

Courtroom scene that I want to show you and let

me just walk through them with you This morning

number one part one is this I want you to see

Tertullius's Prosecution and what he does is

he twists the truth And the principle here, let

me just give you this upfront as well So that's

part one principle number one is this is that

the world will lie or twist the truth to stop

the advancement of the gospel That's the principle

that I want you to think through as we study

this part of this passage. Here's what it says.

After five days the high priest in Ananias, chapter

24 in verse 1, he came down with some of the

elders and a spokesman, one a lawyer, Tertullius.

They laid before the governor their case against

Paul. And when they had been summoned, Tertullius

began to accuse him, saying, since through you

we enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight,

oh, most excellent Felix, reforms are being made

for this nation, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Right, just buttering up the governor. In every

way and in everywhere, we accept this with all

gratitude. Verse four, but. To detain you no

further. I beg you in your kindness to hear us

briefly For we have found this man a plague One

who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout

the world and is is a ringleader in the sect

of the Nazarenes He even tried to profane the

temple, but we seized him By examining him yourself

you will be able to find out from him about everything

of which we accuse him. Everything of which we

accuse him. There's three things that Paul is

being accused of. Number one, it's right there

in verse five. He's being accused of sedition,

which is he is someone who is starting riots

all throughout the land. This is what Christ

was also accused of. A man who starts riots all

throughout the land. He says, oh he's one who

stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout

all the world. He's being accused of this. Secondly,

he's being accused of being the leader. The sect

of the Nazarenes, which is so wild and bizarre.

We've never even heard this yet before maybe

they thought because he took a Nazarite vow This

could have been why he did this but the net the

Nazarenes are are are during that time They were

one of the most dangerous of all the Jewish sex

and in in Judea So so he's he's Causing all these

riots. He's he's the leader of this dangerous

group and number three it says in verse six He

even tried to profane the temple, but we seized

him He's also a man who profanes our religion

and our temple now remember all that felix cares

about is this he cares about money and he cares

about peace and He's got a guy now on trial the

apostle paul who's being accused of what? of

causing riots, being the leader of a dangerous

group, and profaning the temple. So Felix must

be thinking, well, I don't want a riot to happen,

because if a riot happens, then Rome's gonna

hear of this, and Rome's gonna hear of this,

they're gonna remove me from being a governor,

so I need to keep the peace, we need to take

this seriously, we need to figure this out, because

I don't want any trouble in the land, I need

order, and I need people to be taxed so that

I can have the money. So Tertullius goes on with

twisting the truth. He doesn't just twist the

truth, he gives a flat -out lie. Verse 5, we

found this man a plague who stirs up riots among

the Jews when in fact it wasn't Paul who stirred

up any riot. It was the opposite. It was the

opposite that happened. He just straight lies,

twisting the truth here. He's not the leader

of the Nazarenes. He never profaned the temple,

although the Jews may accuse him of that. He

never did it. What is he doing? He's just simply

twisting the truth. And this is a reminder here,

and this is where our principle comes into play

here. This is a reminder here that the world

will do anything to oppose the advancement of

the gospel of Jesus Christ. The world will twist

all kinds of truths to stop the gospel. They

will twist, they will distort, they will stretch

the truth in hopes to stop the advancement of

the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Because the

gospel is always on trial. And it will always

be on trial. The church is always the beacon

of hope for the community. The gospel of Jesus

Christ is always the hope of the community and

always the hope of the people. And when you have

those who are against it, they will do everything

they can, including twisting the truth, to stop

the gospel from going forward. Many of you maybe

saw the news last Sunday morning. Minnesota when

agitators went into the church service proclaiming

to be protesters storming into a live service

standing up chanting with with their signs when

there's children in there and there's people

in there simply worshiping pastor there they're

standing there trying to have some sort of control

in inside this worship service and maybe you

guys have have seen the news clips. These agitators

just coming in with a single purpose to disrupt

the worship of Jesus Christ. A journalist walks

in and wants to interview the pastor right in

the middle of the service. Twisting the truth.

Claiming that the mob had every right to be there

when the mob did not have every right to be there.

Twisting the truth, it was nothing more than

a lie. All to what? To stop the advancement of

the gospel of Jesus Christ. Church, this is not

new. This is something that's been around for

years and years and guess what? It's gonna continue.

