Dr. Ron Sumners
January 27, 2002
Paul, the apostle, is now Paul, the prisoner as we begin our story. He is in Caesarea. The Jews in Jerusalem had tried to kill him, but the Romans had put him under protective arrest. There, forty men conspired to kill him while he was in prison.
When the Romans discovered this plot,they brought Paul to Caesarea to appear before Governor Felix and for Paul’s own safety. When he appeared before Felix he was treated courteously. Felix said, “I will hear you fully when your accusers come from Jerusalem.”
So, Paul was kept in prison awaiting the arrival of his accusers.They had only five days to wait and at that time Ananias, the High Priest, and the elders came down from Jerusalem. They brought with them a hired attorney, Tertullus, who was quite an orator. He was employed to argue their case against Paul.
This is the picture: seated on the judgment seat was Felix, the Roman Governor. Alone, except for the guards, was Paul. Over there, clothed in dignified robes were the Jewish leaders with their attorney.
When Felix was seated, Tertullus stepped forward and began his speech. His lips were dripping with honey as he began. He wanted to gain favor with the governor, so he started out by flattering him on the wonderful record he had as a governor.
William Barclay says, “Tertullus began his speech with a passage of almost nauseating flattery, every word of which he knew and Felix knew was quite untrue.” Evidently, Tertullus was hired because he was a good liar!“You brought peace to our country,” he said. Yet no man ever stirred up as many disputes and riots as Felix did.
“You have corrected many evils,” said Tertullus. But historians tell us that Felix’s deeds were infamous and that he ruled in a mean, cruel, heartless manner.
“We accept you with all thankfulness,”lied Tertullus. Felix was never accepted! The Jews hated him and did not relent in their protests until he was recalled to Rome.Then Tertullus said, “I don’t want to be tedious so I will go ahead and tell you the charges we have against this man, Paul.”
He accused Paul of three things. He accused him of sedition, saying that he was stirring up trouble all over the Empire. He accused him of heresy, saying that he was teaching things, which the Jews did not believe. In other words, he was a Christian! He also accused Paul of profaning the Temple.
Tertullus did some tall lying, saying; “We know that he is guilty, so we arrested him. We were going to give him a fair trial, but Lysias, the chief captain, came along and with great violence took him from our hands.”
They had no intention of giving Paul a fair trial at all. They rushed into the Temple, dragged him out, and were about to kill him on the spot when Lysias rescued him. There was no trial to it. It was simply a mob about to commit murder.
Now we read a sad note. All the religious leaders said that Tertullus had spoken the truth. They joined in the lies. Not one of them had the courage to step up and say, “No, it wasn’t that way at all.”
Here we see an old truth; it is not some form of religion that changes the hearts of men and causes them to do right, it is the presence of Christ in their hearts. These men had a form of religion, yet they would lie to gain what they wanted. Not only that, but their hearts were filled with murder and they would gladly have killed Paul.
A religion, which does not go down deep enough to change a man’s life and his outward actions, is a false religion. Christ is the great “life changer.” II Corinthians 5:17 says, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.” God not only changes our outward actions, but he even changes our thoughts, imaginations and attitudes.
Usually Christians will classify a sinner as someone who will drink, steal, lie, commit adultery or participate in some other overt sin. All of us would agree to the truth of that, but let me add something further. A sinner, a man separated from God, will hate others, his heart may be full of malice and envy and unforgiveness, but a Christian cannot have these things in his heart.
There are people in the church who feel piously righteous, yet carry all kinds of unchristian things in their hearts. When they speak, poison drips from their lips, and their attitudes are mean and little and hateful. Matthew 7:20 tells us, “By their fruits ye shall know them.
”What was the purpose of all this lying by Tertullus and the Jewish leaders? They wanted Felix to say, “This is a Jewish matter. Take this man back to Jerusalem and try him under your law.” If this had happened, Paul would not have lasted two days. The Jews had their assassins ready to kill him. The Romans believed in law and justice.
