If you would turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 24. You can find that on page 933 in the pew Bibles. We’ll pick up with the story in Acts after a break last week for our Reformation service. And I guess I am a week late with this one, and you have probably heard it before, but Martin Luther – Martin Luther, in 1521, he was excommunicated and on trial for his writings about the church and his calls for reformation; he was being threatened with banishment and severe hardship and it was a time when he would have been pressured to recant and to back down from his statements and his position. But here is what he said. These are Martin Luther’s famous words. He said, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not repent. For going against my conscience is neither safe nor salutary. I can do no other. Here I stand, God help me.” Amen.
Luther took pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man. In fact, the liberty of the conscience has been called the glory of the Reformation. It has been even called the core principle of Protestantism. That self imposed religion and the neglect of the body can have no value against the indulgence of the flesh, as Paul writes in Colossians chapter 2. But that salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, that is what is truly liberating and life changing. That is what actually gives a clear conscience and sets us free from all despair and from the problems of pride. But we don’t think about the conscience very much, do we? We don’t think about the ways in which it might be burdened or afflicted. We don’t think very often about the ways it can be neglected and numbed to the dangers to which it is always exposed day to day. And already a couple of times in the book of Acts we have seen where Paul, he, in a sense boasts of having a clear conscience. And he does it again here in Acts chapter 24.
But that’s not the story with Felix. We meet Felix in this passage. He’s the Roman governor in Caesarea, the one before whom Paul stands in this chapter. And in this chapter, these two men are contrasted with one another. Paul with his conscience at rest, and Felix with his troubled. And so this is our outline for this passage tonight. We’ll see three things. Number one, the fear of Felix. Secondly, the peace of Paul. And then third, the cross of Christ. Before we read this chapter, let’s pray and ask God’s help and blessing.
Father, we need Your help and we need Your blessing. We need You to speak to us. We come, we desire to listen and to hear from You, that Your Spirit would open our hearts to receive what You have to say to us. That You would help us to see Jesus in all of His goodness and His sufficiency and His perfection and His beauty. That we would trust Him more fully and walk in His ways more completely, for Your glory and for Your honor. We pray this in Jesus’ name, amen.
Acts chapter 24, starting in verse 1:
“And after five days the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and a spokesman, one Tertullus. They laid before the governor their case against Paul. And when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying:
‘Since through you we enjoy much peace, and since by your foresight, most excellent Felix, reforms are being made for this nation, in every way and everywhere we accept this with all gratitude. But, to detain you no further, I beg you in your kindness to hear us briefly. For we have found this man a plague, one who stirs up riots among all the Jews throughout the world and is a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tried to profane the temple, but we seized him. By examining him yourself you will be able to find out from him about everything of which we accuse him.’
The Jews also joined in the charge, affirming that all these things were so.
And when the governor had nodded to him to speak, Paul replied:
‘Knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense. You can verify that it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem, and they did not find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city. Neither can they prove to you what they now bring up against me. But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man. Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings. While I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple, without any crowd or tumult. But some Jews from Asia—they ought to be here before you and to make an accusation, should they have anything against me. Or else let these men themselves say what wrongdoing they found when I stood before the council, other than this one thing that I cried out while standing among them: ‘It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.’’
But Felix, having a rather accurate knowledge of the Way, put them off, saying, ‘When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.’ Then he gave orders to the centurion that he should be kept in custody but have some liberty, and that none of his friends should be prevented from attending to his needs.
After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, ‘Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.’ At the same time he hoped that money would be given him by Paul. So he sent for him often and conversed with him. When two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. And desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.”
The grass withers and the flowers fall but the Word of our God endures forever.
First, the fear of Felix. Now let’s start with those three things in verse 25. These were Paul’s three points in his sermon, if you will, to Felix – righteousness, self control, and the coming judgment. Righteousness. Righteousness is living according to the law. It’s loving God and loving others as we should. Self control, it’s having a handle on our emotions, on our desires, on our speech and our actions. It’s a disciplined life of maintaining our integrity. And the coming judgment, that is an ultimate accountability before God. It is standing exposed before a holy God on the last day and receiving the verdict that is due to us. Righteousness, self control, and the coming judgment. One commentator has referred to these as the three tenses of salvation, namely, how to be pronounced righteous before God, how to overcome temptation and walk faithfully, and how to escape the awful, final judgment of God. In other words, this is justification, sanctification and glorification – those three great “ifications” of the Christian faith. This is the golden chain of salvation.
