Acts 24, the Apostle Paul has been delivered by Claudius Lysias, the commander of the garrison in Jerusalem. Paul's been delivered by him to the governor Felix. You'll recall that Paul was arrested at the temple based upon the unjust accusations and riotous efforts of the Jews. that while in Claudius Lysias' possession, Paul spoke to the crowd. The crowd responded angrily to the idea of having killed a true prophet and also of Paul having been sent to speak to the Gentiles. The Sanhedrin spoke to Paul while under Claudius Lysias' possession, under his care, under his imprisonment. custody. So then Claudius Lysias sends a letter to the governor Felix and that letter says that there is nothing that was charged against Paul deserving of death or chains. It's a matter concerning the Jewish law and he lets Felix know that Paul is a Roman citizen so it needs to be accorded the civil rights of a Roman So he, you remember, is transported because there are men who take an oath to kill Paul, or 40 or more. And so Paul is given a strong military escort and taken to Herod's Praetorium, which was a seaside palace. And so he's imprisoned there. And so that's the context in which we read about how the high priest and the elders and a hired orator Tertullus, he came and presented a prosecution against Paul. And so we'll read that and then we'll read Paul's defense and how Felix responds afterward. So Acts 24 verse 1. Now after five days Ananias the high priest came down with the elders and a certain orator named Tertullus. These gave evidence to the governor against Paul. And when he was called upon, Tertullus began his accusation, saying, Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace and reformation is being brought to this nation by your foresight. We accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. Nevertheless, Not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear, by your courtesy, a few words from us. For we have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him and wanted to judge him according to our law. But the commander, Lysias, came by and with great violence took him out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come to you. By examining him yourself, examining Lysias yourself, you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse Paul. And the Jews also joined the attack, maintaining that these things were so. Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered, And as much as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself, because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship, and they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone, nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city. Nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me. But this I confess to you, that according to the way, which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men. Now, after many years, I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation, in the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult. They ought to have been here before you to object, if they had anything against me. Or else let those who are here themselves say, if they found any wrongdoing in me, while I stood before the council. Unless it is for this one statement, which I cried out, standing among them, concerning the resurrection of the dead, I am being judged by you this day. But when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the way, He adjourned the proceedings and said, When Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case. So he commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and told him not to forbid any of his friends to provide for or visit him. And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now, as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, go away for now. When I have a convenient time, I will call for you. Meanwhile, he also hoped that money would be given him by Paul, that he might release him. Therefore, he sent for him more often and conversed with him, but after two years, Procius Festus succeeded Felix, and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound. Now, let's jump back to the beginning of the chapter. We have Ananias the high priest, the elders, and a certain orator, Tertullus. Following perfunctory flattery, that is obsequious, slavish, servile, we have verse 4. Nevertheless, not to be tedious to you any further, I beg you to hear, by your courtesy, a few words from us." That's a fun piece of flattery. People who enjoy flattery don't find the flattery tedious, but the idea that they would find it tedious is a form of flattery that allows you to stop flattering. It's a good exit. many more things Felix that I could say good about you you're good-looking and smart and Good-looking, etc. The etc. I could go on for a long time now verse 5 for we have found this man a plague a creator of dissension among all the Jews throughout the world and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes Okay, so the idea that he's a plague. How is he a plague? He's a plague because he's bringing dissension, and he's doing that by gathering crowds of this sect, right? So he's stirring up a fight. This is the idea that this is creating disorder. And as a ringleader, he's dangerous. And the implication here is that in his dissension, he is going to create disorder and probably encourage a rebellion, which is what a lot of the sect ringleaders have done in Judaism. So this is the idea that he's a plague to us. He's causing dissension among us. He's a ringleader of this group. We're trying to stop him. And Felix, there could be rebellion if you don't put an end to this. Now, look what else he's doing here. He's breaking our laws that we have civil authority to punish. he tried to profane the temple. So this has turned into, remember the original charge was that he was profaning the temple. Now it's turned into conspiracy to profane the temple. This was attempted temple profanation. So in the midst of the attempt, we seized him and wanted to judge him according to our law. So We seized him. We. You've got this governing council there. It seems as though, as opposed to this mob grabbing him, it sounds much more orderly that he was