Paul Before Felix
Acts 24:1-27
June 23, 2013
Over the last couple of weeks we have begun studying the events and circumstances surrounding Paul’s arrest and eventual trip to Rome.
• You will remember that despite various warnings from friends Paul obeyed the Lord and traveled to Rome.
• Upon arrival he was told of a prejudice against him by Jewish Christians and to quiet that prejudice Paul was asked to purify himself and pay the fees of 3 men taking a Nazarite vow.
• While Paul was in the temple fulfilling this request, he was spotted by Jews from Asia who stirred up the crowd to lay hands on Paul.
• While being beaten by the crowd Paul was rescued by the Roman commander and Paul seized his opportunity to share his testimony with the crowd who was trying to violently kill him.
• From there Paul stood before the Jewish council where he was ignored.
• The next night Jesus appeared to Paul and promised him that he would be granted his desire to testify in Rome.
• Jesus began to work out that plan using the animosity of angry men who sought to kill Paul. When their plan was found out, Paul was moved by night to Caesarea where he awaited an audience with Felix, the governor.
And that is where we are in the story.
And thus far we have talked about two important concepts.
1) The required faithfulness of a Christian even in these tough circumstances.
Luke 21:12-15 “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. “It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. “So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.”
The Christian is called to trust God’s plan and seize every opportunity.
Jesus even said to “not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves”
Seize the opportunity to share Christ.
And Paul certainly did that.
He could have told them immediately that he was a Romans citizen,
But safety wasn’t Paul’s first priority – faithfulness was.
1 Peter 3:15-16 “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.”
So we got a good view of the required faithfulness of a Christian.
That faithfulness is always KINGDOM FIRST
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
2) The providence of God to carry out His plans regardless of tough circumstances.
Acts 23:11 “But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.”
Jesus told Paul he was headed to Rome,
And that is precisely what He began to orchestrate.
And we are reminded that even in a world filled with evil
And billions upon billions of possible contingencies,
God still fulfills His perfect will.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”
And so thus far in our story we know that despite the evil and wicked circumstances that have surrounded Paul;
We know that Paul was faithful and Jesus was working.
Well tonight we push the story forward.
And what we have taking place here
Is Luke sort of filling in the holes on the timeline.
• He still wants you to see Paul’s faithfulness…
• He still wants you to see Christ’s sovereign providence…
But he also wants you to have a practical understanding
Of how it all came together.
And as Luke shows you the details it is also apparent that
Luke wants you to see the THREE RULERS that Paul was brought before.
Jesus said that we would be brought before rulers, Paul certainly was.
But Luke doesn’t skip those accounts, rather he focuses on them.
It is as though he wants you to see the responses of these men
To the gospel that Paul preaches.
Acts 24, 25 & 26 together show us Paul’s trial before these three men.
3 trials – 3 opportunities – 3 rejections
You will see as we study through them:
• We have Felix who is a blasphemer
• We have Fetus who is a scoffer
• We have Agrippa who is a procrastinator
And it seems important to Luke
That you see how each of these men responded.
You will also see that their decisions regarding Paul’s gospel
Were largely based upon their desire to keep their life
And not jeopardize their standings.
• Two of these men specifically want to do the Jews a favor
• One just doesn’t want to upset the apple cart for what he knows is right
In short, we have three Pilate’s here.
Men who know what is true,
But men who cave under the pressure of losing life as they know it.
So not only do we see the faithfulness of Paul and the providence of Christ, WE ALSO SEE THE OFFENSE OF THE GOSPEL.
And that is really the only explanation for why these men don’t release Paul.
To believe Paul’s message and to side with him against the world will cost them dearly, and that is more than they are willing to give.
Such is the call of the gospel.
Matthew 16:24-25 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”
Luke 14:25-27 “Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.”
Jesus even saying later in that same chapter:
Luke 14:33-35 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? “It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
That reality stares the world right in the face.
You cannot have both.
You can have this life or the next and as you stand at the fork in the road,
The gospel forces you to answer.
To choose this life is to seek to keep all that the world offers.
To reject the demands of the gospel
To fail to faithfully follow Jesus
(Oh sure, many say they accept the gospel and promise to follow Jesus, but the proof has always been in the action, not the claim)
When we look back on life and see that Jesus has cost us nothing,
One must face the reality that perhaps I haven’t followed Him at all.
To choose the next life is to willingly forsake all that world offers.
To accept the demands of the gospel
To faithfully follow Jesus
But you never could do both at the same time.
You have to choose, Christ or the world.
That is the offense of the gospel,
That is what makes being a Christian so hard.
And that is the very decision that Paul will throw before the men
That he now stands before.
Tonight we see Paul before Felix.
There are three main things I want you to see.
#1 A VAGUE PROSECUTION
Acts 24:1-9
Well you notice there in the first couple of verses that
The Jews are pretty serious about condemning Paul.
It was 65 miles to Caesarea, so for the Jews to put together a case, hire a lawyer and make the journey in 5 days indicates their zeal.
