Thank you.
Good evening everyone.
Welcome to Faithful Word of Athens Church.
Great to see you all here for our third day of service.
If you could all please have a seat, grab a handle and open up that handle to Psalm number 439.
We begin this evening's service by singing Psalm 439. Have good blessings.
We begin the service by singing Psalm 439. Have good blessings.
We begin the service by singing Psalm 439.
We begin the service by singing Psalm 439. Have good blessings.
We begin the service by singing Psalm 439.
We begin the service by singing Psalm 439. Have good blessings.
We begin the service by singing Psalm 439.
We, like Paul, live in a country where we have religious freedom for the time being.
You can say, well, what about the fact that we're getting banned on YouTube?
I don't know how my channel is still up. It's a miracle.
We're getting kicked off of all these different places.
Different people are being banned from these social media platforms.
Well, the thing is, those are private corporations that can do whatever they want.
If we wanted to, we could get a bunch of servers and a bunch of high-speed connections and start our own social media.
I doubt it would get very far.
But they can do whatever they want with their platforms.
That's not the government that's running that.
Look at Philippians 2.
If you look there in verse 12, it says,
Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your salvation with fear and trembling.
Now, that word workout kind of reminds me of exercise.
Somebody might say, hey, I exercised. What did you do? I went and I worked out.
Sometimes people get a little confused about what that means.
Work out your own salvation.
Figure out how to get saved yourself or something like that.
That's not what he's saying there.
If you kind of get it in the context, he's just talking about serving God, basically.
Work out your salvation.
Make it manifest so that you don't come under the judgment of God for having not served him.
Let's just back up and look at verse 4 and take the time.
I want to just throw that out there.
He said, Look not every man on his own things, but also every man also on the things of others.
So first of all, he's saying, hey, make sure you're being mindful of the needs of other people.
And what he's saying there is to serve, to exercise your faith, to put it into practice.
Let this be mine be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being the form of God
that had not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
but took upon him the form of a servant.
So what's the context of the chapter?
Looking on the things of others, being like Christ in the sense that we're going to be a servant.
Caring about the things of other people.
He goes on and says in verse 12, well, verse 8, let's just continue on, verse 9,
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things in earth
and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father. So what's he saying? We need to have the minds in Christ.
We need to look on the minds, look on the things that are on things of others.
We need to make sure that we are found as Christ a servant. Why?
Because just in the same ring that Christ was exalted, we also will be exalted for our works.
There will be a reward to them that serve him.
Jesus said, behold, I come quickly and my reward is with me.
If any man's work shall abide the fire, he shall receive a reward.
But if we don't have any works, we shall not receive a reward. We're not going to be exalted.
I preached recently up in Yakima about this, about the different types of rewards that are out there.
We know that some people are going to be given authority in the millennial reign.
Some people will be given authority over ten cities, over five cities.
There's the different crowns, perhaps even different abilities that come with the new body
that would be useful in that instance.
There's a lot of that speculation, but what's not speculation is that there is going to be a reward to those that serve Christ
and that there will not be a reward to those that do not serve Christ.
So that's kind of what he's saying here in this chapter.
That's what I think he's saying when he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
Why? Because you don't want to be robbed of your reward.
You want to serve God with fear and trembling so that you also can be exalted,
not in the exact same way that Christ is exalted.
Obviously, no one's going to bow the knee and confess that we are Lord,
but that we will be exalted, that God in his kingdom will exalt us.
If we look on the things of others, if we have the mind of Christ, if we are like a servant,
then we need to make sure that we obey and we need to make sure we work out our salvation.
Make it manifest. Do the works that accompany salvation with fear and trembling.
Make sure we're being diligent, not going to lose that reward.
Look, you should be afraid to lose that reward.
It should frighten you to sit there and think that my life isn't going to account for anything in eternity.
That should put the fear in us. Am I doing right? Am I obeying?
Do I have the mind of Christ? Am I serving God as I ought to?
Am I doing everything that God would have me to do?
If we're not doing that, that should cause us to have some fear and trembling.
We should make sure that we're being obedient.
Look at verse 13, for it is God which worketh in you.
Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Why?
For it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
We should have fear and trembling because God's the one that wants to work through us to his own ends for his good pleasure.
