This is living and true Word of God. Please give it your careful and reverent attention. 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 it is not more than 12 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 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. And 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 Portius Festus. And desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. The Word of God. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, thank you for this great passage of scripture. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to delve deep into it, to explore the truth contained here for us, spiritual truth, truth that is practical and useful in our lives. We pray, Lord, that you would open this text for us and let us hear the mind of Christ in it. Indeed, let us see our Savior and hear His voice. Thank you, Lord, for this passage. Lord, in your providence, you gave it to us at this time, and so now let us accept it humbly, gratefully, and diligently today. In Jesus' name, amen. As a follow-up to last week's sermon, I'll begin with another poet. William Wordsworth wrote a poem in the early 1800s called The Character of a Happy Warrior. Here's a little excerpt. The happy warrior is the generous spirit who in broad among the tasks of real life hath wrought upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought, whose high endeavors are an inward light that makes the path before him always bright. In this poem, he describes a happy warrior as a man who was brave, who was generous, who was virtuous, who was always striving to do the right thing, even under duress, even under great opposition. He was a happy warrior because he knew that what he was doing was right. In today's passage, we see that the Apostle Paul is something like that happy warrior, that Apostle Paul is something like that one who though he is under great duress, and indeed we're gonna see the extreme wickedness done to him, injustice done to this man. In the midst of all this, by the grace of God, Paul stands faithfully, and indeed we see in this passage, joyfully, cheerfully, defending the faith of Jesus Christ under the worst kinds of treatment. And of course, we understand who He's following. We understand that He is now reflecting in a dim way, in a small way, He's reflecting the life of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word of God tells us, the Gospels tell us that when the time had come, the Lord Jesus set His face like a flint to Jerusalem. He would not be deterred. Matthew chapter 16, we even see that even his close friends sought to keep him from this mission. Peter famously, thinking himself right, in his own eyes said, may it never be done to you, Lord. And the Lord Jesus had to say to him, depart from me, Satan. Get behind me, Satan. There, Peter even being used as a hindrance to the ministry of Christ, but Him, joyfully, for the work set before Him, Hebrews chapter 12 verse 2 says, for the joy set before Him, He set His face to the cross and He went there to honor His Father and to love. His people. And so here, brothers and sisters, we see the Apostle Paul following in the steps of our Lord Jesus Christ, a happy warrior for the kingdom of God, a happy warrior for Jesus, the risen King, and standing in the midst of the greatest mistreatment and striving joyfully to honor God. I think it's a model for us, an encouragement to us, and ultimately, it's a call for us to repent and believe in our Savior, who is the ultimate happy warrior, if you will. So here now we're seeing Paul in the second of a series of actual trials. He's going to stand before courts. He's going to stand before judges. We've seen him stand before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. That didn't go so well, humanly speaking, but in God's sovereign hand it's gone according to plan perfectly. It's now led now to the Roman tribune bringing him now to Caesarea, which was the seat of government in Judea, this city by the sea, this beautiful city. Now Paul being brought now to Caesarea to stand trial in front of the governor of all Judea. This is the highest Roman official in Judea. and a man named Felix. We'll learn about Felix in this passage. But here, as we see this passage, he is under great duress. He's being treated absolutely despicably. But what's so interesting about this is that Paul seems to be content and happy, indeed joyful. Cheerful is the word he uses. Why is that? I would propose to you this very reason. Because He knows He's in exactly the place He's supposed to be. And doing exactly what His Savior has called Him to do. And He's content. Indeed, He's cheerful. You see, He's a model for us too. So here... Knowing he's in the will of God, knowing that our sufferings, our trials, our afflictions are meant for good by God to grow us in our faith, to mature us in our understanding of God and our walk with the Lord, and to advance the kingdom of God. God is doing all those things. Knowing all that, the Apostle Paul, number one, defends the faith with great joy. And secondly, we're gonna see at the outset that he has to stand against Satan's awful attacks as he does so. And all this is to bring about opportunities for witnessing, which we'll see at the end of the sermon. So there's really three points here. It's a lengthy section. We're gonna go through as briefly as we can, but there's so much here I want you to see. There's so much here I think that will be beneficial for us. So number one, we're gonna see Satan's deception in Paul's accusers. So we're going to look at the accusations that are brought against him. Satan's hand and all that. Secondly, we're going to see godly, faithful, joyful truth-telling in Paul's defense. And