What You Do With The Truth Matters | 7.23.23 | Sunday AM | On Fire Christian Church
What You Do With The Truth Matters
In Acts 24 we read of Governor Felix whom Paul would stand before to give a defense against those who had him incarcerated for sedition
Sedition-conduct or language inciting rebellion against the authority of a state or a nation
Paul was preaching Jesus is King
Felix-Felix and his brother had been favourite slaves of the Emperor, and so had won great power at court. At the date of this incident he had been for some five or six years the procurator of the Roman province of Judaea; and how he used his power the historian Tacitus tells us in one of his bitter sentences, in which he says, ‘He wielded his kingly authority with the spirit of a slave, in all cruelty and lust.’
His wife Drusilla, he drew away from her husband, and his court was filled with blood and drunkenness
Paul is brought before the court, he knows the lifestyle of those before him and uses the opportunity to not only defend himself but does not sugar coat it to bring conviction to his hearers.
Never allow fear of man to deter the message or water it down
“Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.”. I Samuel 15:24 NKJV
“You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the judgment is God’s.” Deuteronomy 1:17
Unlikely people can stand before us to speak truth
Here God speaks to Felix and Drusilla to stop them in their madness and sin through Paul a prisoner
Jesus puts mud on blind man
“The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”. John 9:30-33 NKJV
Felix puts off the first account with Paul and on a second occasion with his wife Drusilla hears him talk of Righteousness, self control and the judgment to come
Righteousness-Paul is sharing with people who knew nothing of these topics
Right with God. There is a God that we must be right with
Paul would place the medicine directly on the soar.
Self control-those before him had committed adultery yet Paul talks to them about lustful sin and our responsibility in the culture not to take off our reservations but to refrain from them
Judgment to come-all will be judged in the future. It is a natural thing for justice even in this life for order etc. How much more in eternity?
Felix trembles at Paul’s words
“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.” Acts 24:25 NKJV
Hearers only are not saved but those who heed the words of this gospel
““Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Matthew 7:21 NKJV
When is the gospel convenient?
Conscience, then, was not dead for Felix , but its voice was silenced by the will which would not listen; he shows a certain measure of respect for him, but he postpones acting “till a more convenient season,” and so becomes the type of the millions whose spiritual life is ruined by a like procrastination
The gospel of Jesus demands action! Demands allegiance!