A representative even from Arizona even doubled

down on this and he even said that these agitators

had every right to be in that church. That's

a lie. That's not true. But yet we should not

be surprised by this as if this is something

new and this is something that should cause alarm

to us. No, we should know that this is exactly

what the world wants to do. to stir up dissension,

to stir up discord, to cause these things to

come into the church to cause us to stop preaching

the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is what they

did to Paul. Hey, he's doing all these things.

No, actually, he's not even done any of those

things. He's accused of all these things. He

hasn't done any of them. But they're twisting

the truth. Look what happens in verse 9 The Jews

also joined in the charge Affirming that all

these things were so All right. They're like,

yeah, it's it's pile on now Yeah, we're behind

him and what he says and this is exactly how

it goes And so now you've got now you've got

inside this courtroom now right there. You've

got all these Jews are saying Yeah, yeah. Yeah

that that's the truth. That's the truth Ganging

up on Paul, affirming and confirming these allegations

against him, was nothing more than lie upon lie

upon lie. Well, how does Paul respond? That gets

us to the second part of this scene. Part two

is Paul's profession, and he testifies to the

truth. He testifies to the truth, and the principle

here, We'll see this is keep a clean conscience

and speak the truth when lied against That's

the principle that I want you to see keep a clean

conscience and speak the truth When lied against

there's a response here by Paul and there's three

parts to this response That I want you to see

number number one is this is that Paul responded

with respect He responded with respect verse

10 when the governor had nodded to him to speak

Paul replied Knowing that for many years you

have been a judge over this nation. I cheerfully

make my defense He affirms that Felix is the

governor he affirms that he is the judge over

this he doesn't flatter him he just makes a respectful

comment I Cheerfully make my defense. He he he

has his opportunity with gladness He gets to

defend himself Yet he does so with respect to

everyone that is in the room and the word there

there it says to Cheerfully make my defense that

word therefore defense. Maybe you've heard of

it. It's the word That we get the word for apologetics

from The word means this to speak in one's defense

against charges presumed to be false Apologia

was a technical word in the Greek law They would

use it in courts That was used of an attorney

who talked his client off from a charge preferred

against him Our English word apology originally

did not mean to say I'm sorry, but it but it

actually referred to a defense presented in court

And this is Paul's opportunity I'm going to make

my defense but but he makes his defense very

much so with with respect to the court, respect

to the Jews, with respect to Felix. He doesn't

just say, oh, finally I get my chance. By the

way, these guys are a bunch of liars. And how

dare you just let them get away with this, Governor?

He doesn't come across that way at all. He comes

in with respect to knowing, hey, I know what

the truth is, and I can speak the truth in love,

even though I'm getting ganged up on and lied

upon right here, and I know that with a charge

of guilty, I will be killed. He still has a calm

demeanor of, hey, I'm gonna be respectful in

this courtroom. And he makes his defense. The

same word that's used in 1 Peter chapter 3 and

1 Peter 3 · chapter mention

verse 15 and 16 to defend and give a reason for

the hope that is within us. Verse 11, you can

verify, he says, it is not more than 12 days

since I went up to worship in Jerusalem. Secondly,

Paul responded with the truth. He responded with

the truth. He comes and he just speaks the truth.

He says verse verse 11 you can verify It's not

more than 12 days since I went up to worship

in Jerusalem It's been 12 days all these things

have been going on verse 12 and they they did

not find me Disputing with anyone or stirring

up a crowd either in the temple or in the synagogues

or in the city neither Can they prove to you?