Now, what was it that bothered Felix? What alarmed this government official in the Roman Empire? Well, it wasn’t really anything to do with his governing in the Roman Empire. For one thing, he didn’t really care to get involved in the matters that had to do with Jewish tradition and ritual. We’ve seen that before, haven’t we? We’ve seen it when Paul was before Gallio in Corinth, or think about when Jesus was before Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem. It was almost like it was a Roman policy not to get involved in matters of Jewish tradition and custom, but to allow Jewish officials deal with matters of Jewish law. And as we read this passage, we find that Felix hardly even acknowledges the charges that Tertullus had brought against Paul. When he laid out the charges against Paul in verses 2 to 8, what did Felix do? He just turned to Paul and he nodded and allowed him, then, to speak.
But even then, it doesn’t seem like Felix was all that concerned with what Paul had to say either because Felix didn’t do anything. He just put him off. He just put the whole thing off. Verse 22 says Felix “put them off, saying, ‘When Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case.’” I don’t think that Felix really felt like this whole thing fit into his job description. But on the other hand, he did wonder if there might be some way to gain some benefit for himself in this whole thing. Did you notice that? Like perhaps the opportunity to curry political favors with the Jews. Verse 27 tells us that he left Paul in prison for two years, for two years, all because he wanted to do the Jews a favor, almost like it was a game to them. This was a move, a piece of strategy for him on a board game of politics of the day.
And at the same time, those two years, it provided him with an opportunity to try to get money out of Paul. It says in verse 26 that Felix would send for Paul often and visit with him because he hoped “that money would be given him by Paul.” He wanted a bribe. He wanted to line his pockets. All it adds up to is that Felix wasn’t concerned about doing his job. He didn’t care about justice. He couldn’t be bothered with getting to the truth or making a decision in this case. He just put it all off. He put it off for another day, put it off for another year. Let somebody else have to deal with it. Felix was indifferent to the whole thing.
So what did it take to get Felix upset? Well, verse 24 says that after this initial hearing, Felix, it says “he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.” Paul started talking about faith in Christ Jesus and then he went on to matters of right and wrong, matters of life and death, and that’s what made Felix tremble. Felix did not like when Paul started to talk about righteousness and self control and the coming judgment. And verse 25 says that as Paul “reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed.” In fact, he was so alarmed that he sent Paul away from him. “Go away, and when I get an opportunity I will summon you.” Felix was alarmed. He was afraid. The word there is “imphobos,” as in phobia or fear. One translation says that “Felix felt things getting a little too close for comfort as Paul reasoned with him.”
Why? Why did that bother Felix so much? Well it was because Felix had a conscience and he was convicted by the talk about righteousness and self control and the coming judgment. We’ve already talked about Felix and injustice, we’ve talked about Felix and bribes and Felix and political favors, but historians also tell us that Drusilla, who is mentioned here in this passage, his wife Drusilla was actually Felix’s third wife and that that marriage had begun in adultery. Tacitus tells us that Felix was harsh, he was cruel, he was violent, that he exercised the powers of a king with the spirit of a slave. And so in this encounter here in this passage, for Felix and Paul, it was like what some people say when they say, “You know, preacher you stopped preaching there and you started meddling.” Paul was getting into Felix’s business.
John Stott used to remind himself, whenever he was speaking to an unbeliever or whenever he was talking to a group, a mostly non-Christian group, he would say to himself, he said, “I have their conscience on my side.” That in some way, in something deep down in every person, there is an awareness of right and wrong, there is a sense of the truth that no one can escape. That’s the conscience. And what Stott was saying was that he could always appeal to someone else’s conscience and it would be in favor of his case. It’s like what Paul wrote to the church in Rome in the book of Romans. Romans chapter 1 and 2, when Paul says that there are certain things about God that are clear for everyone, they are plain for all to see and for all to understand. And Paul says that there is a law written on the hearts of everyone that bears witness to what is right and wrong. And when Paul started talking to Felix about the things of God, what happened? It pricked Felix’s conscience and it did something to expose his guilt. And he didn’t like it. It unsettled him.