that's the center section. That's the main section. And then the last thing we're going to see is faithful witnessing in Paul's sufferings. So satanic deception, joyful truth-telling, and faithful witnessing. in this trial of Paul. So let's look first of all at the first nine verses. We're gonna see the satanic deception in this trial. Verse one, after five days the high priest came down with some elders and a spokesman, one Tertullus. Notice that the high priest himself shows up. That's a big deal. Tells you that they are really invested in this. It's important that he came. as a representative of the Sanhedrin. But they bring someone else. Notice the text tells us they bring a hired gun with them named Tertullus. Tertullus is called a spokesman in the English translation here. He's not just a good speaker, however. He is an expert. He's a professional speaker. The Greek word is the word rhetor, over which we get our word orator. He's a rhetorician. That means that he's not just a good speaker. He's a great speaker. He's a guy that can turn you in circles with his words. He is a slick snake oil salesman, Tertullus. Tertullus was apparently a common name in the ancient world. He was probably a Hellenistic Jew. And in this context, in the Roman court system at the time, these people were highly valued because what we're gonna see is that corrupt judges loved these guys. They loved to hear them talk to them and create these flowery oratories and they were given much favor. So if you had a guy like this, a hired gun like this in your legal team, you were way ahead of the game. So this is a big deal. One commentator said this, this is an oratorical duel between two accomplished rhetoricians. What we're going to see is there's a battle being set up here. God is setting up a battle between these two great speakers. And this is not a battle with swords and knives, obviously. This is a battle with words. So we have now the burden of proof on the accusers, still the Roman courts. The burden of proof is to prove that man is guilty. He is presumed innocent. That is how the courts work. However, the deck is stacked against Paul already. Look at verse one again. They laid before the governor their case against Paul, and when he had been summoned, Tertullus began to accuse him. The word accuse is the judicial accusation. The formal word for that is categoria. But notice how he begins. It's very interesting, very subtle. He doesn't start off the bat attacking Paul. Look at what he does. You probably heard it. The most disgusting flattery you've ever heard. Listen. Now, you can go out and read everything he just said. It's flattering speech. Butter up the judge is the name of the game. This ingratiating speech, as one commentator said, standard procedure. It's what he expected. However, I want to read to you some quotations. One is a Quintilian. He said this, the judges themselves demand the most finished and elaborate speeches, thinking themselves insulted unless the order shows signs of having exercised the utmost diligence in the preparation of a speech and desire not merely to be instructed but to be charmed. So that was a quote from the present day at that time. And everyone knew that the stuff he was saying were just bold-faced lies. Every single word of this is a lie. Felix had a terrible reputation with the Jews. They would never have called him most excellent. In fact, Tacitus says this about him. This is his contemporary. Backed by vast influence, Felix believed himself to be free to commit any crime. They understood this man was corrupt to the core. In fact, he was so bad that relationships between the Romans and the Jews had badly deteriorated to the fact that there were now riots in Caesarea. The Jews were rioting against the Romans for their mistreatment of them. Felix even brought in the troops at one point late in his career. This would lead to him having to step aside, but he brought in troops to suppress the riots, and he violently killed them, and he plundered them. And the Jews were so outraged by his mistreatment that they complained to Nero, Caesar Nero, to bring this man under control. And he would later face Caesar for those crimes. And so this is the context that Felix is in. He's now greatly embattled politically with the Jews. The Jews are totally against him. They hate him. In fact, they understand this man has not brought reform. He's made things worse. So, Tertullus comes with this ingratiating speech about great peace in Judea and nonsense like that. And Tacitus even quotes saying, he said, the Romans make the land a desert and call us a peace. So that's what the Romans have done. So everything is exactly the opposite of what this man has just said. So what does he do? The first thing that he does is he does this satanic tactic of using flattery. Flattery. We'll talk about this more in a bit. Just understand this is one of the tools of the devil in his attack on the truth. What else does he do? Tertullus, verse 5, he uses half-truths. Half-truths. He says, One commentator said this about his statement. It's a masterful exhortium playing just the right notes that should have sounded like music to Felix's ears. These are the kinds of accusations that you would have used against someone in this political context. They are statements about Paul that have some elements of truth in them, but they are lies. And those are the most dangerous kind, aren't they? The most dangerous kind of a lie is the one that's packaged in a truth. It's the worm with a hook in it. Little fish sees a worm, he doesn't see the hook. Little fish bites the bait. and he gets a hook in his mouth and he's caught. The most dangerous kind of lie is the kind that's wrapped in a truth. So