Do all things without murmurings and disputing.
So do you see how the context of this chapter is working, service, looking at things of others,
taking on the form of a servant, making sure that we're allowing God to work through us to his ends for his good pleasure,
doing those things without murmurings and disputings,
that we may blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation.
So that's the work that we do. We, as it says in verse 16, holding forth the word of life,
that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
He's saying, I don't want the work that I've bestowed upon you to come to naught in your own lives.
I don't want to labor in vain. I want to make sure that that which I've worked in your life, you know,
you pay it forward, so to speak, that in that day I'll be able to rejoice with you,
that I'll be able to give a good report with joy and not with grief.
OK, if you would go over to Hebrews chapter number 12.
So hopefully, you know, that was clear in Philippians two what it means to work out your salvation.
It means to exercise it, to put it to use. And that's what Paul is saying. He's saying,
Herein do I exercise myself. I'm practicing my religion. You know, are we doing the same?
You know, and to me, religion is not a dirty word. OK, I'm not I'm religious.
I'm not afraid to say that to people. It's such a trendy, stupid thing that I hear at the door from time to time.
Well, you know, I don't really put my faith in a religion, so to speak. I have more of a spirituality.
OK. You basically just insulted the person you're talking to or whatever.
You know, I practice my religion. What is it to practice our religion?
You know, to go to church, to learn the word of God, to preach the word of God, to teach the word of God to others,
to teach to our children, to preach the gospel to the lost, you know, to do works for God.
That's what we're here to do. And that's what I believe he's saying in Philippians chapter two.
That's what it means to work out your salvation. Do the works that God has given us to do.
Do it without murmurings and disputings. First Peter chapter one says in verse 17.
And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's works or work.
Right. You call on the Father. Well, remember who it is you're calling upon.
He who what without respect of persons. And he doesn't, you know, have play favorites as far as, you know,
well, I know you didn't do any work, but I really like you. Right. It's he judges according to every man's work.
You know, you will be rewarded for the labor that you put in with God. God is fair in that way.
He's not a respecter of persons. And what does it say in light of that, in light of the fact that God is not a respecter of persons
and who does reward every man according to his works past the time of your sojourning here in fear.
Right. Why? Because it's a fearful thing to fall in the hands of the living God.
It's a fearful thing to be robbed of a reward that should bother us.
And it's that you see so many Christians today, it's like it's like they don't mind missing out on their internal rewards.
Like, do you believe in eternity? You even believe these passages?
Do you even believe when Jesus said, behold, I come quickly. My reward is with you.
Do you really believe that? Because sometimes you look at people's lives. It's like it doesn't look like you do.
It looks like you're not passing the time of your sojourning here in fear.
It looks like you're not working out your salvation with fear and trembling.
Look at Hebrews chapter 12, verse 28. Wherefore are we receiving a kingdom?
What's that sound like to you? Receive a kingdom. Sounds like a reward, doesn't it?
You know, and what little we know about the new Jerusalem in heaven.
You know, I don't know how you could call it anything else but a reward. I mean, it's beyond description.
Paul said that he saw things there. They're not lawful for him to utter.
And we see through a glass darkly. But what we do see is quite impressive.
OK, that kingdom, which because we're receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, it's not going to be taken away from us.
Let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably, serve God acceptably, serve God in the way he deserves to be served.
Serve God in a way that will be accepted by him with reverence and godly fear.
So you see how fear is always worked in with our works through these passages?
Pass the sojourning of your time here in fear. Don't waste your time. You know, fear God, serve him, serve God acceptably with fear.
Verse 29, for our God is a consuming fire.
So that's the point I want to make tonight here at the first. I'm going to wrap up in a minute.
But, you know, Paul is somebody who exercised his religion in his day. You know, he did the works.
He lived in a time where, you know, roads were kind of a new thing. Like they had all the Romans had built the roads.
So they had all this this network spanning around the known world and they were able to travel more freely and to, you know, do a lot of preaching.
I mean, he used the opportunity that was given to him. You know, he used the technology that was available at the time.
You know, we'll see him getting on ships and going to different places.
We see him walking by foot and along these roads and preaching to people in different places and going and meeting people where they're at.
