The chapters leading up to today’s passage tell us that the apostle Paul was sent to Jerusalem by the Holy Spirit who also told him that there would be trouble an imprisonment waiting for him there. As Paul traveled to Jerusalem, people from the churches along the way urged him not to go. At one point, a prophet named Agabus came and prophesied that Paul would be bound and handed over to the Gentiles. Everyone there, even including Luke the human author of Acts, pleaded with Paul not to go to Jerusalem. Do you know what he said? This is what he said: “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart? I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”

Can any of us say that—I am not only ready to be bound, but also to die for the name of the Lord Jesus? I think each of us can say that. We have to be able to say it. And maybe we’ll be called to do it. But what about giving up small things every day for the name of the Lord Jesus? We have to be willing to give up everything for Jesus: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (Luke 9:23-25) We have to be ready to give up everything for Jesus.

And, by the way, I also believe that Jesus’s burden is easy and his yoke is light: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28-30) Jesus gives us work to do, but he also gives times of rest. (And I need to point out that none of this applies if you don’t believe in Jesus—except, of course, the part about forfeiting your very self in Luke.)

In Jerusalem, there was trouble for Paul. Some Jews from the province of Asia stirred up a crowd against Paul and there was a riot. Paul was almost killed. However, the commander of the Roman troops in Jerusalem, Claudius Lysius, rescued Paul from the rioters. But he also had him bound with chains just as the prophet Agabus had predicted.

Later, Jesus stood beside Paul and told him, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.” (Acts 23:11) Finally, there was a plot by more than 40 men to attack and murder Paul. And Paul was again rescued by Claudius Lysius the commander of the Roman troops. This time he was sent to Governor Felix with a contingent of 200 soldiers, 70 horsemen and 200 spearmen—470 soldiers. Commander Lysius sent Paul in style.! Think of how much that would cost today!

And that brings us up to today’s passage which we will read. And remember, as always, as we read the passage, that we are reading the word of God. God determined that it should be recorded so that we would be able to read. It’s important!

¹Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor. ²When Paul was called in, Tertullus presented his case before Felix: “We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation. ³Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude.

⁵“We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is a ringleader of the Nazarene sect ⁶and even tried to desecrate the temple; so we seized him. ⁸By examining him yourself you will be able to learn the truth about all these charges we are bringing against him.”

¹⁰When the governor motioned for him to speak, Paul replied: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense. ¹¹You can easily verify that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ¹²My accusers did not find me arguing with anyone at the temple, or stirring up a crowd in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. ¹³And they cannot prove to you the charges they are now making against me. ¹⁴However, I admit that I worship the God of our fathers as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that agrees with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, ¹⁵and I have the same hope in God as these men, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. ¹⁶So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.

¹⁷“After an absence of several years, I came to Jerusalem to bring my people gifts for the poor and to present offerings. ¹⁸I was ceremonially clean when they found me in the temple courts doing this. There was no crowd with me, nor was I involved in any disturbance. ¹⁹But there are some Jews from the province of Asia, who ought to be here before you and bring charges if they have anything against me. ²⁰Or these who are here should state what crime they found in me when I stood before the Sanhedrin— ²¹unless it was this one thing I shouted as I stood in their presence: ‘It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.’”

²²Then Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the proceedings. “When Lysias the commander comes,” he said, “I will decide your case.” ²³He ordered the centurion to keep Paul under guard but to give him some freedom and permit his friends to take care of his needs.

²⁴Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, “That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you.” ²⁶At the same time he was hoping that Paul would offer him a bribe, so he sent for him frequently and talked with him.

Let’s look at the first verse. This is after Paul has arrived in Caesarea: “Five days later the high priest Ananias went down to Caesarea with some of the elders and a lawyer named Tertullus, and they brought their charges against Paul before the governor.”

