Good morning everyone, another beautiful morning. We can take winter like this, eh? 

Yeah. Well, we're going to be looking at Acts 24 today. I decided to do the whole chapter. It's a story that kind of hangs together here with Paul's trial before Felix. So we're going to be looking at the entire chapter this morning and kind of hitting the high points here. 

As we come to chapter 24 in the book of Acts, we find that the Apostle Paul is sitting in prison up in Caesarea in Herod's palace awaiting trial under the rule of the Roman governor, Felix. And Paul was taken here under heavy guard, you'll remember, in the night after a plot had been discovered to kill him by the Jews. So Claudius Lysias had sent him with a letter to Felix for his protection and also, I think, to get him out of his hair. 

And we see that Paul finds himself in the middle of a very interesting predicament. Here's the great Apostle Paul, evangelist to the Gentile world. He's made three amazing, grueling, but tremendously successful missionary journeys and made his way back to Jerusalem for the feast and to bring a gift of money to the poor at the church there. 

He's a Roman citizen. He's educated under Gamaliel. He's also knowledgeable in Greek culture. He's a man prepared for the mission that God has for him. And far from his commission being finished as he's arrested by the Romans, he is now slowly, arduously going to make his way to Rome through the legal system. 

And he just continues to witness at every opportunity, trusting the Lord to make it all work. And that's what we see in our text again today, my friends. A witness before the ruler, the governor of this entire region, a Roman. He stands in a Roman court with a secular Roman judge. His accusers are his brethren according to the flesh, legalistic religious Jews. 

And we see that the politics of this world will rule the day rather than justice for Paul. There are a lot of lessons we can take from this chapter and apply in our lives, and as always, the sovereign hand of God in these matters and the faithfulness, the witness of Paul is a continual encouragement to us as we go through our lives and ministries that God has for us. 

So we see Paul in a bit of a predicament, but we see Paul being faithful. We see him trusting the Lord for the details and witnessing wherever he finds himself and whatever opportunity comes. 

Let's read the chapter together, beginning in verse 1, Acts 24, verse 1. 

"Now, after five days, Ananias the high priest came down with the elders in a certain order named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul. And when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation, saying, 'Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace and prosperity as being brought to this nation by your foresight, we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. Nevertheless, not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear by your courtesy a few words from us. For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him and wanted to judge him according to our law. But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself, you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him.' And the Jews also assented, maintaining that these things were so. 

Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered, 'Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself, because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship. And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone, nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city. Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me. But this I confess to you, that according to the way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets. 

I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. Now, after many years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation, in the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult. They ought to have been here before you to object, if they had anything against me. Or else let those who are here themselves say if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the council. Unless it is for this one statement which I cried out, standing among them, concerning the resurrection of the dead, I am being judged by you this day.' 

But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, 'When Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case.' So he commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and told him not to forbid any of his friends to provide for or visit him. 

And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, 'Go away for now. When I have a convenient time, I will call for you.' 

Meanwhile, he also hoped that money would be given him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore he sent for him more often and conversed with him. But after two years, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound." 

Well, I've given you five points on your outline this morning for the chapter: A Worldly System, Standing Behind the Truth, A More Accurate Knowledge of the Way, Political Expediency, and No Convenient Time. 

We see in the first nine verses of our text that Paul finds himself in the middle of a worldly system. His accusers, the ones really precipitating this charade of a trial to affect Paul's death, are the religious Jews, who have had great opposition to and hatred for the gospel for many, many years now. This has always been the case, my friends. Even in the time of Jesus, it was the zealous religious men who brought the greatest opposition to the truth. These are the ones, perhaps even some of these same ones, who delivered Jesus over to Pilate for crucifixion. 

Here Paul stands before a flattering, slick-talking lawyer bringing accusation against him and a corrupt pagan leader who has ultimate authority from his totalitarian government to do whatever he will with Paul. And justice is not the issue here, as we will see. Justice has nothing to do with it. Rather, it is political expediency to keep the peace and maintain power that matters. 

Some things never change. I was reading a story this week about the church in China. Over 100 members of a church in Chengdu, China, were arrested beginning Sunday, December 9th. At the time of the publication of this article, arrests are still being made, it said. Among those taken away were the pastor, Pastor Yee, and his wife, who have not been heard from since Sunday. The interesting thing about this is that the pastor wrote a declaration ahead of time expecting something like this to happen and asked that it be published if he was held for more than 48 hours. 