Finding them and seeking them out. And, you know, that's what we need to do today.
What's it going to look like if we work out our salvation? What's it going to look like if we serve God acceptably?
What's it going to look like if we, like Paul, exercise ourselves in these things?
Well, it's going to look like what Paul did. You know, taking advantage of the technology that's available to us.
Put our messages out on the Internet as far as we can, on every platform that we can.
You know, try to get the word out there to as many people as we can. Of course, go out and preach to people in our community.
You know, use the, you know, use Google Maps. Use, you know, the printer that we have and to make the maps and to go out there.
Create the invites. You know, use these things to our advantage. Exercise ourselves in these things.
And we need to put our faith into practice in our lives. And if we're kind of lackadaisical about that, we kind of are apathetic towards doing that.
Well, then you kind of have to ask yourself, do you have any godly fear? Do you have any fear of God at all?
You know, it'd be a real I mean, it'd be a it should frighten us to stand before God and not hear those words.
Well, good, well, well done, thou good and faithful servant. You know, if we can just kind of brush that off, it's like you're going to I'm just I'll just say you're going to sing a different tune on that day.
You know, it's not going to be so easy when you're looking in the face of Christ and he just says.
No, not well done. You know, he's like fail, right? Failure is an option in the Christian life. You can fail at it.
OK, so that's why we need to make sure we have reverence, godly fear, work these things out with fear and trembling.
You know, making sure we should be careful about these things in our life. Let's move along in the story.
Verse 17. Now, after many years, I came to bring on so Paul is continuing on with his story, making his case to Felix.
He's saying, you know, I just I exercise myself. You know, I have a conscience void of offense toward God.
And I haven't done anything wrong. And I've got the record to back it up and the witnesses.
He says, verse 17. Now, after many years, I came to bring alms to my nation and offerings whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple,
neither with the multitude nor with atonement. So these guys recognized him. Right.
The Jews from other parts that because, you know, from other parts of the world that had had dealings with Paul.
They're all kind of in Jerusalem at this point. He says these certain Jews from Asia found me.
And this isn't talking about, you know, Asia as we knew it today. Asia Minor was Turkey, that area of the world.
OK. He says in verse 19, Who ought to have been here before thee and object if they have ought against me?
He's like, where are the guys that actually are accusing me? Where are these Jews from Asia that, you know, that these guys are basing everything on?
Or else let these same hearsay, if they have found any evil doing in me, while I stood before the council.
He's saying, you know, if there anyone has anything to say of actual has any actual evidence to present, let's hear it.
OK. He's saying, I stood before the council. I haven't done anything evil.
Verse 21, except it be for this one voice that I cried standing among them, touching the resurrection of the dead.
I'm called in question by you this day. He said, I did kind of get the Sadducees and Pharisees going, you know, when I brought up the resurrection.
OK. But again, you know, this is another principle that we also have in the Sixth Amendment of the Constitution,
that in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to be confronted with the witnesses against them.
Right. We get to face our accusers in a court of law. So this is something that they even practiced back then.
And it says in verse 22, and Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way.
And I think what it's saying, they're having more perfect knowledge of that way, meaning having a better understanding of what took place.
OK. He deferred them. You know, he's not going to come to a conclusion and said, when Lysias, the chief captain, shall come down,
I will know the uttermost of the matter. Let me get Lysias side of things.
He's going to cooperate with one of you guys. He's going to back up some people and then I'll come to a decision.
And he commanded a centurion. Now, a centurion was somebody who was over 100 Roman soldiers.
So this would be like an officer in the army. So he didn't just grab, you know, some grunt.
He took an actual officer that we would call to keep Paul and to let him have liberty.
So he doesn't put him in jail. He just has this escort with him.
This guy's job was to follow Paul around and make sure that he didn't run off.
Right. So this is, you know, the equivalent of the, you know, the house arrest, I guess.
I guess it'd be more like the electronic ankle bracelet. Right.
And then sometimes you get, when you're in your probation, they put that thing on you. Right.
Well, this is that equivalent. You get this guy following you around, making sure you don't take off. Right.
And he's got 100 soldiers under him. So if you try and run, he's got the manpower to find you.
Like they'll tear the town apart to find you.
So, you know, that's kind of the equivalent today. And he said, where were we at?