Felix heard Tertullus give the Jew’s side of the question, but he was not going to condemn Paul until he heard both sides. This is a good rule to follow. Too often we hear a man give his side of the story immediately rise up and condemn someone before hearing the other side. The wise man gets both sides before reaching a conclusion.
Paul stood to make his defense. He was not a flowery orator like Tertullus, but he was sure of himself, and he knew what he was talking about. And he knew something else! He knew that God was with him and that the Holy Spirit would guide him.
Paul began by saying, “I know that you have been a judge of this nation for many years, therefore, I gladly make my defense.” He did not say what kind of judge Felix had been, but he was respectful. He was not going to lie. He was simply saying, “In these years you have learned the kind of people these are who accuse me. You also know some of the merits of the Christian religion.”
Paul continued, “It had just been twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem. It would be easy to get all the facts about my actions. They never found me disputing in the Temple or stirring up the people anywhere. They can’t prove any of these things.” He flatly denied the first charge.
Now he answered the second charge. “I do admit that I am a follower of Christ, but that doesn’t mean that I have forsaken God’s way. I haven’t cast away the God of my Fathers. I still believe in the law and the prophets and the resurrection.” Paul was simply saying, “I believe in the same things that you do, but I have gone a little further, I have accepted Jesus as God’s messiah.
Judaism was the bud and Christianity the full-blown flower. Judaism was the prophecy and Christianity was the fulfillment. Judaism was the promise, “I am coming” and Christianity was the presence, “I am here.”
Paul doesn’t say that he is perfect, but he does say, “I am trying to live so that I have a conscience which is clear toward God and man.” This is the way that all of us should live. If we live in such a manner, the God who knows all will approve.We ought to live so people can see Christ in our lives.
Each person here should look at his or her own life today. Would God approve? What about your home life? What about your church involvement? Would He be satisfied with your commitment? What about your financial life? Is His tithe being given for the use of His Kingdom? Remember that you will face Him someday!
Paul answered the third charge, “You say I profaned the Temple. I came to Jerusalem to worship at the feast. Neither did I come empty handed, but I brought an offering for my people, a gift from the gentiles to the Jews. I was in the Temple perfectly quiet and going about my own businesswhen they seized me.
”As Paul closed his speech, he said, “I did stand up and declare that I believed in the resurrection, but surely that is no crime.” With these words, Paul ended his defense. He had answered every charge and his accusers were silent.
Felix knew something about Christianity. He knew that the Christians did not spend their time stirring up trouble. Tertullus’ speech had not fooled him. He said, “I will go deeper into this matter when Lysias comes down. In the meantime, I will keep Paul here under Roman persecution. He can do what he wants to do and his friends will be permitted to visit him.
”Can you imagine the disappointment of the council? They thought surely that they would get to take Paul with them and put him out of the way. Now bitterly disappointed, they filed out of the courtroom with scowls on their faces and God had delivered Paul.
Yet, Felix did not declare Paul innocent, nor did he set him free, although he knew that he should have done so. There were two reasons for this.
First, he did not want to antagonize the influential Jews. He was a politician and always tried to do the thing that would gain favor for him. It takes a strong man to say, “This is the right thing to do and I will do it even if I lose something by it.
The other reason was money. Money enters the picture entirely too often. Felix heard about the big collection that Paul had taken. He thought that if he held Paul prisoner, some of his friends might come forward with a bribe to secure Paul’s liberty.In Felix’s day as well as ours, money talks!
For the love of money, men and women have sold their honor, their peace of mind and their innocence. Many have even sold their eternal soul for money. All the material things which man may attain in this world will not help in the world to come.
Felix married Drucilla. Drucilla was the daughter of Herod. She had been married to another man, but Felix wanted her and he enticed her to leave her husband. A divorce followed and she married Felix.