What they now bring up against me But this I

confess to you that according to the way which

they call a sect I Worship the God of our fathers

believing everything laid down by the law written

in the prophets Having a hope in God which these

men themselves accept that there will be a resurrection

of both the just and the unjust So I always take

pains to have a clear conscience towards God

and man Now after several years I came to bring

alms to my nation and to present offerings while

I was doing this They found me purified in the

temple without any crowd or too old But some

Jews from Asia They ought to be here before you

and to make an accusation should they have Anything

against me or else let these men themselves say

that wrongdoing they found when I stood before

the council Other than this one thing that I

cried out while standing among them It is with

respect to the resurrection of the dead that

I am on trial Before you this day. What is Paul

doing? He's just reiterating the truth of what

happened He's not spinning it He's not Sugar

coating it he's just simply saying hey, this

is what happened And by the way, if anybody should

be here, it should be these Jews from Asia. You

say well, who is that? We'll go back to chapter

21 in verse 27 Right when Paul got there to Jerusalem

He purified himself. He he paid for the these

haircuts for these guys Verse 27 when the seven

days were almost completed Jews from Asia Seeing

him in the temple stirred up the whole crowd

and laid hands on him What's he saying? He said

hey if anybody should be on trial, it should

be these guys who came from Asia Not me. I haven't

done anything They should be brought before you

they can make an accusation against me they they

can let you know what's going on here You know

all Paul is doing here is he he is simply just

just saying the truth and he even says He even

says in here one time. He says I confess to you

as I it's if he's saying hey Here's what I will

confess to you these things and then he says

it's with respect to the resurrection that that

I that I'm here Here is actually why I'm on trial

He he just comes across as a man who just wants

them to understand the truth of the situation

And I'll even confess this to you That I believe

And I worship the God of our fathers Everything

that's laid down in the law and in the prophets.

What is he saying? I believe in the full inspiration

of the Old Testament. I believe in it all And

I stand here as a man who defends himself because

of the truth of God's Word He stands on the truth.

This was his confession. Yeah, I'm a Christian.

Yep, I believe in the Old Testament. Yep, I believe

in the law and the prophets. I believe all that

is taught there. And then he goes straight to,

in verse 21, the centerpiece of it all, the resurrection

of Jesus Christ. This is really what's on trial

This is really what's going on Felix. You want

to know the truth They don't like the fact that

Jesus rose from the grave and that there's going

to be a resurrection of the dead J Vernon McGee

says this have you noticed that the resurrection

is the very center of Christianity? It has been

from the beginning friend. What do you think

of Christ is? Always the test did he die for

your sins was he raised from the dead? Paul immediately

comes to the core, the resurrection. Paul would

also go back to this in 1 Corinthians chapter

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

15. He would say this, now if Christ is proclaimed

as raised from the dead, how come some of you

say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

But if there is no resurrection of the dead then

even Christ has not been raised and if Christ

has not been raised Then our preaching is in

vain and your faith is in vain It always comes

back to the resurrection of Jesus Christ if he

did not rise from the dead Church you have no

hope of rising from the dead But because Christ

has risen from the dead You will be raised to

newness of life if you place your faith in Jesus

Christ as your Lord and Savior Or you'll be raised

to eternal death And the Jews didn't like this

They didn't like that that his message of the

gospel dealt with the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

but this is what he does He just speaks the truth.

He says this is what I'll confess to you This

is what happened if you want to bring in some

more people go to go find these these these people

from Asia and bring them in this this is just

the truth and Paul can respond this way number

three. He can respond this way. Why because he

has a clear conscience Okay, we cannot miss this

church Verse 16. I always take pains to have

a clear conscience towards what towards both

God and man He says I do my best I exercise my

my heart my all my diligence my study all of

it to have what a clear conscience before God

and Before before man listen, it will be really

hard for you to speak the truth to anybody if

your conscience is not clean It'll be hard for

you to stand upon the Word of God if your conscience

is not clean before God and man. Especially if

you know that what is hanging in the balance

is a guilty not guilty and if you are guilty

you're going to die. And the only way for you

to be able to speak the truth and to hold fast

without apology in the face of uncertainty is

to have a clear conscience before God. You say,

what does that mean? What is the conscience?

Well, the conscience is, listen to this, it's

the alert system that's built inside of you that

God has given to you to alert you to what is

right and to what is wrong. And when you sin

and when you do evil, when you do things that

you know is wrong, you soften your conscience

and you cover that alert system. There's one

time I I had my alarm next to my bed and in the

middle of the night I threw my pillow I Don't

always throw my pillow, but this night I did

I don't know why but and it covered the alarm

clock and The alarm clock was going off into

the morning, and I did not hear it Why because

I had covered it In this case with a pillow when

you sin church When you dilute your heart and

mind with things that are not pure and holy and

right You are covering the alert system to tell

you what is right and wrong And you can't hear

that alarm go off in your mind this is wrong.

This is wrong. This is wrong This is sin. This

is sin. This is sin. You can't hear it anymore.