let's look at these statements. First, they describe Paul as a plague or a pest, not merely a nuisance to society, but a literal danger to Roman society. And again, you have to understand there's some truth in this. Certain people were irritated with Paul. The Jews were certainly irritated with Paul. They saw him as a threat, but not for the reason that they say. Paul was a threat because he was speaking the truth about Jesus Christ. That the risen King was alive and he demanded all peoples to bow the knee to Him. The risen King and His kingdom was now established. The resurrection of Christ called all peoples in the world now to believe in Him and submit to Him and honor Him and serve Him in love. And that is a huge threat to the power structures of the world. The worldly, earthly power structures of the world. That's a great threat today, isn't it? So it is true he was a pest. They would say, Paul's like the bubonic plague. He's gonna be a terror to our society. No, just a terror to your idols. Just a terror to your little sad kingdoms of flesh. Secondly, they accused Paul of stirring up riots among all the Jews. Again, it's a half-truth. Everywhere Paul went, there were riots. But not because he was being wicked or malicious or stirring them up, but because he was speaking the truth. And the Jews everywhere, you should go back and read Acts. Everywhere he went, the Jews stirred up the mob to attack Paul. Who really was stirring up the riots, you see? Just a lie. Third, they accuse Paul of being a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. The word sect here is the word from which we get our word heresies. So the Nazarenes, they would have said to Felix, the Nazarenes, or the Christians, are a heresy, a Jewish heresy. Now, Judaism was acknowledged and even favored by Rome. as a legitimate religion, but a sect. This is a slander, you see. It's a sort of like saying, look, these Christians, they're teaching lies. They're teaching to subvert the rule of Caesar and so forth, and so they ought to be all rejected. So there's a half-truth in here that Paul was a sort of leader in the Nazarene religion. He was a sort of leader as an apostle of the Christian faith. But he was not a heretic. Indeed, the religion that he promoted was the fulfillment of Judaism. It was the completion of Judaism. It was Judaism brought to perfection. So again, here are a bunch of half-truths that Satan works through this man's words. What else does he use? Verses 6 and 8. Outright slander. He even tried, this is Tertullus, he even tried to profane the temple but we seized him. Now this is the real rub here because this is where the danger is for Paul. This is a bold-faced lie. And they know that. But why do they use this lie? Why do they say that He tried to profane the Temple? Because Rome had granted one exception to the rule that the Jews can no longer put people to death. The Jews were able to only execute someone in one instance, and that is if someone went in and defiled the Temple. Someone who wasn't supposed to be there went in and defiled the Temple. Rome gave the Jews permission. to execute people who had done that. So they have to prove that he did that. But if that were proven true, then the Jews could take Paul back, haul him back to Jerusalem, and execute him by stoning him publicly. And that's the goal. That's the goal. And so here you have a bald-faced lie about him that they cannot prove. And I'll point out something else they say, verse 8. It's very interesting. In verse 8 they say, What does he mean by that? What he means is, is that Felix, if you'll take him aside, take him down to the torture chamber and string him up, you'll find out the truth too. That's what he's suggesting. He's suggesting that Felix misuse Paul and get him to confess. under duress. So here a slander is being used to destroy the truth. This is attack against Christ. This is an attack against His Gospel. And sadly this happens every single day. This is the way that the devil works. Brings out slander. What is a slander? A slander can be a bold-faced lie about someone. It can also be someone who spreads false information which they understood wrongly. Both are equally destructive. Slanders destroy people's reputations, slanders ends friendships, slanders ends careers, ruins careers, slanders split churches. And all the while, this is one of his favorite tools, all the while he laughs, Satan laughs. Last thing we're gonna see here, verse nine, very briefly, the Jews also joined in the charge affirming that all these things were so. So they bring this little mob with them, this rabble. And all of these people are just toadies. They've just been instructed what to say. They're just political allies. They're just going to parrot the lies that have been told. It's just political maneuver. I'll call it strategic alignment. Strategic alignment, this political faction that's being created to propel and promote a lie, like a cancer. Lies are like a cancer, like a malignant cell in the body. It mutates and spreads throughout. bringing death in the body. And that's what a lie is, and that's how Satan operates. So we see here now Satan working through the Jews' use of slander, half-truth, flattery, and strategic alignment, and all these things. Think of Satan like a conductor of a symphony. He's a conductor of lies, and he is just now, he is now leading each person, each part to play their instrument to bring about his end. So what has God showed us here? God has now allowed us to sort of be on the front row, if you will, to see how the conductor uses his instruments in the symphony of lies. What does God want us to see here? Two things. So listen, two things God wants us to see here. First of all, these are