So verse 23, he commanded a centurion to keep Paul, to let him have liberty.
So he's not in jail necessarily. Right. He's able to move about.
And that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or to come unto him.
So he's allowed to have visitors. People can bring him food. People can come talk to him and minister to him.
You know, he has the care and support of his friends. He's not locked away in some dungeon somewhere.
So you can see how Felix is being very careful with Paul because they know he's a Roman.
They're making sure that he is, you know, he gets the face of his accusers.
They're going to get all sides of the story. They're moving very slowly here.
And it says in verse 24, and after certain days when Felix came with his wife, Drusilla, which was a Jewess,
he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
Now it's interesting because, you know, Felix is married to this Jewess, you know,
and it might be that she was kind of curious about what Paul had to say.
It kind of means that, you know, he wants to hear concerning his faith, but it's after his wife comes.
She shows up and she's like, oh, you got that Paul guy. I've heard about him.
You know, I've heard, you know, I heard some people in my, you know, my prayer group talking about him down in the synagogue, right?
Because they're, you know, Paul's a Jew, right? Or he was a Jew, right?
He's a true Jew. He's a Jew, which is one inwardly, right? That's another sermon.
But, you know, he was running in that crowd and practicing that same religion previously.
So obviously, you know, she would have heard of him. She would have heard about the uproar in Jerusalem, everything that had taken place.
So it seems to me like Felix really doesn't care about the religion so much, but that the Jewess does.
Drusilla does because she's of that way.
But he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.
So Drusilla gets him to listen, right? She's getting him to listen to what Paul has to say.
Now notice in verse 25, and as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled.
And obviously Felix is a guy with a lot of power, right? He's basically the one who's making the decision on this case.
You see how, you know, the Jews are getting Tertulus down there to, you know, smooth things over with him.
He's got the power to call Claudius Solicius. He's got the power to appoint a centurion, an officer in the Roman army.
So this is a guy with a lot of power, you know.
And yet when he hears Paul preach, and who's Paul to Felix? Nobody.
He's just a nobody. He's just, you know, he's wondering is this guy a troublemaker?
He's just some Jew who wandered into town of that sect of the Nazarenes and started carrying on about some resurrection.
You know, and I know he's like, and I know my wife, she's kind of believed some of that stuff too, you know.
I've heard it all from her before, right?
But when Felix, this powerful guy, hears Paul speaking, he trembles.
And it's probably like a visible trembling, like he's so afraid of what he's hearing, like he's afraid.
Maybe it's even, you could see it. You ever been that afraid?
It's okay to admit. It's all right.
Right? I've been that afraid. I think I've told the story.
When I lived at my dad's, he had me climb up a tree and, you know, 20, 15, 20 feet, it gets taller every time I tell it.
You know, and go out on a branch and pour gasoline on a giant termite nest that was up there.
He said take this five gallon can of, gas and fire and my dad, all, there are a lot of stories involving flammable liquids in my dad.
I've got more. I'm thinking of three right now that I could tell that involve flame.
This did not involve flame, it just involved a highly combustible substance at an elevated height.
But I remember walking out on that limb, you know, and I'm looking down and I've got a gallon of gas.
My dad's just smoking, you know.
And I remember my legs started to shake because I was afraid I was going to fall.
You know, my knees began to knock, as it says in the scripture, right?
And my dad just made a joke. He's like, oh, I love seeing you scared or something like that, I don't know.
But I've been that, you know, I've had that physical terror where like you're so afraid you actually start to tremble.
You know, you get so frightened that you, your body gets the tremors, it trembles, right?
So that's, you know, that very well could be what's going on with Felix here when it says that he's trembling.
Like maybe they could have looked at him and seen this powerful man with people just at his beck and call, you know,
I mean surrounded by an army being brought to the place where he's actually physically trembling in front of Paul.
Now, is it because of Paul? Is it because Paul is some, you know, imposing force?
No, he's got Paul right where he wants him. He's got Paul, you know, bound to a centurion.
It's because Paul reasoned with him of righteousness, temperance, and judgment.
And really when you think about it, that is the gospel.
You know, it might not be the exact order that we do it, you know, but we start with judgment, right?