Why because you've diluted the conscience You've

covered the conscience with one sin upon sin,

with one show you shouldn't watch, with one website

you shouldn't look at, with one comment after

another, gossip, gossip, gossip, anger, anger,

anger. You're covering your conscience. You no

longer know what is right and wrong. And Paul

is saying what I take great pains I I spend so

much energy to have a clear conscience before

God so that I can stand up on trial and just

Deliver the truth unapologetically and say God

whatever happens happens. I've got a clear conscience

between God and man Not all that I could The

only way to have a healthy conscience and a clean

conscience is to feed your soul the Word of God

and to repent of sin as quickly as it comes into

your life. Turn away from that sin. Repent of

that sin. Keep your conscience clear before God

and keep your conscience clear before man. and

build that conscience up, strengthen that conscience.

You can do that. You can do that through the

reading of God's Word. This is why we want you

in the God's Word. This is why you say, why do

I have to have devotions every day? Why do I

need to be in the Word every day? Why do I need

to pray? Because you're building up a clean conscience.

To be able to stand up for the truth of God's

Word. To be able to stand in front of people

to say, no, my conscience is cleared. I've worked

hard to have it. This is the truth of what happened.

And when the conscience goes off, you listen

to it. That's wrong. I shouldn't do this. I shouldn't

watch this. I shouldn't listen to this. I shouldn't

talk like this about people. I shouldn't... Talk

like this behind their back. I shouldn't do this.

I I want to have a clean conscience before God

And the conscience is a trustworthy compass when

God's word is your true north and paul worked

hard at that Worked hard to have this clear conscience

so that he can speak the truth Let me give you

a third major point here as we work through this

together number three We've seen Tertullius's

prosecution, Paul's proclamation, and now I want

you to see Felix's procrastination. His procrastination,

what does he do? He turns from the truth. The

third principle then I want you to look at as

we wrap it up here is don't delay trust in Jesus

today. Verse 22, but Felix having a rather accurate

knowledge of the way put them off saying When

Lesus the tribune comes down, I will decide your

case. He's a commander of the armies there. He

gave orders to the centurion that he should be

kept in custody, but have some liberty and that

none of his friends should be prevented from

attending to his needs. And after some days,

Felix came with his wife, Jerusalem, who was

Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him. There

it is, and heard him speak about what? Faith

in Christ Jesus. And as he reasoned about what?

Righteousness, self -control, coming judgment.

Felix was alarmed and said, go away for the present.

When I get an opportunity, I will summon you.

At the same time, he hoped that money would be

given to Paul, so he sent for him off and conversed

with him. So he kept going back. Why? Because

he was hoping that Paul would be able to get

some money and then pay him off. When two years

had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Portius Festus

in desiring to do the Jews a favor. Felix left

Paul in prison. So here's Felix. Verse 22 he

says a rather accurate knowledge of the way.

He has an understanding of the truth We don't

know exactly how maybe from his wife His wife

is is Jewish and maybe she was helpful and helping

him understand a little bit about what the believers

the Christians believed He gave orders to the

centurion that he should be kept in custody so

Paul still in custody here, but but he'd have

some liberty and that none of his friends should

be prevented from attending to his needs. So

I think that the governor let Paul do this because

Paul could say to him, hey, just give me some

money and let's bribe him out. So he wanted him

to see his friends so that he could get money

from them because he had already told him that

he was there in Jerusalem to give them money.

This whole thing. Now at this point it's down

to the exchange of money. Verse 24 after some

time Felix came with his wife, Jerusalem. I say

who's this Jerusalem? Person this is his wife

and this was a wife that That Felix basically

took her out of a different marriage and and

and Married her so okay, you're done with that

marriage. You're coming into my marriage and

now we're gonna get we're gonna get married That's

essentially how that went down So they're in

this marriage that they should have never been

in in the first place And after some days here

phoenix goes down to him. He starts talking to

paul and and heard him speak about faith in christ

jesus Now notice what the apostle paul specifically

talks about here. He talks about what there's

three things he reasoned about righteousness

self -control and coming judgment If the guy

that You talk to is the one that could say I'm

going to charge you as guilty. Are you going

to say hey look buddy? What you did in your marriage

was wrong You're out of control You're not living

in righteousness and oh by the way, you're gonna

be judged for all these things Right. How does

how does the apostle Paul do that? He does that

because he understands the power of the gospel

He does that because he has a clean conscience

He preaches righteousness. He preaches self -control.

