Welcome back to our study
of Acts on Books of the Book.
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Before the break we were talking
about how Paul was brought in
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before Felix the governor and
the high priest had brought in
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the elders of Jerusalem and as
well an orator, an attorney of
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sorts, named Tertullus who was
giving a lot of flattery there
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to Felix and then he began
to talk about Paul as being this
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guy who was stirring up all this
trouble. He's a plague and he
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called him the ringleader
of the cult of the Nazarenes.
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You think about that - the cult
of the Nazarenes. He's trying
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to make it look like this is
just a small, little offshoot.
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You know I've seen this over and
over in my own time even within
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the church where sometimes
people are not always fully
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honest in the way that they deal
with arguments or disagreements,
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right. Instead of just sharing
their case and stating their
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case, they instead feel like
they need to marginalize people
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so that they look like nobody
should give them any attention.
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That's what we were taking about
a little bit before the break,
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but I'd like to just share a
couple of examples. I remember
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reading one scholarly article
where it was making a point
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and saying here's a point and
it was a point that he disagreed
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with that really is shared by
mostly lay people. Then he went
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on to share his point. Well
that's not totally true. There
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were scholars who held that
point but he wanted to make it
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look like this really was
not something that was credible.
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They were not as educated and
so we can expect that that would
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not be a very strong argument.
That's the kind of thing that
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when you see that happening
that's really somebody just
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trying to marginalize and the
truth is always marginalized by
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the enemies of the truth. We see
that happening here. We've seen
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it happen in our own experience
and we just need to be mindful
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that we should never try to
marginalize people. The truth
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will stand for itself.
That's right. Don't belittle the
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opponent. If you believe you
have the truth, share the truth.
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And in this case we don't
see that happening. We just have
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these allegations and
accusations against Paul,
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which we'll find as Paul said,
they can't prove, and this comes
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out in the case. Now we're in
Acts chapter 24. We looked over
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something and I want to review
it again. In verse 14, we read
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this. Paul says, I confess
to you that according to the
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Way which they call a sect so
I worship the God of my fathers
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believing all things which
are written in the law and the
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prophets. Look at verse 15. He
says, I have hope in God which
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they themselves also accept that
there will be a resurrection of
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the dead, both of the just
and the unjust. This being so, I
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myself always strive to have
a conscience without offense
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toward God and men. Now this is
interesting. He says I have hope
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in God of the resurrection and
we saw that a little earlier.
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He says I am called before
you because of my hope in the
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resurrection. We see him
bringing this up. But this hope,
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I think of the book of Titus.
Paul wrote this epistle. Titus 2
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and verse 13 he talks about how
we are looking forward to the
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blessed hope and the glorious
appearing of our Lord and
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Savior, Jesus Christ. I myself
have often used that to refer to
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that blessed hope as being
the coming of Christ, but more
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accurately, from what he's
saying here, the blessed hope
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is the resurrection. He says the
blessed hope and the glorious
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appearing. Now they happen
together and it's clear why Paul
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links them because the same
apostle in I Thessalonians 4 and
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verses I believe 15, 16 and 17.
He says the Lord himself will
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descend from heaven with a shout
with the voice of the archangel
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with the trumpet of God and the
dead in Christ will rise first.
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So the resurrection happens at
the second coming. So Paul has
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this hope, but he brings up the
point that the hope, he has this
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hope in the resurrection of the
dead. And of course he brings
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this up to the climax of the
Christian hope, the resurrection
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and the coming of Jesus, the
return of Jesus, and he says,
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This being so I myself always
strive to have a conscience
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without offense toward God
and men. And, Jim, I think here
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about the idea that the Bible
speaks of different consciences.
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He wants a conscience without
offense. I've had people tell me
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well that doesn't bother me. I'm
not convicted about that. But
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the Apostle Paul also speaks
in other places about guilty
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consciences or rather seared
consciences or evil consciences.
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He says I don't want to have
an evil conscience in essence.
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I want to have a conscience
without offense and this being
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so... I think of another passage
where Paul says in II Timothy
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chapter 4 that the Lord will
judge the living and the dead
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at his appearing. Jesus is
coming again and based on that
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Paul says based on that hope
I want to make sure that when he
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comes again I'm found of him in
peace. I'm found in harmony with
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his will. My conscience is clear
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Yeah you talk about a conscience
Just because someone has a
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conscience doesn't mean that
their conscience is telling them
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the right thing. So when
somebody says I'm not convicted
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on that, when you said that it
made me think of I've had people
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who have addictions to things
and they hold onto them and when
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you talk to them about the need
to turn that over to the Lord
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and to find freedom from that,
sometimes you'll get that, well
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I'm not convicted on that
just yet. I'm not convicted that
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that's really a problem. You
know this is a problem and this
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is a problem and this is a
problem and I'm working on those
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things, the Lord's working on it
but I'm not convicted of that.
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And you know if the word very
clearly expresses something and
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it's not convicting you then
the problem is not with the word
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it's with your conscience
and so we need to recognize that
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ultimately our conscience is a
guide but in and of itself it's
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not a safe guide. It must
be itself guided by the word.
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And not just guided by the word,
Jim, but it's important that
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it's educated by the word.
That's why it's important for us
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to spend time in the word so it
can educate our conscience into
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what God sees
as right and wrong.
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Amen, that's right. Well let's
pick up back with the defense
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of Paul before Felix in verse
17. It says, Now after many
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years I came to bring alms and
offerings to my nation. So now
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he's describing how he had come
to Jerusalem. In the midst of
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which some Jews from Asia
found me purified in the temple
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neither with a mob nor
with tumult. He's speaking very
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honestly here. They've accused
him of having a mob, but when he
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went to the temple, remember he
was there with just four other
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men who were completing a vow.
