Boldly Preach In Accordance With The Work of the Spirit (Acts 24:22-27 ESV)
Paul’s trial before Felix went without a resolution. But Felix wasn’t through with Paul. And neither was his wife, Drusilla.
Drusilla was a daughter of Herod Agrippa I. And her physical beauty is well known even today. Because she is related to Herod Agrippa and Herod the Great, you can only imagine the sort of dysfunction that filled her family. Her grandfather had ordered the murder of children to keep his throne. Elsewhere we read of his killing family members to keep power. His paranoia was legendary. And her father was no walk in the park, as we saw a few weeks ago. And Bernice, who was Drusilla’s older sister had an incestuous relationship with her brother Agrippa II. We run into those two in Acts 25.
Drusilla was a Jew and was married at the age of fourteen to Azizus, king of Emeza. She was unhappy in her marriage according to Josephus. And Felix employed a sorcerer named Simon to help him seduce Drusilla. This succeeded and she became his third wife.
Felix has a somewhat incredible story, for such an immoral man. He was a former slave that was promoted by Claudius Caesar to be governor. Tacitus describes him as being “cruel, licentious, and base”. Hiring a sorcerer to seduce a married woman helps us to understand why the historian Tacitus would say such a thing.
Both these people had some understanding of Christianity. Drusilla would probably have known about all sorts of activity within Jerusalem, including Stephen’s stoning. And it was her father that had James killed (Acts 12:2). And Paul himself said that Felix was well acquainted with “the Way”, or Christianity (Acts 24:22).
This powerful and sinful husband and wife were intrigued by Paul and decided to keep him around. They wanted to talk with him about Christianity. And talk he did. But his talk was not what they expected. His talk was the gospel and their need for repentance. And we can learn a lot about our own personal boldness from this.
Paul didn’t shy away from speaking the truth here. His discussion with these two people was about “righteousness…self-control, and the coming judgment”.
We are told that it is our job, as Christians, to make those who do not know Christ comfortable in our presence. We are told that, if we want to be faithful to Christ, then we need to not speak on certain topics or even embrace sin. But that is not what we see from Paul.
Notice what Paul did. He spoke to a man who was characterized by being “cruel, licentious, and base” that had seduced his third wife through a sorcerer about “righteousness…self-control, and the coming judgment.” And he spoke to a woman that had left her husband to be with that man about “righteousness…self-control, and the coming judgment.”
Paul did not look at these two people and excuse their sin. Even in chains, he would not bow to those who had custody over him. Even in chains he would look at these people and declare to them the very sins they were committing and would soon be judged for.
As I look at what Paul did in conversation with Felix and Drusilla, it seems to me that he preached the very things that our Lord promised the Holy Spirit would do. In other words, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would “convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment”. And Paul would preach those things as well.
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (John 16:7-11 ESV)
Churches today have a decision to make. Will they align their selves with the Lord and the work of the Holy Spirit? Or will they cater to the world and look the other way concerning all forms of sinfulness?
This week in Washington Mrs. Budde spoke at the prayer service and advocated for LGBTQ issues in it as well as other things. What is that other than capitulating to the spirit of the age? What is that other than advocating against the work of the Holy Spirit?
Let it be not so with us.
Let us declare as Paul did and as so many have that have gone before us of sin, righteousness and judgment. Let Paul be our example here who stood in front of two very immoral people that had him in chains and declared to them “righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment.”
Declare Righteousness To A Sinful World
Paul looked these two people in the face as he sat there and proclaimed the righteousness of God to sinners. He was their prisoner. He was in their custody, and they could do with him whatever they wanted. But Paul was not a go along to get along kind of a guy. He preached righteousness to sinners.
Righteousness means the virtue, quality or state of the one who is righteous. And this means that Paul was declaring to these two what it means to be righteous. He was telling Felix and Drusilla how they should be living their lives.
Another way of putting this is that Paul was delivering the Law to Felix and Drusilla.
The role of the Law in the conversion of sinners is spoken of a few times by Paul. A person does not know their condition before God without being shown the Law of God.