the tactics the enemy will use against you. These are the tactics that the enemy will use against you. Individuals, families, church. And these are the tactics the enemy will tempt you to use as well. So the Lord wants us to pay attention to these things. So one, Satan attacks truth with flattery. What is flattery? You ever been flattered? Flattery is a deceptive use of praise to manipulate the hearer. Someone fawns over you with praise, lavish praise that you know, kind of, that you don't really deserve. And you say, hmm, why are they flattering me? Why are they praising me like that? Well, it's not for good, I can tell you that. It's to incline the hearer's heart to be favorably disposed to their next lie. It's used to sway the wicked to believe lies about the godly. It's used to sway believers to believe lies even, sometimes about other believers. but especially about the flatterer. When the flatterer flatters you, understand what he's doing. He's laying a pretext for his next lie. He's inclining your heart so that you'll believe his next lie, and it's typically so that he wears a mask. It's to keep him under cover. It's to keep him concealed from you, to keep what he's really doing and what he's really after from you. You'll always think better of him than he really deserves. That's the idea. It's a trick. And Satan is a master of using flattery. And he uses it in the church as well. What does the Word of God say about flattery? Proverbs 29, 5. He who flatters a man spreads a net for his feet. It's an act of deception. And I love what the Word of God says. Proverbs 28, verse 3. The opposite of flattery is what? The opposite of flattery is speaking the truth in love, as we're all called to do. Listen to what Proverbs 28 says. He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue. Notice the contrast. Even rebuke is a form of love. It's a form of kindness. But flattery is the opposite of that. It's praise, which is intended to destroy the truth. And so we all ought to understand this is the enemy's tactic and we are all vulnerable to this. We're all vulnerable to being flattered. And the reason that is very simple is because we are all proud people. We're honest. We're all proud in our own ways. We're all vulnerable to being praised. and flattered. So we need to be on guard and have a godly and biblical estimate of ourselves. Not worm theology. Oh, woe is me, lowly worm that I am. No, I'm a son of God, but I'm a sinner saved by grace. Have a biblical estimation of yourself. More importantly, have a biblical estimation of who God is. He's a God of truth and He loves truth. So if someone tells me a lie about myself, I need to be honest and say, no, I'm not really that great. Be aware and reject the schemes of the devil and reject all flattery and being manipulated by flattery. Second, Satan attacks the truth with half-truths. I won't say a lot about this, but beware that baited hook. Ask questions. Be diligent when someone says something to you. Is this true? It's like Reagan said, trust but verify. Be careful with words. Be careful with statements. Reject the use of half-truths and reject the temptation to use them. When we speak, let us speak plainly, clearly, and as truthfully as we can by God's grace. Secondly, Satan attacks truth with slander. Satan's name means adversary. He is the original slanderer. He is the original liar, the father of lies. And so we need to pray against this evil attack, and particularly in our churches. And if we ever hear slander, we need to respond accordingly, humbly. We need to be those who say, no, that's not appropriate. That's wrong. Someone wants to talk to you about someone else, you say, no, have you spoken to that person? Have you talked to them? Because that's the way that God tells us to do that. Matthew chapter 18 tells us when someone speaks about another person, You have to say, wait a minute, did you follow God's instructions and talk to them? Otherwise, this is bordering on slander or best gossip. So reject slander, reject all forms of attacks on other people's character. And then fourthly, reject strategic alignments. As Christians, we are one body. We are one family in Christ. We are brothers and sisters in God's family and so Political parties, cliques, factions, sects inside the church have no place. See, God's way of advancing his kingdom is prophecy. Thus saith the Lord, the word of God goes forth and he advances his purposes. How does Satan advance his purposes? Not prophecy, politics. Strategic alignments. Getting people to divide up and faction off and break off into little cliques and groups and to divide the body of Christ. It's very dangerous, very deadly, and it's satanic. So we need to be, as the Church of Jesus Christ, aware of this and reject these things. Have you experienced any of these tactics against you? Have you experienced these kinds of attacks on the truth? If you have not, you will. And Christ calls us all to be prepared as Ephesians 6 so perfectly states, so wonderfully states. He reminds us that we are all in this battle. We are all in this battle of truth and falsehood. He says, So Christ has called us to put on the full armor of Christ to do battle, not with people. They're not the enemy. He's called us to do battle with the lies. Speak the truth and love your neighbor. Have you been tempted to use any of these tactics yourself? Have we been the gullible little fish and taken the bait? We found a hook in our mouth. Well, the Lord Jesus is kind to forgive and to remove the hook. He wants us to learn from that. reject all of these evil ways. And so this is the first part of the sermon. We see here the enemy's deceptive attacks against the truth. Secondly, we see Paul's defense. Now this is