And so Tertullus takes to accusing Paul.
Now you will notice first that Tertullus is going to grease up the judge.
(2-4) “After Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying to the governor, “Since we have through you attained much peace, and since by your providence reforms are being carried out for this nation, we acknowledge this in every way and everywhere, most excellent Felix, with all thankfulness. But, that I may not weary you any further, I beg you to grant us, by your kindness, a brief hearing.”
That was really a stretch there by Tertullus.
• Felix was far from a decorated leader.
• He was a former slave who used the reputation of his brother to gain an office in Caesarea.
As far as granting peace to Israel, the only thing of record that he did was stop that Egyptian assassin that the commander mistaking thought Paul was.
Felix was far from a good leader, but he is being greased up here.
And then comes the attack on Paul.
(5-6a) “For we have found this man a real pest and a fellow who stirs up dissension among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. “And he even tried to desecrate the temple; and then we arrested him.”
There is really a three-fold accusation here against Paul.
And from a Roman perspective really only one mattered.
He first accuses Paul of dissension against Rome.
Saying that he “stirs up dissension among all the Jews”
The implication here is not that Paul angers Jews,
But rather that Paul riles Jews up against Rome.
This would have been a very serious crime for Paul to have committed. Romans were very intolerant of trouble makers.
If they could prove this, Paul would have been in grave danger.
Secondly they accuse him of being a heretic against the truth.
They call him “a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes”
I suppose he says it that way because it sounds worse.
But Jesus was a Nazarene, and so they credit Paul with now being a leader in this new sect which they deemed to be theologically wrong.
And thirdly they accuse Paul of defiling the temple.
“he even tried to desecrate the temple”
Of course, they never saw him do that, they only supposed that he did.
In reality, only one of those accusations should have mattered to Felix,
He would have had no concern about their law or their temple.
So really the only charge of any merit
Is that Paul incites dissension against Rome.
If you read the NIV, the end of verse 6 and all of verse 7
Is only contained in a footnote at the bottom of your page.
(6b-7) “We wanted to judge him according to our own Law. “But Lysias the commander came along, and with much violence took him out of our hands,”
The reason is because an older manuscript did not contain the verse,
And the thought is that it must have been mistakenly added.
However, these verses seem to fit right in line, not only with the story,
But also the thought of the chapter.
EXPLANATION
If you take those verses out, then Turtullus stops with the statement “we arrested him” It goes right into verse 8 with the Jews asking Felix to “examine him”
With that reading one can only gain that the Jews wanted Felix to examine Paul and discern whether he was guilty or not.
That is not likely, especially since the Jews knew he wasn’t guilty.
Their goal was to persuade Felix, not let him find the truth on his own.
However, if those verses are left in, Tertullus is heard talking about how Lysias rescued Paul as they were about to try him. And in verse 8 Tertullus is not asking Felix to examine Paul, but rather for Felix to examine Lysias the commander.
And this is preferable since all Lysias could confirm was that
The Jews had in fact apprehended Paul,
And could offer no evidence either for or against him.
Furthermore since Felix ends by waiting for Lysias to come,
This seems to be what occurred.
So, we have here the Jews throwing out accusations against Paul,
And telling Felix to question Lysias
To see whether or not their accusations are true.
And at this point, the rest of the Jews concurred…
(9) “The Jews also joined in the attack, asserting that these things were so.”
In other words, what we have here is a vague prosecution.
They offer three threats, only one of which has any merit,
And then offer no proof of any of their accusations.
A Vague Prosecution
#2 A SOLID DEFENSE
Acts 24:10-21
So at this point Felix looks at Paul and asks for his defense,
And Paul here is very wise and methodical.
He does recognize Felix’s authority, but strays far from flattering him.
“Knowing that for many years you have been a judge to this nation, I cheerfully make my defense, since you can take note of the fact that no more than twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship.”
Paul says, “I’m glad you are in charge, namely because you have been here long enough to know that nothing they are saying is true.”
I did not stir up a riot, in fact I was only in Jerusalem for about a week.
(12 days, minus the last 5 in Caesarea.)
Furthermore Paul adds:
(12-13) “Neither in the temple, nor in the synagogues, nor in the city itself did they find me carrying on a discussion with anyone or causing a riot. “Nor can they prove to you the charges of which they now accuse me.”
In other words Paul says, “They accuse me of causing dissension, but they can’t name a single mob or even discussion I had to the effect.”
• Where are the people I talked to?
• Where did I hold this protest?
• What did I say at the riot?
They can’t prove that I encouraged dissension against Rome in any way.
Now, really at this point,
The trial should have been dismissed for lack of evidence.
Paul should have been a free man
Namely because the other accusations were of no merit.
But Paul continues anyway.
(14-16) “But this I admit to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect I do serve the God of our fathers, believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets; having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. “In view of this, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men.”
They accused Paul of being a heretic.
Paul adamantly refutes the notion.
Saying, “I do serve God” and unlike them, I “believe everything that is in…the Law and …the Prophets”
Furthermore, unlike them “I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience…”
I mean, if you really want to take their accusations down to the core.