You're a sinner, there is a hell, you deserve to go there. That's judgment, right? The judgment to come.
Then we would cover righteousness, the righteousness of Christ which can be imputed unto you by faith.
And then of course we cover temperance, right? Self-control, you know.
You can live however you want and get chastened or you can be temperate and have self-control and have God's blessing.
You know, we kind of make some of the same points that Paul makes.
In fact, we make all the same points Paul makes when we preach the gospel.
We cover these same topics, righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, right?
And if we just do that, you know, that's where the power is.
That's where the real power is in preaching the gospel.
It brings a guy like Felix to the place where he's afraid, okay?
That's why we don't have to worry and try and rely on, you know, our own cleverness or our own, you know,
just wit or ability when it comes to preaching the gospel.
And that holds some people back. Some people are afraid to preach the gospel because they just think,
well I'm not, you know, I'm not a Tertullus. You know, I'm not some silver-tongued orator.
I'm not a people person. I'm not very charismatic. And some people aren't.
But, you know, that's not what gets people saved. We don't charm people into salvation, do we?
You know, we don't go in there and just wow people with our intellect. Certainly not me.
You know, we don't go in there and just try to be all nice and then they'll get saved.
Obviously we're courteous. We're polite, hopefully. You know, we're being nice when we're out there.
But, you know, if you're more of an introverted person, I'm not sure I really believe in all that anymore,
but, you know, if you're somebody who's less of a people person, less of a talker, you know,
all you got to do is preach this book. All you got to know is the, you know, the passages to turn to.
You can just, you know, get some tabs and put them in there and know what to say.
Well, the Bible says we're sinners. You know the Romans wrote. You know how to go through it.
And look, if we'll do that, you know, it will have an effect on people.
You know, it will make a profound effect on people when they just hear the Word of God.
You know, you'll hear people say from time to time, man, I was out preaching the Gospel today
and I preached this one person and they started to weep.
You know, I've had that experience and it wasn't like because I was laying it on thick.
It was just another Gospel presentation. But, man, just something about it. The Holy Spirit showed up and bam.
You know, you don't know what people have been going through.
You know, if we just go out and preach and just preach temperance, judgment to come, righteousness,
just preach the Gospel, you know, regardless of who it is, you know, God can use that.
Whether it's some lowly sinner on the sidewalk somewhere or it's some emperor sitting in some, you know,
some ruler sitting in some, you know, position of power. Just preach the Gospel.
Let God do all the heavy lifting. Why? Because it's the Word of God that's quick and powerful
and sharper than any two-edged sword. It's the Word of God that does it.
You know, and that's what I love about soul winning in the Gospel is like, you know,
obviously we have to do the hard work of going out there and opening up our mouths
and making known the mystery of the Gospel, speaking boldly as we ought to.
But when it comes to what to say, God's got it covered. He's got it covered.
He's like, I've already got it all figured out. Just tell them what I did and I'll do all the heavy lifting for you.
You know, it says in Hebrews 4, it says that the Word of God is what's quick and powerful, right?
That's what's piercing and dividing asunder the joints of marrow in the soul and spirit when it comes to Felix here.
It's a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the hearts. It's the Word of God that's having an effect on Felix.
And it says, neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight.
But all things are naked and open unto him with whom we have to do.
You know, we should never get this attitude that some people, you know, are just,
let's not bother preaching the Gospel to this person just because, you know, they're out of reach.
No one's out of reach. You know, we might look at somebody and say, you know, they're just too affluent.
They're too powerful. You know, they're too well off. They're too much like a Felix, right?
It's not worth preaching to him. You know, look at him. He's this great, powerful ruler.
And I'm just a little old me. He's not going to listen to me.
Yeah, but, you know, there's no creature that is not manifest in the sight of God.
And all things are naked and open unto him with whom we have to do.
There's nothing that's hidden from God. And to God, Felix is every bit of worm as we are.
You know, who's Felix compared to God? Nobody.
The only reason we know anything about Felix is because his name's in the Word of God. The story's in here.
If it wasn't in here, Felix would be lost to history just like millions and billions of other people,
millions of other rulers, and people who in their time thought they were some big shot.
They're nobody. So never hold back these things. Never, you know, never let,
don't be a respecter of persons. God isn't. Never think there's somebody too high that you can preach to.