where it gets so much more happy and joyful. We see in verse 10, beginning in verse 10, Paul begins his defense. He starts his apologia, his defense of the faith. And he does so joyfully telling the truth. This is how Christ accomplishes his purposes in his kingdom. And I love how it begins, verse 10. And when the governor had nodded to him to speak, I mean, Felix can't even be bothered to speak. He's so bored. He's just like, he's just like, okay, Paul, go ahead. You know, he has no understanding that this is a historical moment. This is a moment that we're going to be reading about for thousands of years until Christ returns. And when Christ reveals, perhaps we will find that these moments that we consider boring or tedious or unimportant were very important to God. Will we be ready? Peter says in his epistle, be always ready to give an answer for the hope that you have. Will we be ready? Paul was ready. Paul was ready. Listen to what he does. First, we see, he am doing battle by speaking the truth joyfully. Verse 10, Paul replied, knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense. Paul does not use any flattery. He eschews the wicked schemes that Tertullus used here. He is using no flattery. But listen to what he does. He uses wisdom and tact. He's courteous and respectful, but not false. And so you read this and you go, well, Paul, why are you happy to be in a trial setting with this man over you, Felix? Why are you happy, Paul, to have Felix hear your case? For the sole reason that he's been the governor for, quote, many years. I think this is the best Paul could do as a compliment. I think this is the best he could muster up for Felix. You've been a governor for many years. You have a good detector of nonsense. So that's a true but a courteous way of speaking that also employed the traditions of the day. But beyond that, I want you to notice here, he says that Paul is ready to cheerfully make his defense. The Greek word is the apologia or apologia here, which is not a defense of Paul. Understand, Paul is not here defending himself. Paul is defending Christ, his gospel, and the claim that Jesus raised from the dead and is the risen and glorified king over the universe. And he demands submission to himself. That's what Paul's defending. The hope of the resurrection, as he calls it. That's why he's on trial. That's what he claims later. You're gonna see that. And he says, I'm ready to cheerfully make my defense. The word they use here is a word that means good cheer or beyond happy really. It's just joyful. Some people think, this is interesting, some people think that Paul is making a little play on Felix's name. The Latin Felix is literally happy. to make a defense before you, Felix. But I think it's more than that. Why was Paul happy knowing that this trial could end in his execution? He is in front of a corrupt judge, no doubt. People that are lying to Felix's face and flattering him. Paul could die, literally die. Why is he happy doing this? Here it is. Paul was cheerful because he was exactly where Jesus wanted him, number one. Paul was happy and cheerful because he was faithfully serving his Lord as he was called to do. And thirdly, Paul was cheerful and happy because the truth was on his side. That's the reason he was cheerful in making his defense. What a model for us. Standing for the truth is joyful even if it causes us short-term pain because the truth belongs to God. All truth is God's truth. And when you stand for the truth, you're honoring God. Paul understood that. He was where he was supposed to be. He was doing what he was supposed to do. And the truth was on his side. He was cheerful. What a model for us. Do we get to do this? Do we get to stand and deliver the truth for him, no matter the cost? Always tell the truth. There is joy and contentment. in the truth. The truth always advances the purposes of God. Always tell the truth. Second, Paul not only speaks the truth joyfully, he speaks in a manner that is factually verifiable. Verse 11, look what he says. He begins the statement this way. You, Felix, can verify that it is not more than 12 days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem. And they did not find me disputing with anyone or stirring up the crowd. either in the temple or in the synagogues or in the city. So Paul here gives a brief account of his last few days, of his activities. He gives simple facts. It wasn't 12 days since I was there. They didn't find me stirring up trouble. He just gives a simple account, simple statements of fact. And he says, Felix, you can go verify this. That's very intriguing. Felix, you can go check this out. I'll give you a list of names. I'll give you addresses. I'll give you my schedule. I'll tell you where I was and when I was. You can go verify all this. There are people that can verify. There are witnesses that I can compile, if you'll let me, and prove to you that what I'm saying is true. The facts are on his side. And he lived a life in such a way as an open book, fully accountable, that he had nothing to hide. That's the way we're supposed to live. People know who I am, what I do, how I do it, where I go. Living in secret, living in the shadows, that's not the Christian way of life. It wants to be out in the open for all the world to see. And that's what Paul is doing here. He's saying everything I say to you is factually verifiable. And this is a model for godly truth telling. Clear, simple, factual statements of truth. And by the way, verse 13, he says, neither can they prove to you what they bring up against me now. He's gonna later say in verses 18 and 19, he's gonna say, hey, where are those Jews from Asia? Where are those ones that made those accusations against me? They're nowhere to be found. There are no witnesses, which means they have no case. This is devastating actually for the Jewish case against him. So here you see always God is calling us to always speak in a manner that is like Paul's, factually verifiable, living our lives as open books and not hiding anything. Thirdly, Paul does battle. by not only speaking the truth joyfully, speaking in a manner that is factually verifiable, but he speaks in a manner that is biblically verifiable. Verse 14. This is a provocative way of opening his statement here. 