But what did he do about it? What was his response? Again, nothing. And he just tried to ignore it. And just like he did when he put off Paul’s case, he tried to put off Paul’s appeal to his conscience and he sent Paul away for some other time. Don’t do that. Don’t ignore the pangs and the stings to your conscience. Don’t let your conscience be seared or hardened like Felix’s was. Pay attention to it. Pay attention to what your conscience is trying to say to you. Someone has said that the conscience is somewhat like when you drive an old car. Right now, I’m driving a car that my dad passed down to my son, who passed it down to my other son, who then passed it up to me, I guess, if that’s the way it works! And guess what? There is a warning light on the dashboard that stays on all the time. It runs just like normal, it’s fine, until it’s not. And the problem is, and the way this relates to the conscience, the problem is that I am so used to seeing a light, a warning light on my dashboard, I’m not likely to pay attention when another one pops up and to keep on going like it’s normal. But that can be dangerous. Ignoring the warnings of our conscience is a dangerous place to be. The fear, the uneasiness, it could actually be a good thing. It should be a good thing.
And Paul shows us why. And so we see not only the fear of Felix but we also see the peace of Paul. I have a few biographies of Paul, the apostle Paul, on my bookshelf. One of them is not like the others. It’s actually a historical novel. It’s the only novel written by the man in black, Johnny Cash. It’s called The Man in White and it’s about Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus. Now I’m not sure if it would stand up to or meet presbytery credentials, but I won’t preach from Johnny Cash tonight, but probably the most thorough, the most reliable biography of the apostle Paul is one written by the biblical scholar, F.F. Bruce, many years ago. And the title of that biography is, Paul, Apostle of the Heart Set Free. And Bruce says that “Paul’s preeminent contribution to the world has been his presentation of the good news of free grace. Free,” he says, “in the sense that it is the source and principle of liberation from all kinds of inward and spiritual bondage, including the bondage of legalism and the bondage of moral anarchy.”
Freedom. Freedom from bondage is what Paul preached. Peace of heart is what Paul preached. Why could Paul preach that? Why did Paul preach that? Paul was the apostle of the heart set free because Paul had a heart that was set free. And he says it in verse 16, doesn’t he? He says, “I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward both God and man.” We saw it also back in the last chapter, in chapter 23. He said, “Brothers, I have lived my life before God in all good conscience up to this day.” Towards the end of his life in 2 Timothy, he writes to Timothy in chapter 1 verse 3, he says, “I thank God whom I serve with a clear conscience as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.” Paul had a clear conscience.
But how? How, after all that he had done that might weigh heavy upon his conscience? In fact, I think that’s one of the ironies of this section of the book of Acts. This is known as Paul’s defense. All throughout these chapters Paul is making a defense at several different stages before several different people, but if you made two columns and in each column you put the arguments against Paul versus the arguments for Paul, in one column you would find things like heresy, ritual impurity, divisiveness, other matters of piety. In that other column it would be things like murder and religious extremism, what amounts to terrorism. Now which one sounds like the prosecution and which one sounds like the defense? Which one sounds like it’s trying to make a plea to get off on a lesser charge? Well what we find is actually that Paul lodges the more serious charges against himself throughout this section of the book of Acts.
Now he would answer, like we find him doing in this chapter, he could answer to each one of those charges that Tertullus made against him like he does here, but all throughout these chapters Paul does not engage in any sort of revisionist history, he doesn’t display some kind of selective memory. Maybe you noticed it. Maybe you noticed it with Tertullus and the way that he really laid it on thick with the flattery before Felix. In fact, I think that’s almost a comedic break or a sense of humor that we get throughout these sections as we see the letters and the speeches, from Lysias to Felix, from Tertullus to Felix, from Festus to Agrippa as we’ll see next time. They are all very carefully crafted and in all of these encounters they are trying to make themselves look better and trying to make the other person feel better about themselves.