That was it. Not much of a mob.
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And it says, nor with tumult.
As we stated before there were
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times when the Apostle Paul
preached boldly in the synagogue
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to Jews and Greeks, etc. We see
that in various placed. But in
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this particular case when
these Jews from Asia started the
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trouble Paul was just completing
his vow. He was just going
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through the normal temple
rites and so there was really no
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foundation at all for the idea
that he started a tumult. So in
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both these things he's being
totally honest. In verse 19 it
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says, They ought to have been
here before you to object if
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they had anything against
me. Wow! Now he's talking about
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these Jews from Asia and
remember that they called out
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help, this man is causing
trouble everywhere he goes.
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He brought a
Greek into the temple.
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That's right, he'd profaned
the temple and made these
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accusations against Paul
which caused the big riot and
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caused them to pull him out and
start beating him and everything
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else. But then we don't ever
see these Jews from Asia again.
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So what Paul is saying here
is look, let's really go back to
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where the original accusation
came from. If they really had
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these accusations, where are
they? Where is their evidence?
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Bring them here and let them
show the evidence. But then he
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goes on. He says, or verse 20,
he gives another option. Or else
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let those who are here...
Now he's talking about the high
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priest and the elders... Let
those who are here themselves
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say if they found any wrongdoing
in me while I stood before the
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council. Now he's bringing back
to after this point when he was
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there before the council
and there was this idea of the
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resurrection brought into the
situation. And it says in verse
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22, Unless it is for this
one statement which I cried out
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standing among them concerning
the resurrection of the dead I
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am being judged by you this
day. Now if you remember what
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happened, there were some
Sadducees and Pharisees that
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were there in the Sanhedrin and
when the Apostle Paul saw this
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and remembered that of course
the Sadducees did not believe in
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a resurrection, the Pharisees
did, he pointed to the fact that
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he's being judged based on
the resurrection and it caused a
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division amongst the elders
there and the leaders of the
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Jews. So Paul's bringing them
back and saying let's talk about
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that council that we had and
why don't you tell us how that
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went because the reality
was there was a large portion of
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them who were standing behind
Paul in that moment because Paul
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was in favor of the resurrection
and they were trying to defend
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that. So the Apostle Paul
is putting the Jews in a very
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strange situation here. They
can't really do much about it
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because they don't have any
evidence from the Jews from Asia
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and none of them really want to
go into what happened when they
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tried to solve it themselves.
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Right. And that's what leads
to verse 22. It says, When Felix
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heard these things having more
accurate knowledge of the Way
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he adjourned... So he knew a
little bit about Christianity,
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enough to know that whatever
they're saying is not what is
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practiced. And it says that
he adjourned the proceedings and
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said, When Lysius the commander
comes down I will make a
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decision on your case. He was
thinking this was probably going
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be a week or two, but we find
as we go on in here is there's a
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couple of years pass and
evidently Lysius never was
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called. It seems to be just
a way to get these guys out.
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Now it's interesting that after
this curiosity gets hold of
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Felix and it says, He commanded
the centurion to keep Paul and
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let him have liberty. He didn't
forbid Paul to have his friends
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visit and after some days
when Felix came with his wife
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Drusilla who was a Jewess or who
was Jewish it says here in the
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New King James. He sent for Paul
and heard him concerning the
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faith in Christ. He was curious.
He wanted to know and he asked
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actually to have Paul come and
tell him about his faith. Verse
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25 says, Now as he (Paul)
reasoned about righteousness,
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self-control and judgment
to come Felix was afraid and
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answered Go away for now.
When I have a convenient time
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I will call for you. Now
this is one of the most powerful
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passages in this trial. At least
it really grips me. I like the
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was the King James Version
brings it up here. He says,
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Felix when he heard these things
he trembled. In other words, he
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was afraid. This is a grown man.
He's trembling with fear. He'd
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never really thought to himself
of the judgments of God and when
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you read the history of some of
these rulers here in Rome they
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were very corrupt. There was
a lot of licentiousness in their
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lives and to think that he had
to answer for that in a judgment
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made Felix tremble and rather
that accept the invitation to
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salvation, the offer of mercy
from God, he said, Paul go away.
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He pushed away the Holy Spirit.
He procrastinated and we don't
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have record that he ever took
that opportunity seriously again
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as we find verse 26 says,
Meanwhile he also hoped that
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money would be given him by
Paul that he might release him.
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Therefore he sent for him more
often and conversed with him
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but after two years Porcius
Festus succeeded Felix and Felix
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want to do the Jews a favor left
Paul bound. So he had a lot of
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conversations but he thought
maybe Paul would give him a
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bribe and that clouded his
judgment and he never did come
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back to making a decision.
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That's amazing. It makes me
think, we can't delay in making
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decisions for Christ. The Spirit
of God never speaks to our heart
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more distinctly and with more
clarity than right now. When we
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put off making a decision for
Christ when the Lord is speaking
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to our hearts, we can know that
we begin to make ourselves a
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little less able to hear
the voice of the Holy Spirit.
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Procrastinating is one of the
biggest dangers in the Christian
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life. Well when you look here
it turns out that for two more
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years there's no decision made
until Felix then is replaced by
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Festus. So next time we'll have
to see what happens with Festus
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because right now we're out
of time. But we look forward to
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seeing you again next
time on Books of the Book.
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