Paul could quote numerous Old Testament passages that he believed,
Which the Jews did not.
• The Sadducees openly rejected all but the Torah…
• The Pharisees obviously didn’t believe passages like Isaiah 53…
“They can call me the heretic, but the reality is, I am the faithful one.”
Then Paul defends himself against the accusation of defiling the temple.
(17-19) “Now after several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to present offerings; in which they found me occupied in the temple, having been purified, without any crowd or uproar. But there were some Jews from Asia — who ought to have been present before you and to make accusation, if they should have anything against me.”
I didn’t come to desecrate the temple, I came to give an offering in the temple, and that is where they found me.
A group of Asian Jews (who by the way aren’t here) made that accusation that I desecrated the temple, and with no proof they apprehended me.
And so thus far:
• They have made an accusation they can’t prove.
• They have made an accusation that isn’t true.
• They have supported an accusation they didn’t even initially make.
This is obviously a bogus prosecution.
And then Paul takes it a step further and says, “There is really only one trial they know anything about, let’s see what they found at their trial…”
(20-21) “Or else let these men themselves tell what misdeed they found when I stood before the Council, other than for this one statement which I shouted out while standing among them, ‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.'”
Not only can they not prove all those other facts against me, but they’ve already had a trial, and they couldn’t even condemn me there.
Their prosecution is faulty.
And so Paul has more than adequately defended himself
And by all rite should be released.
A Vague Prosecution, A Solid Defense
#3 A CORRUPT RULING
Acts 24:22-27
And here is old Pilate at work.
Paul should have instantly been released,
But Felix wasn’t willing to do that.
Instead:
(22-23) “But Felix, having a more exact knowledge about the Way, put them off, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.” Then he gave orders to the centurion for him to be kept in custody and yet have some freedom, and not to prevent any of his friends from ministering to him.”
Now there are a couple reasons he did this, and both of them are corrupt.
1) He didn’t want to irritate the Jews.
In fact you will notice down in verse 27, that even when Felix was removed of office he wanted “to do the Jews a favor”.
It was just like the mob, favors are more valuable than money.
And so he doesn’t release Paul, he keeps him in custody,
Saying he will call for Lysias, which he never does.
Then he gives Paul good treatment.
WELL, WHY TREAT PAUL SO WELL?
This is the old “good cop” routine.
2) He wanted money from Paul
(26) “At the same time too, he was hoping that money would be given him by Paul; therefore he also used to send for him quite often and converse with him.”
He knew that Paul was traveling with alms for an offering,
Perhaps if he treated Paul well, Paul would come to him with an escape plan,
And offer Felix money to release him.
But either way, we are seeing exactly what kind of man Felix was.
He was a corrupt man.
• He wanted favors
• He wanted money
• He could care less about justice
But let me show you something else
That Luke is very concerned that you know.
Luke wants you to know what Felix knows.
And that is that Felix knows the truth.
(22) “But Felix, having a more exact knowledge about the Way”
Felix knew much of the truth about Jesus and the gospel.
And Felix even allowed Paul to speak to him about it.
(24) “But some days later Felix arrived with Drusilla, his wife who was a Jewess, and sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.”
In fact verse 26 says that Felix conversed with Paul “quite often”
So Felix was a man exposed to the truth of the gospel.
However, Felix was a man who still chose to reject it.
(25) “But as he was discussing righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, “Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you.”
History teaches that Felix spotted Drusilla
When she was the fourteen year old wife of another man,
But was so captivated by her beauty that he bartered for her to become his wife.
So it’s no wonder that as Paul spoke about
• “righteousness” (which Felix did not have)
• And “self-control” (which Felix was also lacking)
• And “the judgment” (which Felix was sure to experience)
That “Felix became frightened”
And Felix’s answer was “Go away”
In fact there is no record that Felix ever became a believer.
Two years later, when his brutality caused Nero to remove him from office, Felix left Paul in prison, still wanting to do a favor for the Jews.
So there is the first leg of the trial.
• Paul is still faithful, preaching the gospel
• Jesus is still working to get Paul to Rome.
But here we are also introduced to the offense of the gospel
And a man who is a blasphemer.
WHY DO I CALL HIM A BLASPHEMER?
Matthew 12:31 “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.”
To know the truth, to feel the conviction, and to adamantly reject
Is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
And it isn’t just that it won’t be forgiven, it is that it can’t be forgiven.
If you reject the message of the Holy Spirit regarding salvation,
You are rejecting the only means of salvation.
Hebrews 10:26-31 “For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.” And again, “THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
Hebrews 6:4-8 “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.”
Luke 12:47-48 “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”
And that is Felix.
• A man who knew the truth.
• A man who knew the expectations of the gospel
• And yet a man who chose his present life over the life to come.
It is a sad reality.
What a contrast he was to Paul.
• Paul was faithful to the gospel regardless of the cost.
• Felix rejected the gospel because of the cost.
No doubt Luke wanted us to see the difference.