caught in the act, before the act, and we are, we were dealing with this in a very orderly way. The high priest himself may well have been the one to grab him and put him under arrest. You feel that from the we. Verse seven. But the commander Lysias came by and with great violence took him out of our hands. So this is a matter that isn't even in Roman jurisdiction. He took him out of our hands. He's just looking around for reasons to cause problems here. He is thrashing about, creating problems. And then just with great violence, he took him out of our hands, commanding his accusers to come to you. Now he's laying this burden on us, making us come to you, wasting our time and yours. By examining Lysias, and you can see how that gets grabbed onto by Felix to put it into things here. By examining Lysias yourself, you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse him," accused Paul. Now, the Jews are okay with having this process go on. They would prefer, obviously, for Paul to be dead. By having him in prison works pretty well for them. It reduces his capacity to be a plague from their perspective. But by examining Lysias yourself, you may ascertain all these things of which we accuse Paul." And so this having him held up, having the legal proceedings go on for a while, and Paul being stuck up in Herod's praetorium is a way of getting some distance from him and reducing his influence, they think. Now in God's plan, this is a way of increasing his influence, to have him speak to princes, to the emperor. man who fashions himself a king of kings and to bring the proclamations of the true king of kings to them verse 9 and the Jews also joined the attack maintaining that these things were so so these are all now accusations that are coming this is a witness bearing they have a prosecutor representative but now there's also a particular statements. These are sort of witnesses that are speaking against him. So, verse 10, Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak, answered, Inasmuch as I know that you have been for many years a judge of this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself. Now, the nodding for him to speak, this indicates what we have here is we have the prosecutor putting forward a case charges and then we have the prosecution's witnesses and a statement that here's another witness that can be called your own military commander but we don't have him with us because he sent us and he judged this case but his judgment was self-serving right so calling the prior judge as a witness because of the fact that he both judged and Was dealing with things as an executive officer, right? He is he's a military commander. He's got policing powers. He's he's acting as an executive officer of the state and at the same time sort of a initial judicial act so now with Felix here being a the place for appeal, but also having in a certain way sort of a court of origination standing. He is the first hearer as a truly separated judicial officer listening to things. There's this idea that he needs to sit and hear these things and go through the process, and so he is giving this as a prosecution versus defendant sort of order with a delay of one of the witnesses. So Paul begins to speak, and he starts by giving an honoring compliment that is true. He's happy that Felix is judging him, because having been the judge of this nation for many years, he could ascertain by himself how long Paul had been in Jerusalem, because he knows when the festivals are. And so he knows, verse 11, because you may ascertain that it is no more than twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem to worship. And they neither found me in the temple disputing with anyone, nor inciting the crowd, either in the synagogues or in the city." So where is this dissension that I'm stirring up? Temple? Synagogue? The city? Maybe the marketplace, the streets, the gate? Where is this supposed to have happened? I was there for 12 days, you can tell. You know. I've been with you for 5 of them. So, this has not been a particularly long time. What is it that you think happened? It wasn't disputing in the temple. It was not inciting the crowd in the synagogue or in the city. Verse 13. nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me." You notice that? That is a very important verse to establish a biblical principle of the presumption of innocence. Felix, you cannot, you cannot punish me because they cannot prove the accusations. presumption of innocence is a biblical concept it's assumed everywhere you can demonstrate it by necessary inference in so many places dealing with jurisprudence but this is such an excellent verse nor can they prove the things of which they now accuse me but this I confess to you that according to the way I said the way is Christianity right but according to the way which they call a sect. So I worship the God of my fathers." Notice he is asserting the continuation that this is the God of my fathers. He is showing the continuous nature of the church underage and the church matured. The church has gone from being a child to being a young man and it's maturing to the full man, to the complete man. to become a father. John applies child, young men, fathers, right, to the growth of the individual Christian. And that's true for the church. The church goes from being underage in the Old Covenant to being adult and no longer being under the tutor of the law, the ceremonies, and is maturing. But this I confess to you that according to the way, which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers. And this is a confession, this right here, this is a confession that every Christian should be able to make. If you can't make this confession, then you are not a Christian. Believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. Believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. So he is saying, he is worshiping the God of his fathers and he believes all that is written in the Law and in the Prophets. Now, the Sadducees cannot say, even in their own pretense, that they believe the Prophets. They reject it. They would only say that they believe the Law, in particular the Torah. But Paul here is referring to the whole of