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”” (Romans 7:7 ESV)
And it is the Law that reveals to us that we are sinners before God, showing us that we need a Savior.
“So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.” (Galatians 3:24 ESV)
In Rome these guardians were trustworthy slaves that had a duty to supervise the moral life and morals of upper class boys. They were not to leave home without this person. That’s why the King James Version uses the word “tutor”. This person was in charge of the moral education of a young man. And the Law was a tutor for people until Christ came.
What was the purpose of the Law then? It educated mankind about their sinfulness before God, so that they would be justified by faith. To be justified is to be declared righteous.
A person does not understand their awful state until it is revealed to them by the Law. In the Law they see they have failed.
Do the Ten Commandments make you feel good about yourself? They shouldn’t. Their purpose is to curb sin, reveal our sinfulness before God, and reveal what pleases God. It does all three of these things. But the most important part of this, for our discussion today is the second. It reveals to us our sin. It tutors us in righteousness, therefore shows us our need for the Savior.
It is not loving or kind to tell a person that their life choices are pleasing to God when they are not. It is not loving or kind to look at a person making decisions that God calls detestable and affirm the choices (Leviticus 18:22-24).
It is not loving to cry out “peace, peace when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 6:14). It is loving to speak of righteousness and uphold righteousness, even though the world would say it’s evil.
Mariann Budde made the news this week for calling on Trump to show mercy to illegal immigrants who were in the United States. I took the opportunity to look into her and see what it is that she believed. One of her great concerns, so much so that it is on her bio page, is “the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons”.
Now, this is going to sound a bit judgy, but she is calling for the church to act as if there is peace when there is no peace. She is calling for people to act as if that is not a sin, when Scripture says that it is.
And worse still, she is calling for us to take away the ability for them to see that they are in sin and need a Savior.
Preaching righteousness doesn’t seem fun. And most people will hate it. But it is the most loving thing that we can do. Otherwise, we are keeping them in the dark and telling them that everything is okay.
Declare Self-Control To A Sinful World
God has ordered the world to operate a certain way. And when we think about Felix and Drusilla, Paul’s audience, we first think of marriage. And I am certain that this topic came up considering their past and their reaction to it.
God created the world and God created marriage. And He has commanded for marriage to be between one man and one woman for life. This means that there is no such thing as a homosexual marriage. Two men and two women cannot get married. This also means that there is no polygamy. And it also means that when one man and one woman get married, it is to be for life.
There are times when sin destroys this bond. Marriage is a covenant between one man and one woman. And there are things that dissolve that covenant. Adultery is one of those things (Matthew 5:32). Paul also tells us that abandonment is grounds for divorce (1 Corinthians 7:15).
As a side not, I do believe that abuse falls into the category of Abandonment found in 1 Corinthians 7:15. I’m not talking about fake abuse. I’m talking about the real stuff.
When a man hits his wife, he neglects the responsibility God has given him to care for his family. He is using the power that God gave him to protect her to harm her. And because of that he has abandoned his responsibility to her.
An example of this comes from our role with the government. God has given the government the responsibility and power to protect us (Romans 13). And we are to be in subjection to the government. If they abuse this, we can flee (Matthew 24:15-28). They have abandoned their responsibility to protect their citizens and have used that power to abuse them instead.
Abuse is a type of abandonment. And I would advise any woman that is in a relationship where she is repeatedly abused to leave.
Now that the side bar is out of the way, I’ll speak more about Felix and Drusilla. They were learning about the unrighteousness of their behavior. Paul was declaring to them that they should have had self-control rather than follow their wicked desires.
How does this work today?
We do the same thing.
God rules over all. His ways are to be our ways and we are not to rebel against His ways. We do not have the right to follow every wicked thought that enters our heart. In our text it applies to the divorces, remarriages, and all the other stuff that was going on in Felix’s life as well as Drusilla’s. And in our day we would apply it to homosexuality and transgenderism as well.
A person may be attracted to a certain lifestyle or feel a certain way. But that does not mean you have the right to act upon that feeling. I was “born that way” is not an excuse to behave in rebellion against the Almighty. And falling out of love is not an excuse for divorce.