But not Paul. And Paul told the truth about himself even when it could have caused him trouble. “I persecuted. I threatened. I coerced people against their will. I cast my vote against them in their execution.” It’s like this picture that Paul paints of himself in his own defense is that he actually is a lot worse than they are saying that he is. And yet at the same time, he can say, “I have a clear conscience toward both God and man, God and man.” You see, he wasn’t bound. He wasn’t condemned by his past. But he had been so radically forgiven, he had been so radically set free that he could talk about his guilty past and he could talk about God’s holy standards almost at the same time and he could do it with hope and not fear. And he could stand before Felix and he could be ready for whatever verdict came his way because he knew that ultimately he stood before God as his Judge and he had been declared not guilty. Clean.
What’s the difference? What was the difference between Felix and Paul? What was the difference between peace and fear? Here it is. It’s the cross of Christ. Now let’s go back to those three things that we started with – righteousness, self control, and the coming judgment. Ultimately, all of those things have to lead us to the Gospel. They have to lead us to the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. Because when it comes to righteousness and self control and the coming judgment, the only way to move from fear on the one hand to peace on the other is by the cross of Jesus Christ. As yourselves, “Are you good enough? Have you done enough?” No. Not even close. But, but, “I count everything as loss in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own but that which comes through faith in Christ.” The righteousness of God that depends on faith. That’s what Paul wrote to the Philippians.
You see, the Gospel, it says, not your righteousness, not your merit, not your past and your sins, but the righteousness of Christ in your place. And in that struggle, that ongoing struggle against sin and the flesh, can you grit your teeth and flex your muscle and just do better? No, not that either. “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” But instead, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but I live in Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me.” And that “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its desires.” You see, the Gospel says, “Not by my own strength, not my own power, not by more determination and resolve, but in weakness and humility and by the power of the Holy Spirit within us.”
And what does the Gospel say about death and the judgment of God? Is it all condemnation and destruction? No. It’s inheriting the kingdom of God. It’s the perishable putting on the imperishable. It’s mortality putting on immortality. It’s death swallowed up to victory. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Gospel is good news in the last day because in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Someone has said that the conscience is one of those topics that it’s like a “buy one get ten free” deal because it touches on so many different topics. You talk about the conscience and you are talking about salvation, sanctification, and church unity and evangelism and missions and apologetics. But you know what? It doesn’t just touch on all those different topics, it touches on every single one of us here tonight. And who among us does not know what it means to struggle with temptation and regrets? Who among us doesn’t know what it means to feel the weight of the future or the burden of disappointments in relationships, the grip of work and technology and busyness and the next thing? Who among us doesn’t know what it means to wrestle against a sense of spiritual apathy or the pull of worldliness, or asking, “What is my purpose?” What about our mortality? What about the inevitability of death?
In other words, we all have to deal with our conscience. We all have to deal with righteousness and self control and the coming judgment. What is the way to a clear conscience? What is the way to peace instead of fear? Well it’s right here. It’s right here in verse 24. And we’re told that Felix “sent for Paul and he heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.” How do you get a clear conscience? How do you keep a clear conscience? It’s by faith in Christ Jesus. It’s by believing the Gospel. It’s by continuing to believe the Gospel – that Jesus is enough, that Jesus paid for your sins, that He has given to you the gift of the Holy Spirit and that where He is, you shall be also. It’s that simple – through faith in Christ Jesus. Why does it matter? Why does that matter? It’s because we go from here and we will face unknown pressures, distractions. We will be tested in our faith in the week to come. How do we stand up to those tests and distractions with a clear conscience? It’s by faith in Christ Jesus. It’s by believing the Gospel and continuing to believe the Gospel. It’s what we sang this morning, didn’t we – “Come ye sinners, poor and wretched, let not conscience make you linger, nor of fitness fondly dream. All the fitness He requireth, is to feel your need of Him. Come ye weary, heavy laden, lost and ruined by the fall. If you tarry till you’re better, you will never come at all.” Don’t tarry. Don’t be like Felix and put it off because it’s really very simple. It’s faith in Christ Jesus and a conscience that is clear, that is set free, towards both God and man.
Let’s pray.
Our Father, we would pray that You would give us the strength by Your grace to face our callings and the challenges, the sufferings and the distractions of the week to come, that we would stand up with a clear conscience and that we would testify and witness of Your goodness and grace in our lives, that we would glorify You and magnify You in all that we do. That we would experience the hope, the joy, and the peace of heart set free by the death and resurrection of Jesus. We pray all of this in His name, amen.