what is called the Tanakh. We have the Law from Moses, we have the history books, and we have the wisdom, we have the Prophets, And we have that whole set together. That's how we, as Christians, typically think about the organization, as opposed to the three parts the Jews have. Now, this assertion, believing all things which are written in the Law and the Prophets, that is the critical claim that differentiates Paul from his accusers. And it's going to lead to the doctrine that's specific. When you think about the Reformation, sometimes people talk about the formal point of difference between Rome and Protestants, and they talk about the material claim. The formal claim is the epistemology. How do you know? Sola Scriptura. And the material claim is often said to be the gospel proper. So you talk about justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. in the work of Christ alone, and how that leads all the glory to God. Here, there's a formal claim, I believe the Word of God, and then there is the material claim. Verse 15, I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept. They themselves, who is that referring to? Is that referring to his accusers? No, it's referring to his fathers. So the point here is, But this I confess to you, that according to the way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers. That's the group that the they is referring back to. So I have hope in God, which they, my fathers, themselves, also accept. That there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men." So the material claim is about the resurrection and the judgment. And then he's saying, that leads me to behave better than my opponents. That's implied. He's saying, I behave well. And the idea here is they are not concerned to behave themselves well. They're not concerned to speak truth in these courts. He's saying he has hope in God and as a result he strives to have conscience without offense toward God and men. His hope is that there will be a resurrection where there will be a judging of the just and the unjust. That leads him to behave in a certain way. Verse 17, now after many years I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation. There's a particular example of his behaving well. I'm coming back to the Jews with money to bless them. In the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple. How can I be there to defile the temple when I'm purified in the temple? Neither with a mob nor with tumult. I didn't have a mob with me. I wasn't causing a tumult. They, referring to the Jews from Asia, they ought to have been here before you to object if they had anything against me. If this is a court where I'm being judged, where I'm being considered about charges, if this is an original court, then why aren't my accusers not present? And so nothing about that can even be considered because there's nobody who claims to be a witness here. They ought to have been here before you to object if they had anything against me." So this is a judicial proceeding. This is about due process. They ought to. He doesn't just say, according to Roman law, he says ought. They ought to have been here before you to object. if they had anything against me. The idea, this comes from the Mosaic Law, right, that accusers have to be present, and they have to be a part of the process, and they are in danger of receiving the penalties they try to get other people. And then, if they are right, they have to participate in the penalty. That's the Mosaic Law of how involved accusers have to be. They ought to have been here before you to object if they had anything against me. Or else, let those here themselves say if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the council. Okay, so you have some witnesses here for something, and what do they interact with me on? Well, they interacted with me on those charges, but do they have anything to claim that they have witnessed themselves that they can bring against me? If he thought he had anything that he had done, He wouldn't say that. Do you remember that he was accused by the Sanhedrin of reviling the high priest? And so wouldn't that be a charge? They could say, well, you reviled the high priest. You're acting treasonously. You're acting wrongly. They don't want to bring that up. Why don't they want to bring it up? Because they punished a Roman citizen by striking him before he was found guilty, which they could be penalized for. But Paul, doesn't think he did anything wrong by reviling the, quote, high priest. Because we talked about before, he did not view him as a valid ruler. Or else, let those who are here themselves say, if they found any wrongdoing in me while I stood before the council. And then he says, here's an example of something. So now he's confessing something. He's saying, here's what I think the conflict's about. And you can use this, Felix, as evidence if you think it's got anything related to it as a charge. Here's what I said, unless it is for this one statement which I cried out, standing among them, concerning the resurrection of the dead I am being judged by you this day. So, he is there trying to provoke them in verse 21, last time through the Amented Disorder, he's trying to provoke them with that again. This time the Sanhedrin has maintained more discipline. Is it because there are only Sadducees that have come? Is it because they've all decided to not deal with that? What has occurred? Well, he's trying to provoke them to bring charges by saying something about resurrection. One of the reasons that would be the case is because if any of them bears testimony about something that they witnessed personally, as opposed to acting as a court, If they are one of the parties to the dispute, Paul gets the right of cross-examination. So he wants them to bring charges that they witnessed so he can cross-examine them. It's a trap. And so they do not argue with him about the resurrection and they do not say yes or no, that was something that was wrong. And they do not say anything happened in that council because they do not want to be cross-examined. And so all that's left are charges that are unsubstantiated without the original accusers. And so the next step of talking to