Drucilla decided that she wanted to hear Paul preach. They had heard of his preaching ability and they were curious about this new religion called Christianity. The court life was dull and they thought maybe Paul could liven things up. They got more than they bargained for when they sent for Paul to preach to them. Paul the prisoner became Paul the preacher. He did not give them a philosophical debate, but a sermon. The first time they met it was Paul before Felix, now it is Felix before Paul. Paul becomes the prosecutor and Felix and Drucilla are the accused.
Paul did not flatter Felix and Drucilla, although he knew that they had the authority to put him to death and the power to release him. He didn’t give a minute’s thought to himself. He knew that they were lost in sin. He knew that one day they must face the judgment bar of God, so he jumped right into his sermon. He came right down to where they lived and preached on righteousness, temperance and judgment to come. It was not flattering, but it was what they needed to hear.
Paul was not called to be a flatterer; he was called to preach the Gospel.He first talked of righteousness, God’s righteousness and God’s Holiness, and how far man had fallen from the image of God.
He talked about God’s hatred of sin and he meant specifically the sins of Felix and Drucilla. He talked of righteousness to a man and woman who were totally unrighteous. Righteousness is being in right relationship with God. Felix and Drucilla were not right with God.
Paul spoke of temperance, which is the moderate use of good things and the abstinence from bad things. Paul was talking about self-control, which Felix had not exercised. Paul knew about their impure lives and he was courageous enough to confront them.Paul’s sermon thundered home. Drucilla squirmed and said to Felix, “I don’t like this. Make this fool stop.”
But Felix could not bring himself to stop Paul, because he knew in his heart that Paul was speaking the truth.Then Paul spoke of the judgment to come. He could not leave this out. “Pay day is coming,” he said.” You can get away with your sin now, but some day you will face God. You can live wicked lives, but when you face God, you’ll have to give an account. You are the Governor, but that will make no difference to God. There is only one way to find forgiveness from your sin, there is only one way to be ready for the judgment, and a person must repent and turn to God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
What was the result of this sermon? What effect did it have on the preacher’s audience? Felix trembled. He had heard orators before, but none of them had ever made him tremble like this Gospel preacher. We are not told that Drucilla trembled. She was as deep in sin as Felix. The sermon applied to her as much as it did Felix, but she was not moved.
In thesame way, two people can sit side by side in a church pew and listen to the same sermon. One is convicted and comes to Christ; the other hardens his heart and refuses Christ. They go out of the same building, one on the way to eternity without God.
Yes, Felix trembled! He was greatly moved and deeply convicted. For a moment his whole sinful life flashed before him. He saw himself, not as a great ruler, but as a lost sinner. He trembled because he knew who he was before God.
Many people who sit in pews on Sunday mornings should be trembling!What did Felix do, what did he say? I wish I could say that he accepted Christ, but I can’t. Instead he said, “Paul, go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.”
What a tragic mistake he made! He put off the most important matter in the world and this meant his doom.Many people today are like Felix. They have heard the Gospel. They have felt the Holy Spirit piercing their soul, and they have trembled, have wept, and have gripped the pew until their knuckles turned white. They have known that they ought to confess Christ, but did not come to Him and thus made the greatest mistake of their lives.
If Felix had come to Christ it would have meant the giving up of his sins. He would have to give up his immoral lifestyle. He would have lost friends. He would have lost money and probably his position as governor. But he would have gained infinitely more that he lost. His sins would have been forgiven and the peace of God would have entered his life. Christ would have walked with him daily and his life would have been lived in useful service.No matter what we have to give up to come to Christ, it will never compare to what we will gain! On the other hand: “What shall it profit a man, if he shallgain the whole world and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)
You have once again listened to a sermon encouraging you to completely give your heart to Jesus. You have been given one more chance to respond to the voice of the Holy Spirit. What are you going to do? Will you harden your heart again? Will you leave here trembling like Felix but still lost, or still in rebellion against God? Listen to what God says, “Today, if you hear my voice, harden not your heart. Come let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. ”Felix put off the most important decision in life, and as far as we know he died without accepting Christ. Will you wait for a more convenient tim
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