In it he explains the meaning and necessity of what he calls faithful disobedience and how it is distinct from political activism or civil disobedience and how Christians should carry it out. Here are some excerpts from what the pastor wrote. He said, "On the basis of the teachings of the Bible and the mission of the gospel, I respect the authorities God has established in China. For God deposes kings and raises up kings. This is why I submit to the historical and institutional arrangements of God in China. 

As a pastor of a Christian church, I have my own understanding and views based on the Bible about what righteous order and good government is. At the same time, I am filled with anger and disgust at the persecution of the church by this communist regime, at the wickedness of their depriving the people of the freedoms of religion and conscience. But changing social and political institutions is not the mission that I have been called to and it is not the goal for which God has given His people the gospel. 

For all hideous realities, unrighteous politics, and arbitrary laws manifest the cross of Jesus Christ, the only means by which every Chinese person must be saved. They also manifest the fact that true hope and a perfect society will never be found in the transformation of any earthly institution or culture, but only in our sins being freely forgiven by Christ and in the hope of eternal life. 

As a pastor, my firm belief in the gospel, my teaching, and my rebuking of all evil proceeds from Christ's command in the gospel and from the unfathomable love of that glorious King. Every man's life is extremely short and God fervently commands the church to lead and call any man to repentance who is willing to repent. Christ is eager and willing to forgive all who turn from their sins. This is the goal of all the efforts of the church in China, to testify to the world about our Christ, to testify to earthly, momentary lives about heavenly, eternal life. This is also the pastoral calling that I have received." 

He goes on to ask for prayer that he might be a witness to his detainers and the communist government officials when given the opportunity. What a tremendous example this man is to us, along with the Apostle Paul, as to what our purpose here on this earth is as God leaves us in this world. 

It's not to take over the government to make the world Christian. It is not to bring Christian law or the Ten Commandments to bear on an unbelieving world through legislation. It's not to bring justice to an unjust world. As the pastor expressed, we are to expose the darkness by bringing the light of the truth of the gospel to men, every man. Jesus is willing, he is eager, he writes. We need to bring the message of truth to a lost and dying world, and that is what I see from Paul as he faces a pagan, totalitarian government which can kill him at its whim, and a slick-talking lawyer who seeks to lead him to that death, and a hostile religious contingency set on ridding the world of his presence. 

This is no strange thing that Paul is experiencing. Jesus said it would happen, that the world would hate believers, followers of Christ, because it hated him first. Peter said, do not think it strange that you are experiencing this fiery trial. It's happening all over the world today, my friends. We by God's grace are the enigma, the exception to such injustice and persecution. But we, like Pastor Yee, have the same calling, the same mission, no matter what our circumstances are. We are here to give men a more accurate knowledge of the way. 

And we see Paul striving to do this in his defense. Look at verse 10 again in our text. 

Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered, 'Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself. You see, Felix would have known about the Jewish customs, the traditions, it was his job to keep peace in this region. Paul says, you know about this. 

Verse 11, 'because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship, and they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone or inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city, nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me. 

But this I confess to you, that according to the way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. 

This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. Now, after many years, I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation, in the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult. Doubt to have been here before you to object, if they had anything against me. Or else let those who are here themselves say if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the council, unless it is for this one statement which I cried out standing among them, concerning the resurrection of the dead, I am being judged by you this day.' 

But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the way, he adjourned the proceedings. He put it off. You see, Paul makes an excellent defense of himself, exposing the very general baseless accusations against him. He says none of these things are true. They have no witnesses. What they're saying makes no sense. There's no evidence. 

Paul hides behind the truth. I love this. All the world, the men of this world, the religions of this world, the politicians and governments, they all have an angle. They're all seeking their own good, their own profit, and most, if not all, are willing to lie and cheat to get their way. And thus they are constantly hiding behind falsehoods, schemes, injustices. We see this so vividly in our country today among all kinds of factions. 

But as believers in Jesus Christ, we are called to live quiet and peaceable lives, esteeming others better than ourselves, sacrificing our wants and desires in an exercise of agape love towards others, and we are to be truthful. We are to live by the truth. And I say, as we see here in Paul's example, isn't it great to hide behind the truth? We don't ever have to worry. We don't ever have to keep track of our lies and our schemes. We can stand for the truth. We can live in the truth and have a clear conscience toward God and men. Isn't it tremendous not to have any accusations stick? This is the case for Paul in his defense. 

But notice then he makes it to the heart of the matter, the way, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Christian church in its early years had come to be known as the way. And this comes from the fact that Jesus is the way, the only way. He's the truth. He's the life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me, he said. 

This is the offense of biblical Christianity to religious and carnal men. Jesus claims to be the exclusive way to heaven. Only by His death and my place for my sins and only through faith in Him can I receive the righteousness of God and be saved from the wrath to come. Paul expresses this clearly, saying that he believes he worships God according to the way, which was written and predicted in the Law and the Prophets, the Old Testament Scriptures. 