Lysias, unless Lysias has charges, he is a witness who has no accusation. But he's already written to the court and said, I find nothing that we should charge this guy with. that makes it, or that has been charged against him, that makes it so that he should be held in chains or put to death. And Felix holds him in chains to be able to call Alicius. Felix is not acting in good faith here as a governor, as a judge. Felix is trying to subdue the concern of the Jews And he's also at the same time trying to avoid doing anything that will make us so he gets in trouble under Roman law. So he's going, he's going to use court proceedings to elongate things, to try to maximize his benefit from the Jews and to get a bribe from Paul. I know I can get everything I want here. I can get the Jews to be okay and to get over this, to be happy with me for keeping Paul and I can get Paul to give me money. That's the end game here. Now, Verse 22, when Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the way, now Felix has, there's a lot of background here, his more accurate knowledge of the way. He gets some from hearing Paul, but there's also his wife, Drusilla. Drusilla is the daughter of Herod Agrippa I. And you'll remember him from chapter 12, being praised as a god and then being struck down She was raised by that guy. Drusilla is the sister of Herod Agrippa II, who we will see in the next chapter. She's also the sister of Bernice, which you will find Herod Agrippa is in a relationship with Bernice. So that means Herod Agrippa is in an incestuous relationship with his sister. So these people have had confrontations with John the Baptist, with the disciples of John. There have been run-ins with Christians throughout Acts, and so there has been a persecuting of Christians by them. Felix is aware of these people and their claims, and he believes they're not a danger. He is not concerned about the revolt idea. He is more concerned about lining his pockets. Having judged everything, he's determined getting the favor of the Jews and getting money. Those are the objectives to care about. That's his assessment of the landscape. Now, you remember I talked to you about Felix being known as a man who was who started as a slave and came to be a king and has the instincts of a slave. And so this idea of being grasping, he's grasping for power. He's always trying to get what he can get. And so there's this attitude of of always trying to get his pound of flesh. So Felix heard these things, having more accurate knowledge of the way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, when Lysias the commander comes down, I will make a decision on your case. So he commanded the centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty and told him not to forbid any of his friends to provide for or visit him. So in other words, Paul has to stay at this prison palace. He's allowed to go around the grounds as he sees fit. He probably even has the ability to go beyond that and to be able to just kind of go around the area as long as he's returning there. So this is an extensive liberty. And then his friends are able to come by and he's able to you know, receive gifts from them and to spend time with them. So we have Paul here basically having the maximum liberty he could possibly have aside from having to stay there. This is his residence. Verse 24, And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, go away for now. When I have a convenient time, I will call for you. Meanwhile, he also hoped that money would be given him by Paul that he might release him. Therefore he sent for him more often and conversed with him. Okay. So he is listening to him. Sometimes he doesn't like what he's hearing and begins to be convicted by it and puts things to an end there. But he keeps trying to talk to him. in order to try to have the conversation end with a bribe. So he must think that Paul has means because Paul obviously is prominent and that lots of people are coming to him. He has lots of friends. He could obviously get money if he needed to. He also, being a citizen, there's some reason to believe that he's in a better economic condition because he has certain privileges and rights and abilities. And so There's this idea that perhaps Paul comes from a well-to-do background as well, and he's educated, which suggests that as well. So lots of reason to think if Paul really needed to, he could pull together the money. So Felix is seeing this as low-hanging fruit to get a bribe, trying to make it easy for that to happen, but without asking for it because he doesn't want to create a situation where he starts out the thing creating a criminal problem for himself. So he wants to be offered the bribe. He wants the bribe to be given to him without risk. And he must begin to think Paul must be a little bit slow in the uptake here because for two years Paul doesn't offer him the bribe, but keeps talking to him about the gospel. After two years, Pocheas Festus succeeded Felix, and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound. So if Paul won't give him any money, that's fine. We'll just keep him bound. Until it's worth it to me. I'm offered enough money that it's worth it to me. So I'll get a favor for every day that you're in prison here, and you have to provide for your own sustenance. Your friends are bringing you your stuff anyways. This doesn't really cost me anything. maybe I'll get a bribe, otherwise I'm getting benefit out of the Jews. So that's the process. That's the way this looks. Now, what Paul is doing, he's talking about righteousness, which is, you know, the law. He's talking about self-control and a good life. And he's talking about the judgment to come. So, you're condemned. You know that you don't enjoy your enslavement to sin. It's dissatisfying. And there is a judgment to come. That should remind you of what he said back in verse 14, but this I confess to you that according to the way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. I have hope in God, which they themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust. This being so, I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men." So the resurrection, which is about the judgment, and the just