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 accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just. and the unjust. So here he begins by confessing his crime, which equals his confession of faith. I'll confess to you what I've done. I'll confess to you my crime. It's what I believe. So he knows that what he's just said, nothing is objectionable to the honest Jew. This irony appears again when he says that he calls his crime the fact that he's on trial for his hope in the resurrection. I love what one commentator, Bach, said here. It's a very good summary of Paul's defense here. Listen to what he said. The way is merely the completion of Judaism. The resurrection is the hope of Judaism. So in other words, everything he believes is what a faithful Jew ought to believe. He is proclaiming the fulfillment of what Judaism was always intended to be. A glorification of the Christ, the Son of God, who's raised from the dead just as He said He would. And He's given us hope for the future in His resurrection. So if we can put it this way, Paul is saying, listen, everything I believe is according to the law. and the Prophets. When you see those two phrases together, the Law and the Prophets, it's really a description of all the Old Testament Scriptures, which is what they had at the time. So he says, everything I believe is consistent with the Law and the Prophets, with all the Scriptures. I don't believe anything that's out of accord with the Bible. So Paul's saying, I'm no heretic. They say I'm a heretic. I'm no heretic. Here's what he's saying. He worships the same God as the Jews. He believes the same scriptures as the Jews. And he has the same hope as the Jews. That's no heresy. That's the fulfillment of what Judaism ought to be. So here he's disputing spiritual truth, but he's laying his case on the authority of what? Not opinion. He's resting on the authority and confidently resting on Scripture itself. What I proclaim to you is what the Bible teaches. And I can prove it to you, Paul would say, either explicitly or by good and necessary inference. Paul is simply saying, I'm a man of the word and I can show you that everything I believe is there in the book. So God calls us to always speak about spiritual things in a manner that is biblically verifiable. Make sure no one can accuse you of being creative with the Word of God. And then lastly, verse 16. He speaks in a manner that keeps a good conscience. He speaks in a manner that keeps a good conscience. Look at verse 16. So, Paul says, wrapping up his testimony. So, I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward God and man. What is the conscience? What is the conscience? If I could put it in these words, the conscience is the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit that either condemns a person for wrongdoing or clears a person who is innocent. It's the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit about one's rightness or wrongness. It's a gift to God. There are some who have seared consciences, as with the scriptures in 1 Timothy 4, as I prayed through this morning. There are some who have seared consciences. That means that they have no sensitivity to the conscience anymore, no sensitivity to the Spirit's leading. or accusations anymore. They're just dead now to Christ. Dead now to God. That's a scary thing. But for the most part, most of us have a conscience. Certainly Christians do and non-Christians do. But all Christians have a conscience. And Paul is saying, I strive, I take pains, I work hard. Indeed, you could say Paul suffers greatly to keep and maintain a good conscience. And that's true for all of us too. We will all suffer to keep a good conscience. You will all sacrifice. You will all die to yourself to keep a good conscience. And that's the way it should be. What happens when we start to sin? We're serving ourselves. We're serving our flesh. We're serving the devil. We're imbibing lies. We're feeding our idols. And that leads to a bad conscience. The happiest person in the world. Why is Paul cheerful? Because he has a good conscience. Bringing it back around. The happiest person in the world is one who has a conscience at rest and at peace. You've forgiven my sins and I'm walking in Your ways by Your grace. The most miserable person is the person who has a defiled and bad conscience, that his conscience testifies to him of his wrongness. Even if the whole world says you're great, even if the whole world affirms you, if you have a bad conscience, you'll be the most miserable person there is. But contrary, if you have a good conscience, if the whole world is against you, Athanasius. Athanasius, my friend, why are you going against the Arians? Athanasius, the whole world is against you. Then Athanasius says, classic line, Athanasius contramundum. Then Athanasius is against the world. And he was a happy warrior. The whole world is against me. I have a good conscience. Luther said it was neither right nor safe to go against one's conscience, against the Word of God. So here, Brothers and sisters, Paul says, I always strive, take pains, work hard, suffer, to have a good conscience with God and men. Notice, with God, but