I'd like for you to turn over to Romans 3 with me, please. Romans 3, 19. As we kind of catch the evangelical spirit of Paul's words here, he makes clear the gospel in this passage. Romans 3, 19. 

"Now we know that whatever the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. For by the deeds of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the Law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God apart from the Law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation, a full satisfactory payment, by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 

Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the Law." 

Because of the founding in this country, in our Judeo-Christian heritage and law, and because of our culture, and by and large, it's true that we have not known persecution for our faith, or such open hostility as Paul was experiencing here as we read about this pastor in China and people suffering around the world today. But this hostility is clearly growing here as well, and it's becoming more and more prevalent. And at the core of this is the exclusivity of Christ. 

Sorry, I have a tickle in my throat. You can go to your lost family, to your local social gathering, or even to the steps of the churches in our communities, and you can talk to men about God, about goodness and morality and even heaven, and they will be fine, they will be pleasant, they will be cordial. You can ask them, do you think that you will go to heaven? And they'll tell you, well I hope so, I'm a pretty good person, I do the best I can. 

But if you explain the way more accurately, such as we see here explained so clearly in Romans 3, that the law and good works and religious rituals and sacraments are not a means to righteousness, that the law can only condemn and that it was given to show us our sin and our need. If we explain that all men are sinners and have fallen short of the standard, the glory of God, and every man is therefore deserving of death, eternal death, in the lake of fire. 

If you take the time to make it clear and show them that the way is not through religion and works and self-effort, but through faith in Jesus Christ, by grace, through faith alone, in a substitute, one who died in my place for my sins, paying the full cost. If you can convey to a man his sinfulness and need, and call on him to cast away all of his own righteousness, and cast himself on the grace and mercy of Jesus found at the cross, and the one who died in our place was buried and rose again the third day, the resurrection of the dead, Paul says, is the matter. 

My brothers and sisters, if we are diligent, faithful, loving enough to tell men the truth, then there will either be salvation, faith, rejoicing, or there will be an open hostility, a rejection of the truth and of you, because it is ultimately a rejection of the way of Jesus. Felix had been ruler over the Jews in this region for years. His main charge was to keep the peace, and the Jews were a constant thorn, a trouble to figure out with their religion and their laws. 

And no doubt Felix was very familiar with all of this, and he'd noticed the details concerning Jesus and His life and death and supposed resurrection. He had an understanding of the way, but he needed a more accurate knowledge. And I think that he hoped that the expert in the field, the Apostle Paul, might give him that understanding, and help him to better rule over these things and settle this major dispute. 

So Felix has come to understand, and in this little exchange it says that there's no issue here with the Roman law, that Paul has done nothing deserving of chains or death, that what is going on here is really a matter of the way, the resurrection of the dead, the gospel of Jesus Christ, a dispute over doctrine within the Judaistic realm. So at this point, he should let Paul go, but he doesn't. And the reason is not justice, it's not what's right, but rather it's political expediency. 

Had he let Paul go at this point, it would have seriously offended the Jews and the high priest and would have undoubtedly led to more riots and probably the murder of Paul if God allowed it. And so the decision that Felix made is one of kicking the can down the road. He had no real accusation against him, Paul had done nothing wrong, but letting him go was not a real option either. 

So Felix says, we'll wait until Claudius Lysias comes down and then we'll decide your case. And as far as we know, Claudius never came and he was never called for. So Paul is left in custody, but we see that Felix gives him several liberties. 

So we've seen in our text today a worldly system in which we all exist, in which Paul stood trial. We see a more accurate knowledge of the way, we see political expediency, and finally we see no convenient time. 

Look at verse 24, "And after some days when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, 'Go away for now, when I have a convenient time, I will call for you.' Meanwhile, he also hoped that money would be given to him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore he sent for him more often and conversed with him. But after two years, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and Felix wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound." 

Well, Paul was in these chains under Felix for over two years at the palace of Herod. It says that Felix called for Paul often, partially because he hoped for a bribe from Paul. But I don't think that was really the main reason. Felix was curious about the gospel, about Jesus, and he must have been greatly intrigued by the witness of Paul and perhaps the man himself. 

I wonder if you've kind of noticed this in your life. Sometimes you'll come to Christ, you'll be a witness, you'll witness to your family, they'll kind of reject that, or become more hostile or cold to your endeavors to witness. Then over time, something will happen in their life, some tragedy, someone's sick, some major problem, and they call you. Why do they call you? Who are you? You know what, you're not a doctor, you're not a psychologist, why would they call you? They've stood in hostility against Christ, against your witness, they've thought that you're nuts, right? And yet when they have trouble, they come to you. 