Claudius Lysias the Roman commander in Jerusalem had ordered the Jewish leaders to go to Caesarea to make their case against Paul before Felix. (And, you know, what they really wanted to do was to kill Paul. They really had no case against Paul. But, what would have caused them to want to kill Paul? What was Paul teaching? What would have caused such an extreme reaction? What really enraged them was Paul’s claim that there was salvation for the Gentiles. (The Gentiles are the Nations. That is, everyone else besides the Jews, by the way. How dare Paul claim that they, the Jews, did not have the exclusive right to salvation?!)

Now let’s look at what Tertullus, the lawyer had to say to Felix. Here’s how he started out: “We have enjoyed a long period of peace under you, and your foresight has brought about reforms in this nation. Everywhere and in every way, most excellent Felix, we acknowledge this with profound gratitude.” Now, on the surface, this sounds like a good way to start out—show respect for those in authority (although he maybe overdid it a little).

But let’s look at Felix. The Bible doesn’t say much about Felix except that we can see from verses 26 and 37 that he was at least somewhat corrupt. He kept Paul in prison as a political favor to the Jews and in the hopes of getting a bribe for his release. But apparently what Tertullus told Felix in his opening statement was an incredible lie. According to Jewish and secular historians of the time, Felix was one of the worst governors of all time! Here’s what one article has to say:

Felix’s cruelty and licentiousness, coupled with his accessibility to bribes, led to a great increase of crime in Judaea. To put down the Zealots he favored an even more violent sect, the Sicarii (“Dagger-men”), by whose aid he contrived the murder of the high-priest Jonathan. The period of his rule was marked by internal feuds and disturbances, which he put down with severity. (From Wikipedia: Antonius Felix)

Well Paul hadn’t been stirring up riots anywhere. He hadn’t stirred up trouble in Jerusalem either. But there were those who were opposed to the message of the gospel—that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ—through his death and resurrection—who had in fact been going around and stirring up trouble against Paul everywhere.

Paul was, in fact, a ringleader of the ‘Nazarene sect’ but he certainly didn’t try to desecrate the temple. And it wasn’t the Jewish leaders that had seized Paul. It was the rioting crowd that was trying to kill him and commander Lysius who had snatched him out of their hands. (And by the way, I believe that Felix knew all about the ‘Nazarene sect’—about the fact that Jesus died for our sins and that he rose again. Verse 22 says that Felix was well acquainted with ‘the Way’, which Tertullus was calling ‘the Nazarene sect’.)

Well, I’ve paraphrased the passage a little and made a few comments. It’s obvious that Tertullus was a liar. But it’s possible that he didn’t even think of what he was doing as lying. He was just trying to persuade Felix to the view of the Jewish leaders—just doing his job. (In Greek he was a rhetor—someone who was an expert at persuasive speech. Our English word rhetoric comes from the same root.)

So what’s the point? Why is this in the word of God? Well, the Bible doesn’t say in so many words that this man was doing evil, but it’s certainly obvious. He was breaking one of the Ten Commandments, “Do not give false testimony against your neighbor.” (Ex. 20:16)

²⁷This man was seized by the Jews and they were about to kill him, but I came with my troops and rescued him, for I had learned that he is a Roman citizen. ²⁸I wanted to know why they were accusing him, so I brought him to their Sanhedrin. ²⁹I found that the accusation had to do with questions about their law, but there was no charge against him that deserved death or imprisonment. ³⁰When I was informed of a plot to be carried out against the man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to present to you their case against him. (Acts 23:26-30)

Claudius Lysius didn’t ‘really’ out and out lie as Tertullian did. He just left a little out and adjusted the order of the events to put himself in a better light. And we do it, too. How about that electronic gadget (cell phone, or whatever) that just stopped working and you took it back to get a replacement under warranty. Did you forget to mention that you dropped it on the concrete driveway? Have you ever found yourself in a situation where, if you laid it all out on the line, you knew it wouldn’t bring the result you wanted? Have you ever found yourself spending some time thinking about how to present your story in such a way that everything you would say would be true, but that it would still bring the result you want, the result that you wouldn’t get if you just told the whole story? It seems to be natural to present things in a way that will put us in the best light and promote our own interests. But what we consider ‘natural’ is really what belongs to the flesh. the flesh is what we are commanded to put to death!