also with my neighbor. If I've wronged my neighbor, I say to my neighbor, what have I done wrong? Please forgive me. Same as we do with God. Paul brings off his motivation as well. Verse 17, he says, look, I just came here to bring money to my friends. I came to bring alms and offerings to my brothers in Jerusalem. His motives were good. But contrary to that, look at verse 18. He said, some Jews from Asia thought that they ought to be here before you to make an accusation. He says, where are they? Do they have a good conscience? He even invites the Jews to testify against him. He says, look, if you have any wrongdoing against me, go and bring it. He says that in verse 20. And then he finishes off, and this is his classic statement. Again, bringing it back to the reason he's here. The reason he's standing before these people in these trials. Verse 21, the one thing that Paul said that everyone will agree on. This is true. His testimony before the Sanhedrin. It is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day. He is not here to defend himself. He is here to defend Christ and His Gospel. And He does so cheerfully with a good conscience. As we think about this, brothers and sisters, Paul was in a battle of words. He was in a battle for truth against lies and falsehoods. And he was a happy warrior for the Lord. And he was a model of godly integrity for us to consider He never descends to personal attack. He never descends to at home arguments. He never takes up the carnal weapons that Satan lays at his feet. Always, brothers and sisters, speak the truth. Young people, children, always speak the truth. You can do so with joy. The Spirit of God within us rejoices. when we love what He loves. The Spirit of God rejoices when we delight in what He delights in. And we know one thing for sure, our God delights in the truth. He loves the truth. He is the truth. So the Spirit of God rejoices within us, gives us satisfaction and peace and contentment when we speak the truth. Even if it's to our hurt. Even if it brings for us suffering. Recall to live in the truth. Are you a happy warrior for Jesus? Are you delighting in the truth? Are you finding joy in it? Secondly, always speak in a manner that is factually verifiable. God calls his people to speak simply, clearly, and to always, again, tell the truth. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Anything beyond this is from the evil one. You are a people who are accountable. We may not live outside of accountability. We live in a community. Our lives ought to be an open book. There's no island in the church. We are the island in the midst of a world, right? So there are no little side islands. You're on the island or you're on the world. So we're a people of God to be accountable to one another, accountable to our leaders. Are you, dear friend, brother, sister, are you living your life openly, transparently, and accountably such that people know who you are, what you do, where you go, and how you do these things, how you live? If not, then we need to repent. Thirdly, always speak about the things of God in a manner that is biblically verifiable. I'm going to target one particular offense here. Opinions. Opinions. Everyone has opinions. What is an opinion? My thoughts about any given thing. They're not right or wrong necessarily, but everyone has an opinion. And so when we come to the things of God and speaking about the things of the Word of God and theology and who God is and what the world is about, guess what? Opinions are virtually worthless. in advancing the purposes of God. Opinions are virtually worthless. No one needs to hear your opinions about the things of God and spiritual matters. We need to hear about the Word of God. We need to hear directly from the Word of God. So we need to eschew, if I can use a fancy word, despise opinions when it comes to speaking about and talking about spiritual matters. Paul does not bring opinions. He does not bring hearsay or secondhand testimony. He brings the Word of God. Godly discourse trades in facts. When we come to speaking about God, we bring the word of God and show what we mean and show what we teach from the word of God. I had an older friend. I still have an older friend who, he's in his 70s now. And it always struck me so powerfully that whenever he spoke, he virtually never shared his opinions. Whenever he spoke, publicly or privately, I never heard him speak about opinions. He just spoke very carefully. And when he spoke, he made sure that they were factually true to the best of his ability. Marvelous example. I think about him a lot. As I grow older, I want to be like him. He just talks about what he believes truth and he shows it. So let's be very careful how we speak and not be those offering up unasked for opinions about spiritual matters. That's dangerous and deceptive. And be diligent to know our Bibles. Be diligent to accurately share the truth of God with our neighbor. And then, lastly, always speak in a way that will maintain a good conscience. And by the way, Paul did this by simply telling the truth with joy, being careful to verify factually what he said, and then to be biblically accurate. And you'll keep a good conscience. Last thing. So in this passage we've seen two things already. One, we've seen Satan's strategy of deception. Second, we've seen God's strategy of joyful truth-telling. And this is where it all comes down to the most important thing, because what we see now is Paul doing what Jesus called him to do. Witnessing. This is all. This trial that he's going through, it's all for this moment. It's all to be a witness. Stick with me just for a few more minutes. Listen. Verse 22. Faithful witnessing as Paul suffers. Look at this, this is