Because they know that there's something genuine, there's something true about faith in Jesus Christ, they've seen the transformation in your life. And I think Paul must have been an amazing example of this. And so Felix keeps calling for him, just wants to talk to him, converse with him. 

And so we see that when his wife came down, Drusilla, Felix had Paul come and witness to them, and she was Jewish, it said, so there was some interest on her part, but notice what they heard, why they called Paul. It says to hear about the faith in Christ. This is really amazing, my brothers and sisters, Paul had this continual opportunity to witness about Jesus. The governor called him to witness about his faith. And all in the court would hear it. All in the palace had heard it. You can bet on that. 

And as we saw before, Paul wrote to the Philippians saying that his change actually worked out for the furtherance of the gospel because the whole palace guard had heard about the way, and many had believed. Yes, Paul's in prison. Yes, he's in a trying situation, but the overruling grace of God is at work here, my friends, and Paul is bearing fruit for the glory of God. 

Unfortunately, for some, though, no matter how much revelation they receive, no matter how much God reaches out to them with open arms and gospel truth, there is no convenient time. We don't know how many times Paul witnessed to Felix. It says he called him often, and we know that Paul took every opportunity, but as much as God gives grace and opportunity and brings the truth to the ears of a man through faithful witnesses and circumstances, ultimately, it is up to that man to receive that truth by faith. 

To believe and take for himself the good news, the grace of God, and receive his righteousness. I'd like for you to turn to one more passage in Romans 4. This is the passage immediately following the one we looked at before in chapter 3. In 4.1, Paul says, "What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness." 

I love that verse because what it tells us is it's not good people who go to heaven, right? It's the ungodly who realize that they're ungodly and they turn to Christ in faith. 

Verse 6, "just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works, 'Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.'" Jesus paid the full debt on the cross for my sins, accomplishing my salvation and offering His righteousness to me as a free gift. 

But Jesus said in Matthew 5.48 that we must be perfect as God in heaven is perfect in order to enter His kingdom. But no man is perfect. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and therefore deserve the wages of sin which is death. But God, who is rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, gave us His only begotten Son, sending Him to die in our place for our sins that through faith in Him alone we might receive His righteousness and have eternal life. 

Jesus said in John 5.24, "'Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life. He shall not come into judgment but is passed from death unto life.'" John tells us in chapter 1, Jesus came to His own but His own did not receive Him but as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. 

So many scriptures that make this clear. Salvation is a free gift received by faith in Jesus Christ alone in what He accomplished on the cross. But a man presented with the truth. You must make that choice to forsake His religion, His self-righteousness, His works, whatever He's trusting in, and turn to Jesus alone to receive that gift and take it for Himself. 

Paul gives testimony of this in his own life in Philippians 3, a beautiful passage, listen, it says, "but what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ, yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith." 

Felix was presented with a more accurate knowledge of the way, of the truth and the life of Jesus Christ in the gospel of grace, and he did not find it convenient. He was afraid. He said, "I will hear you again at a more convenient time," and the time never comes, my friend. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to believe Jesus. 

The author of Hebrews warns that we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away. It's a picture of a boat, of a ship, being carried by the current and the cares of the world past the harbor of safety, of grace. And he says we must give the more earnest heed. He pleads to come into the harbor, to come into Christ through faith. 

Just as Felix, you have been presented with such an opportunity this morning. If you do not know Christ, if you are still drifting on the currents and philosophies and wisdom of this world, but you must find this to be a convenient time, now, today. Do not come short of faith, but turn to Jesus and believe. 

Receive Him by faith, trusting in Him alone. And if you do know Him, as I assume most people in this place do, if you have turned to Him in faith and received His righteousness, His gift of salvation, then just thank Him. Praise Him and thank Him continually for what He has done for you. 

And my friend, live for Him. Be a witness for Him in ease and in struggle and freedom or in bondage. Just as we see the example of Paul here this morning, just as we see the example of the pastor now under communist chains in China, preach the truth. Tell them about Jesus. Give them a more accurate knowledge of the way that they might believe and be saved. 

Let's close in prayer. 

Father, we thank You for the truth, the gospel. Thank You for our salvation in Christ. Thank You that He's a full satisfactory payment by His death on the cross for the sins of the world and that for any man who will come to Him, He will in no wise cast him out. Thank You for the gift, Lord, and thank You for the promises. Help us to trust You and believe You day by day that we might bear fruit for Your glory. In Jesus' name.