In C.S. Lewis’s book, “The Abolition of Man” Lewis discusses the difference in education as it has become today vs what people in all cultures have done in the past. Carl Trueman comments about this as well in his books “The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self” and “Strange New World”. All of these books are very influential today. Lewis wrote from almost 100 years ago and Trueman today. Both authors point out that humanity used to understand that it was our job to conform children to those things that are good, right, and beautiful. Wrong desires were to be taken away from the child and replaced with good ones.
It’s a simple concept really. And one that served us well over the years. To put this in Christian terms, the older generation is to mold children into people that love what God loves and hate what God hates.
Today this seems almost completely foreign. This seems almost completely understood. Today, if a boy comes out and says “I want to be a girl.” Then parents are expected to be steered by the child into conforming to the desires of the little one.
Today, if a male says he is attracted to other males then the older generation is expected to accept that rather than steer them toward what God sees as good, right, and beautiful.
And if a man says “I don’t love my wife anymore.”, the older generation is expected to just go alone with that rather than reprimand him and steering him toward what God sees as good, right, and beautiful.
We are to tell people about what God expects from them.
In other words, we are to reveal to people God’s Law.
The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” (John 16:7-11 ESV)
People are not good, waiting to be told that the answer to all their problems lies within them. They are told that because of Adam’s rebellion they are part of a fallen race. Their inclinations are wrong because they are wrong.
That’s not an easy message to declare. Nor is it pleasant to behold. But we are declaring sin, righteousness, and judgment to the world.
Declare Judgment To A Sinful World
Paul didn’t hold back, as you can see. And he spoke of the judgment to come to two people that had previously behaved like they didn’t care about such matters. But they should, for it is terrifying.
We have a picture of what will one day take place in the Book of Revelation.
“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-15 ESV)
Those whose names are not found in the Book of Life, that is those that die outside of Christ, will die the “second death”, in “the lake of fire”.
We declare judgment to a sinful world. And that judgment is eternity in Hell, for all of us.
Declare The Gospel To A Sinful World
We’re not told the exact details. But it seems that talk of righteousness, self-control, and judgment turned Feliz and his wife away. And that is often the case. But had they stayed and received the word of the Lord, Paul’s next words would have been about faith and trust in Christ.
The Law reveals to us our condition before God. We are sinners in rebellion against Him. And this means that we have earned for ourselves God’s justice. We will be judged. And we will spend an eternity paying for our sins. But God did provide a means of escape and this is His Son. God the Son came to Earth, took on human flesh, lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose from the grave.
In His perfect life, Jesus accomplished all righteousness. Every good thing we should have done, He accomplished for us.
In His death on the cross, Jesus paid the punishment for sin. Every sin that we have ever committed was paid for on the cross. He bore God’s wrath and justice in our place.
In His resurrection, Jesus finished the work of our redemption. He rose for our justification. To be justified means that a person is declared righteous by God.
That is the news that we are to deliver. That is the gospel.
But you must respond to this message. The response is repentance and faith. Repentance is a change of mind. This change of mind is agreeing with God that we are sinners and turning to Him. Faith is trusting in the Lord for our redemption. So, our response is to stop ruling our own lives and entrust ourselves to the Savior who accomplished redemption for us.
That is the right response to the gospel. But that is not what Felix and Drusilla did. They rejected Paul’s message. Felix sent him away and summoned him when needed.
Felix didn’t ignore Paul. Our text tells us that he kept him around in case he could get a bribe out of him.
Felix rejected the message of sin, righteousness, and judgment. And so he rejected the message of salvation found in Christ alone.
Our message is a message of hope, grace, and mercy. But this is not because of who we are. It is because of who Jesus is and what He accomplished for us.
And it is the message that is pictured in the Lord’s Supper.
In the Lord’s Supper we see the grace and mercy of Jesus revealed to us in the body and blood of Christ.
In the Lord’s Supper we see the sacrifice made for our sin. We are really sinners who really deserve God’s just wrath and judgment. But God made a way for us to be redeemed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
R. Dwain Minor