Never think there's anybody too low. You should preach to every creature.
Because there is no creature that is not manifest in his sight.
I know I've got to wrap it up here. Look at verse 26. Well, let's back up a little bit.
Okay, 25, he says, and he reasoned of righteousness and temperance and judgment to come.
Felix trembled and answered, go lie away for this time when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee.
So that's part of the Sixth Amendment that they weren't putting into practice, the right to a speedy trial.
He's like, when it gets convenient, I'll call you.
So man, civil government still had some wrinkles to iron out.
But they were getting a few things right. They had the freedom of religion.
They had the right to face their accusers. If you were a Roman, I understand it wasn't some perfect government.
But, you know, our government's still better because at least we get a speedy trial.
At least we ought to. I'm not saying that always happens. It's all, it's, the whole thing's turned into a racket.
You know, it's funny, I was looking at these, all these different amendments.
I think at the last amendment was the 32nd, I think it was in the 30s, and it was like back in the 60s, I think.
Forgive me, all the, all the scholars out there forgetting if I'm getting my facts wrong.
But the last amendment had to do with not tampering with a, with a representative or a congressman's pay if they're not present.
That was the last amendment that was made in the Constitution. It had to do with their wallet.
You know, it goes from all these noble things, all these good things that are going to help a system run, you know, ensuring people's rights and liberties.
And then it's like, let's also protect our pay. Let's make sure that, you know, we, you know, no one messes with our wages.
That was the last amendment. I just thought that, I found that ironic. It's like, look how far we've come, right.
No system of government is perfect outside of Christ, and ours is, you know, is going to be in shambles soon too, who knows.
Anyway, I don't want to turn all political on you. So he says, hey, go away, when it's convenient, I will call for thee.
Which is really unfortunate, because Felix, you know, could have gotten saved here.
You know, but, you know, he decides, I'll hear it again. That's like the guy you preach to, and it seems like they're right there, but they don't want to pray.
They're just, you know, their buddy's there or something. They're embarrassed. Drusilla's hanging out, their girlfriend Drusilla is in the background, like, you know.
Why are you listening to these guys, you know? We've all had that, or the wife that comes to the door, he doesn't need to listen to you.
He's heard, you know, you ever have a wife, you're talking to the grown man, and the wife runs you off? Man, it's so tempting.
You know, I think it's Pastor Anderson, I've never worked up the boldness, to go, is this your mom? Oh, is that your mother?
Oh, no? Okay, well, let's keep talking then, right? You know, the Drusillas of this world, you know, maybe that's why Felix didn't want to listen, you know.
Well, if she's a Jew, you know, I believe you then, you know what I mean? Hey, when it's convenient, maybe when Drusilla's not around, you know.
But, you know what? Paul might not be around. Felix, you know, today is the day of visitation. You need to glorify God on the day of visitation.
So he sends him away, right, and it says in verse 26, he hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul.
So that just ties in with what I was just saying, you know, about that last amendment they made to the Constitution.
Politicians are worried about money, okay? I know we're coming into an election cycle, you know, shortly, what, the next year, right?
Is it next year? Yeah? Right? I know it's next year. I'm just playing stupid. Right? We're going to go to the election season next year.
Everyone's going to get all worked up, all these issues, but let me just break it to you. All it's ever about is money.
You know, and people who are really into it, like at the end of the day, if you listen to them carefully, a lot of them, all they care about is their money.
Who's going to give me the best tax breaks? Who's going to stimulate the economy the most? You know, that's politics for you.
He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul and that he might lose him.
So he's literally keeping Paul, you know, bound to the centurion, keeping him nearby, waiting for a convenient season.
What he's really doing is like, let me just keep him here and maybe eventually he'll just want to bribe me, right?
Wherefore he sent for him the offener, which is a guy who would like, you know, I don't know if this is like a bail bondsman or something, and communed with him.
So this guy is going there and he's hoping to get money through this offener, whoever that is.
Then look at verse 27, but after two years. So how long does this go on for? Two years.
Paul's bound to the centurion. He's kept there in Caesarea, right? And all because Felix is trying to get him to pay him money.