He preaches coming judgment that you will be

judged for what you do here on earth. He doesn't

sweet talk the man who could free him. It doesn't

sugarcoat the gospel and say I'm just gonna kind

of soften it up get kind of ease them into the

gospel You know, we'll just kind of kind of just

ease a man Maybe we'll just throw a few a few

little cultural things at him and we'll just

soften it up and then when his heart's ready

We'll pull the right strings of his heart and

then I'll then I'll go. Hey, you need Jesus No,

he just goes right at it You want to hear the

gospel? Okay. Here's the gospel This is what

it is and you're gonna be judged for this Felix

was alarmed. Yeah, I bet he was alarmed But I

heard nothing like this before and he says go

away And he says this in a verse 25 look at it

when I get an opportunity I will summon you What

is he doing? He's procrastinating the reality

of the gospel and how it could transform his

life. And he's saying, hey, when my time is right,

when it's right for me, when I'm done enjoying

the world, when I'm done enjoying the riches

of this life, when I'm done enjoying all these

things that I love, hey, don't come to me, Paul,

I'll come to you. I'll summon you back to hear

this. And Felix. Like so many others who have

gone before him and many others who have come

past him and come after him, Felix ignored the

message of grace and forgiveness. He missed the

opportunity that God had placed before him for

salvation. When I find the time, all summons

you. When the time is right, when it's convenient,

all summons you, Paul. kicks the gospel down

the road and says, I enjoy my life too much to

dare do anything like that. Too concerned about

enjoyment in this life. More than he was concerned

for his soul and eternity. He kept pushing it

off and pushing it off. He'd go back and he'd

see him, push it off, go back and see him and

push it off, push it off, push it off. Again,

J. Vernon McGee says this, friend, today your

sins are either on you or they're on Christ.

If your sins are on Christ, if you have put your

trust in Him, then He paid the penalty for your

sins over 1900 years ago. They do not lie ahead

of you for judgment in the future, but if your

sins today are still on you, then there is yet

a judgment to come. People don't like to hear

about judgment to come Felix and Felix and Jerusalem

did not like to hear about it either But if your

sins are not on Christ that is if you have not

trusted him as your Savior Then you are going

to come up for judgment You can close the book

right now, but that doesn't alter a thing You

cannot escape the fact that you are coming up

for judgment Listen church souls are lost because

of procrastination. And Felix and Jerusalem procrastinated.

Paul preached the gospel and they said, we'll

wait when we're ready. Church, leave nothing

unsettled that is eternal. Leave nothing unsettled

that is eternal Jc. Ryle says run no risk when

your soul is at stake Second Corinthians 6 2

says behold now is the favorable time behold

now is the day of salvation Hebrews 3 15 today

if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts

and in 4 7 today if you hear his voice do not

harden your hearts. Today is the day. Jesus came

and died for your sins. Hell is a real place

and it's eternal. Heaven is a real place and

it's eternal. Don't keep pushing off Christ.

Repent and believe Felix would one day wake up

and he would find himself in hell because he

procrastinated Place your faith in Jesus Christ.

This was the message of Paul This was a message

to the Jews and this is the message to us today

verse 27 it says Felix Didn't know what to do

with Paul So he left Paul in prison And Paul

was there for two years in prison And the next

time We'll see what happens in the next trial

in chapter 25. Let's pray Lord. Thank you for

this time Lord would you help us? lot of truth

spoken this morning from your word as I prayed

at the top Lord where there needs to be conviction

would you convict us where there needs to be

care would you comfort us and in all things Lord

would you conform us to be like Christ whether

if there's anybody here that does not know Christ

as their Lord and Savior would today be that

day That they summons you That they call upon

the name Of the Lord Jesus Christ repent of their

sins and embrace you as Savior and Lord There's

no better day to embrace Christ than today Lord

would you help us all in our fight for a clean

conscience? Lord would you help us to first of

all have a desire for a clean conscience? And

then would you help us to have the boldness and

the courage to make the right decisions to have

a clean conscience? And Lord when we're lied

upon when there's those who are twisting the

truth May we stand upon the Word of God and the

power that comes from it trusting in you and

all these things and your sons then we pray amen