unbelievable. Verse 22, but Felix, Felix having a rather accurate knowledge of the way, put them off. That means put everyone off. He put the whole trial to the side. Saying when Lysias the tribune comes down, I will decide your case. Now notice he had a more accurate knowledge of the way. More accurate than whom? I think the text is clear, he had more accurate knowledge than the accusers. He understood, listen, here's the point, he understood everything that's happening. He understood Paul was doing nothing wrong. He understood Paul was not doing anything worthy of imprisonment or death. He gets it. He sees what these Jews are up to. He's very clever. He says, ah, when Lysias comes back, this is a delay tactic. I'll decide your case when Lysias comes. He already had Lysias' statement. He already had a letter from Lysias. He doesn't need that. This is an evil thing he's doing. It's a delay tactic. Verse 23, he says, put Paul in a prison, but give him all kinds of comforts. Let his friends come see him. Make it very free and easy for him. This is a Roman citizen. This is illegal and disgraceful. Verse 24, now this is justice denied. Justice delayed is justice denied. Verse 24, this is the core, this is sort of the climax of this passage. I want you to look what happens here. Verse 24, after some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. The story of Felix and Drusilla is a sordid tale. Felix seduced an 18-year-old woman named Drusilla, who was the daughter of Herod Agrippa. He seduced a married woman. He snatched her away from her husband, took her to himself, this beautiful woman apparently, and lived this life of sin, this sordid life with Drusilla. And so apparently Drusilla had some interest in what Paul was teaching. And it says that Paul sat and talked to both of them in his jail cell. He sat and talked to them about what? Faith in Christ Jesus. This is what Christ wanted. And this is what he talked to them about. Verse 25 actually gives the details of his conversation. He said three things. First, he talked to Felix about righteousness. What is that? You need to be made right with God. You need to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and have your sins forgiven and be made right, Felix, you and Drusilla, your wife both. He also said, he talked to him about self-control. There's moral implication to the gospel. It means that if you follow the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to live a life of godliness. Meaning you can't, you have to repent of these deviant ways, these despicable ways you've been living. And the third, The judgment is coming, Felix. If you do not repent, Felix, if you and your wife do not turn from your evil ways, you're going to have to face the judgment. And at this, it says, Felix became alarmed. He wasn't repentant. He was just scared. We will talk about this later, Paul. Let's go. I've got somewhere to go. And so he says, let's close down shop. And he goes away. He ends up coming back again, apparently, coming back again and again. Verse 26. 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 Portius Festus, who was a good man, and desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. Two years. How shocking! All this time, Paul is in good faith, in good conscience, cheerfully sharing the gospel with this man and his wife. And for two years, Felix strung him along. For two years, Felix, he didn't want Jesus. He wanted a bribe. And for two years, Paul, was mistreated and left in prison, though he legally should have been free. So here he wants a bribe from Paul. He thinks apparently Paul has a means to provide a bribe. As someone said, the wheels of Roman justice ran more smoothly if they were well-oiled. One contemporary said, piety is vanquished and all men worship gold. Gold rules the law. One other said, the lawsuit is nothing more than a public auction in Roman courts. So here, the irony of this passage, dear friends, and this is the last thing I will say, the irony of this passage began with the Jews seeking to ingratiate themselves with Felix and it ends with Felix seeking to ingratiate himself with the Jews. Remember, he needed the Jews on his side. He was about to stand before Caesar Nero for his crimes against the Jews. So seeking to do the Jews a favor, He kept Paul in prison as a bargaining chip with the Jews. It's absolutely despicable, cruel, unjust. And I find it ironic. Most excellent Felix. There's nothing most excellent about Felix. He is a sleazy adulterer and a greasy grifter. That's what he was. He wasn't excellent in any way. Who's most excellent here? The most excellent person here is the one who's most wronged. Paul was most excellent because he, in a faint and dim way, reflected the glory and goodness of Christ, the happy warrior. I love what John Bloom in his article said. It was a great insight. And he quotes from Psalm 32. He said, Blessed is the man in whom is found no deceit. And when Jesus appeared, what did Nathanael say? He quoted Psalm 32, and he said, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no deceit. Our Lord Jesus was a happy warrior. He always spoke the truth, and he calls his people to always speak the truth, even if it costs us in the short term. It's always good for the kingdom, and it's always glorifying Christ, and it's always good for us. Always speak the truth with joy. Our God, thank you for your word. Thank you for this passage of scripture, so rich, so helpful for us. And we thank you, Lord, that you call us to follow in your way. You are the truth, Lord Jesus, and the way and the life. And Lord, we want to speak the truth. Follow your way and enjoy your life. Help us to do this. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.