Paul showed respect for Felix, too. But he was more honest than Tertullus had been: “I know that for a number of years you have been a judge over this nation; so I gladly make my defense.” He went on to deny Tertullus’s accusations. What he said was pretty much a synopsis of what had happened. (What do you think Felix, being a very sinful man, thought when Paul said that he strove to keep his conscience clear before God and man? Do you think it completely passed him by? I’d guess ‘probably’—but maybe not.)

Paul finished his case. He could have said that the dispute was about whether salvation was through keeping the Law of Moses or by faith in Jesus Christ—in his death and resurrection. And he could have said that it was about whether or not there was salvation for the Gentiles. But Felix knew all about all the Jewish customs and beliefs and, according to verse 22, was well acquainted with the Way. He knew what the dispute was about. And I imagine that Felix was convinced that Paul was innocent. But he put off making a decision. He said that he would wait until commander Lysias came. As far as we can tell, commander Lysias never came. In fact, in his letter to Felix in chapter 23, commander Lysius never said that he was going to come. Apparently (according to verse 27), two years later Lysias still hadn’t come.

Felix was a sinful man and Paul’s preaching convicted him. But Felix’s decision was not to fall down before God and repent. Instead, he sent Paul away and told him that he would send for him again when he got around to it (when it was convenient, actually).

When I was reading J. Vernon McGee’s commentary on this passage. He talked about a story that George Truitt had told. George Truitt was a preacher and pastor at the First Baptist church in Dallas Texas during the first part of the 20^th century.

According to the story, while he was studying to become a pastor, George Truitt had a friend who was studying to be a lawyer. Many years later, George Truitt attended his college friend’s fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration. His friend was not a Christian. At the celebration, his friend came to him and said, “George, you and I came here to Dallas at the same time. You were a young preacher and I was a young lawyer. I must confess that when I first heard you, I was moved a great deal by your sermons. Very frankly, there were nights when I couldn’t sleep. As the years wore on, the day came when I could listen to you and enjoy hearing you. Your message didn’t disturb me at all. And you’re a much greater preacher today than you were at the beginning.” J. Vernon McGee said that the lawyer chuckled about it.

A number of years back (probably in the ‘80’s) I was listening to J. Vernon McGee teach on the radio. I don’t remember what the context was, but he was talking about the resistance to women preaching. He said that back in the 19^th century there was a saying that went, “Dancing dogs and lady preachers: People don’t come expecting to see something good, but just to be amazed that it can be done at all.” They must not have believed that women were even capable of preaching. (And I’m not bringing this up to argue about whether or not women should be permitted to teach or have authority over men, but to illustrate a different point, which I’ll get to.)

Anyway, as I said, I don’t remember the context, but what occurred to me when I heard that saying, “Dancing dogs and lady preachers: People don’t come expecting to see something good, but just to be amazed that it can be done at all,” it occurred to me that these people must have regarded preaching as entertainment.

I’ve heard people say that they really enjoyed a sermon more often than I’ve heard them say that they were really convicted by a sermon. So beware of evaluating preaching by how much you enjoy it rather than how convicting it is. Preaching is to build you up in Christ, not to entertain you.

Just as George Truitt’s lawyer friend was convicted at first by George’s preaching, so was Governor Felix convicted by Paul’s preaching. It bothered him so much that he didn’t want to listen to Paul any more. But Felix was interested in a bribe, so he kept coming back to hear Paul—probably for two years, when he was finally removed from office. Do you think he had begun to enjoy Paul’s preaching? I don’t know. But as far as we know, Felix never repented. And if he didn’t repent, he is now in a very uncomfortable place called hades waiting for eternal judgment and the lake of fire. So, don’t wait for a more convenient time. Don’t wait until you begin enjoying preaching rather that being convicted by it.

One more thing: Paul was called to take the gospel to the Gentiles and he didn’t miss one opportunity. He didn’t miss the opportunity to preach to Felix. And as we will see next week, Paul was now on his way to Rome to testify in Rome just as Jesus had told him.