and the unjust, there's righteousness, and striving to have a conscience without offense, self-control. He's teaching the same thing from the beginning, and he's repeating things about it. He's expanding on it. So he's preaching the gospel. he's going to persuade this magistrate. Paul is a great example for us of the mission to the magistrates. Some of you heard and listened to some of the things that were said by the men that were in town as a part of the effort to abolish abortion and to protest, they would talk about mission to the magistrate. So there's two things that need to be done, pleading with those who are trying to murder their children, to try to save those children and to stop them from committing murder, and at the same time, pleading with the magistrate, evangelizing to the magistrate, asking them to do justice, asking them to stop this murder, to interpose, to intercede, to stop it. And so they need to be persuaded about righteousness and self-control and about the judgment to come. And so those things, having both a mission to the destitute and a mission to the magistrate. We plead the cause of Christ to low and high. Paul gives us a great example of that. Now, this wonderful confession in verse 14, But this I confess to you, that according to the way, which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers." There is the rule of practice. I worship according to the way. I worship the God of my fathers according to the way. We have the regulative principle of worship. We have the worship instituted by Christ. The way gives us how to worship God. And he worships according to the way. And then he also says, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets. So he believes everything from the scriptures, from all of the scriptures, and he worships according to the scriptures. We are so inclined to avoid scripture when we are talking in a public way. Even Christians push us to not use scripture when we are arguing in the public sphere. And Paul looks for ways to push forward the profession of the scriptures and he puts forward the material in the Scriptures. And then he talks to this magistrate over and over again and keeps putting forward righteousness, self-control, and the judgment. He is appealing to the Scriptures. He's talking about the faith in Christ. And Felix and Drusilla, who do not believe, they still heard him about the faith in Christ. And with Felix, He became afraid as he considered some of these things. It's not a saving faith, it's not a repentance unto life, but he begins to be afraid of the judgment. He stops it and tries to suppress that. The Word of God is a powerful thing. It's a powerful thing. And what people try to do is they try to go to the law and to the prophets to find particular things to twist, to mock, and to make us ashamed of. It is our job to know the Scriptures well. is our job to be unashamed of every jot and tittle. The only way you can be unashamed of the scriptures is to know them, to see their beauty, to see their reasonableness, and to see the unreasonableness of the rejection of the scriptures. This is Paul giving us an example of how he is not ashamed of the gospel. He is proud of it. He puts it forward over and over again. And he makes other people ashamed. I'm being rejected because of my belief in the resurrection and the judgment. And he's trying to get them to pick a fight about it. He's so confident in the gospel that he's trying to pick a fight about it. This man that they think they have in a cage. If he's in a cage, he is a caged lion. And he's prowling back and forth he can't get them to fight him. You think about Goliath standing before the armies of Israel and him prowling back and forth. Who will fight me? Scaring them all, cowering back. In this case, Paul more resembles Goliath. He is saying, I am being judged concerning the God of the Bible, the God of my fathers, the God who is taught in the law and the prophets. So he tries to draw them in on these things. People will pick at the things that are the most culturally unacceptable. God commanded that all the Canaanites be killed. God commanded that people who have bestiality or homosexuality be killed. God commanded that children who are rebellious be killed. And so having an awareness of these points and knowing how to deal with them and not to back away. The response is so often you say, well, that was the God of the Old Testament. God was angrier then. He wasn't as old. He's mellowed down. He's calmed a little bit. Jesus is nicer than the Father. Nonsense like that. You have to be able to grab those verses and stare people down and make them ashamed of their mockery of it. Now, it doesn't work as well as we'd like when the enemy dominates the media. And so the opportunities for fast, brisk conquest of large swaths of the population awaits, probably, the accumulation of more resources, more believers. But perhaps the armies of Israel will not have expected that there would be a fast victory against the Philistines when Goliath stood before them. Defeating one giant of the enemy can often turn the whole army to flight. Jonathan and his shield bearer caused the Philistines to go into disarray as well. And so to look upon things and to say, this cannot possibly turn quickly, we cannot be saved, we cannot win fast, we cannot turn the enemy to flight, is to be unbelieving The enemy's strength is so that there are giants to slay. Be strong and courageous. The Lord is with you wherever you go. Christ is with us to the end of the age. Paul has shown us what it is to be a man who is brave in the face of opposition. Let's thank God for this example, and then we'll hear comments, questions, and objections. Father, we thank you for the word that you've given to us. We ask that you would give us courage to be as Paul, that you would cause us to not be afraid and to not be ashamed, but to be encouraged by and proud of you, to glory in you, to glory in the knowledge of you, and nothing else. We ask that you would put our enemies to flight, and cause our praises to shatter the kingdom of Satan and to use what appears to be our oppression for our good and as a leverage point for conquest. I pray this in Christ's name, amen.