It's wicked. Felix had his chance, didn't he? You know, he trembled, he heard the gospel, he was convicted, God was working on his heart.
But he backed out and said, not now, maybe later. And then he just, it came about trying to get money out of a man of God. It's a shame.
But after two years, Porcius Festus came into Felix's room and Felix, willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.
So he gets replaced, you know, his predecessor comes in, not his predecessor, but the guy coming into his room, Festus here, and he leaves Paul bound.
And he's just like, well, Paul can just stay there. It's like he forgot about him or something. You know, and that's the thing, that's what money will do to people.
You know, a lot of people just get hung up on money in this world, and the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil.
I mean, think about that. Think about this guy, Felix. He's this close to getting saved. And then he's like, when it's convenient, go away.
And then all he starts thinking about is money. How can I get money out of him? Can I get money out of this guy? Is there some way to get a bribe?
The love of money is the root of all evil, which while some covet it after, they have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Right? Felix here has pierced himself through. Right? And it says that the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some covet it after, they have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
I'm getting it backwards. They that will be rich fall into temptation and snare into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men. Right?
When all we people get worked up about is money, you know, that will drown you. And Felix today is drowning in hell.
And he's going to drown a lake of fire. Because, I mean, unless he got saved later and the Bible just doesn't record it, but to me it just looks like here you have a guy with the apostle Paul before him.
I mean, I could see God maybe giving a guy a pass if it was like me preaching the gospel. Like, you know, I'll get somebody else who does a better job.
But once the apostle Paul, who's reasoning all of these scriptures with him, and he's got Drusilla, his wife, a Jewess, he's like, yeah, that's what the Bible, the Bible does say that.
Yeah, he's right. It does say that. You know, he does talk about the hope of the resurrection. He does talk about, you know, the Messiah. He's getting it right.
He's got the apostle Paul in front of him, and then he's convicted of the Holy Ghost. And he's like, well, maybe later.
I mean, that's how people become reprobate. Where God just finally says, okay, you're done with me, I'm done with you.
Look, I'm not saying every person that rejects the gospel is a reprobate, but I'm saying that there does come a time and place where it does become too late for people.
People don't want to retain God in their knowledge. You know, God gives them over to a reprobate mind.
The Felixes of this world who don't want to listen, you know, they have their opportunity, and they don't, you know, they say later when it's convenient, and then they get distracted, and all they care about are the things in this world.
Money, right? Well, I mean, I don't want to hear what that Paul has. He doesn't want to retain what Paul had to say in his knowledge.
So poor Felix, you know, he had his chance, but, you know, that's not us. Who are we in the story? You know, we're Paul.
You know, all our job is to do is to go and preach under any circumstance to any person, anyone that will listen. That's what we're there to do.
I mean, Paul could have said, you know, well, I'd preach, but, you know, look at the circumstances I'm in. You know, I might make Felix mad.
And this guy's got my life in his hands. Things could go very bad for me if I make him upset.
Oh, there's Jerusalem, his wife, a Jewess. Well, it hasn't been going very well with the Jews.
You know, if I start preaching, you know, she might, you know, get him home and start nagging him.
You need to do something about that Paul, right? Like Herod and Herodias, right? With John the Baptist.
You know, it was it was his wife that got him to execute John over the things that he preached.
You know, but we need to open our mouth boldly and make known the mystery of God, of the gospel.
We need to exercise our faith and use the liberty that we have to do so and not be a respecter of persons.
Preach to the high and the mighty. Preach to the lowly and everybody in between.
Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer. Dear Lord, again, thank you for the great opportunity we have every moment of our lives, Lord.
Every day of our life we come into contact with people.
Lord, we have so many years in front of us, so many more people that we'll meet and talk to.
So many opportunities to go out and preach, Lord, in this country.
Lord, help us to take full advantage of it. To go out and to proclaim the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.
In his name we pray. Amen.
All right, we'll go ahead and sing one more song before we go.
Song number sixty-five.
Song number sixty-five, just go with it, Lord.
Song number sixty-five.
Oh, we care for the saints tonight.
Oh, over in the glory land.
And I long to be by my Savior's side.
Oh, over in the glory land.
Amen.
Thanks, people.
Everyone be ourselves.
["Pomp and Circumstance"]