It was the resurrection of Jesus Christ that
Paul was defending as he stood before kings
and rulers, and today we have him standing
before Felix, and he's defending once again the
resurrection of the dead.
If there is no resurrection of the dead,
then let us eat, drink, and be merry,
for tomorrow we die.
If there is no life beyond, then there
is no life now.
We have nothing to live for that is
eternal, and Paul had met the risen, glorified
Christ, and Paul was sharing the gospel of
Jesus Christ with a man who needed it,
and needed it badly.
And as Paul reasoned of righteousness, self-control,
and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and he
said, go thy way for this time.
When I have a more convenient season, I'll
talk to you.
The gospel is reasonable, and Paul reasoned of
righteousness and self-control and judgment to come.
The gospel is not a myth that people
have invented.
It's not the opiate of the people to
try to console them in difficult times.
The gospel is not some kind of a
story that religious people have invented to keep
them in business.
The gospel is history.
It is historically true that Jesus lived, and
that he died, and that he arose again,
and that he's alive today.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is reasonable.
God says, come now, let us reason together,
saith the Lord.
Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be as white as snow.
It's reasonable to become a Christian.
I suppose there are many motives that people
have had for trusting Jesus Christ.
Some trust Jesus Christ out of fear, nothing
wrong with this.
Felix trembled.
Some trust Jesus Christ out of simple logic.
They weigh what's involved, and having weighed what
is involved, they make a decision.
Paul reasoned with Felix.
He reasoned and said to Felix, you may
be the governor, you may be the ruler,
but the most reasonable thing you can do
is to put your faith in Jesus Christ.
When you put your faith in Jesus Christ,
you have made the most logical decision a
person can make.
In verse 25, God gives to us three
compelling reasons why the sinner should trust Jesus
Christ.
He reasoned of righteousness, of self-control, and
of judgment to come.
And in this verse, we have three compelling
reasons why the sinner should trust the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Reason number one, because we must do something
about yesterday's sin.
He reasoned about righteousness.
We must do something about yesterday's sin.
Now, we can't deny the fact of sin.
Some people try to.
I noticed that one of our psychiatrists, Dr.
Menninger, has written a book called Whatever Happened
to Sin?
There are those people who try to deny
the fact of sin, but of course we
can't.
Our own conduct won't let us deny the
fact of sin.
There's not a person here in this church
today who this past week has not said
something he's sorry for.
There's not a one of us who has
not done something this past week we wish
we had not done.
Every one of us is happy that there
are people who didn't see some things we
did or hear some things that we said,
and how grateful we are that people don't
have Superman x-ray vision to look into
our hearts.
Even our nearest and our dearest can't read
our minds.
And in thought, and in word, and in
action, and in attitude, and in motive, we
have sinned.
We know this.
And others have sinned.
We know this.
You pick up the newspaper and you read
what's going on in today's world, and you
shake your head and say, my, how can
people do that?
The only thing that keeps us from doing
some of these things is the grace of
God.
We can't deny the fact of sin.
Our own conduct affirms it.
The conduct of other people affirms it.
And of course the conscience affirms it.
We talked about conscience in our last message.
Conscience is that little judge who sits down
inside, and he doesn't have a gavel, he
has a sword, and he pierces, and he
pricks, and he cuts when we've done that
which is wrong.
And there are those people today who hear
my voice who say, yes, conscience is talking
to me, and I know there is such
a thing as sin.
But my friend, the greatest evidence that there
is such a thing as sin is not
my conduct or my conscience.
The greatest evidence of the reality of sin
is a place called Calvary.
For if there were no sin in this
world, there would have been no cross on
Calvary.
Jesus didn't die to be an example to
us.
He is that.
But Jesus died to be a sacrifice for
us.
And when that darkness moved on to Calvary,
and my Lord was completely enshrouded by darkness,
God was saying, it's because of darkness that
He's dying.
Moral darkness.
Spiritual darkness.
Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither
cometh to the light, lest his deeds should
be reproved.
If ever someone comes to you and says,
I don't believe there's such a thing as
sin, all you have to say is, then
why did Jesus die?
Sin is not just an action that we
perform.
Sin is a process that just keeps on
going and going and going and going.
Over in the book of James, James says
this to us, And lust, when it hath
conceived, bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it
is full grown, bringeth forth death.
It's the picture of a pregnancy.
And here is a person who desires something,
and that desire is sinful.
And so he goes out and he commits
that sin.
And when he commits that sin, he starts
a process of birth that leads to death.
Lust, when it hath conceived, bringeth forth sin,
and sin, when it is full grown, bringeth
forth death.
And this is why God's word says, the
wages of sin is death.
My friend, the most logical thing the unsaved
person can do is to trust Jesus Christ
because he has to do something about yesterday's
sin.
Now, what shall we do about yesterday's sin?
Can we deny it?
There are those who do this.
I have books in my library where people
are arguing that there is no such thing
as sin.
There may be error, there may be wrong
thinking, there may be accidents, there may be
weaknesses, but there is no such thing as
sin.
And yet my Bible tells me that sin
is transgression of the law.
God draws a line and God said, you're
not to cross over that line.
I'm drawing this line because I love you.
I'm not drawing this line because I hate
you.
I'm drawing this line because I love you.
And if you cross over that line, you're
going to hurt yourself.
And we're like so many spoiled children.
We look up and say, oh, oh, I
can cross over that line and I'll hurt
myself.
Let's just see.
And so we cross over the line and
the Bible calls this transgression.
Or God sets up a standard and God
says, now here is my standard.
I want you to be measured by this
standard.
And we say, oh, we prefer to have
our own standard.
And the Bible calls this falling short of
the mark.
There are many different words for sin in
the Bible.
You can't deny it.
Some people say, well, I know how to
handle yesterday's sin.
I'll just cover it over.
And there are people who do this.
There are many people in today's world who
are doing nothing but running from yesterday.
A guilty conscience, a soiled record, a broken
life, heartache.
And yet, instead of saying to God, oh,
God, here's my sin, I've disobeyed.
I've rejected Jesus Christ.
I've been going my own way.
Here it is.
No, they cover it over.
My Bible says, all we like sheep have
gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way.
And the Lord hath laid on him, on
Jesus, the iniquity of us all.
My Bible also tells me he that covereth
his sins shall not prosper.
But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall find
mercy.
Covering sin is the worst thing we can
do.
Now, there we have many ways of covering
our sin.
We can cover our sin by lying.
We can cover our sin by hypocrisy.
We can cover our sin by pretending.
We can even cover our sin with religion.
We can become very religious and people will
say, my, isn't he a godly person?
And yet we are just simply covering our
sin.
No, what shall we do about yesterday's sin?
Shall we cover our sin?
Shall we deny our sin?
No, we should bring our sins to Jesus
Christ.
I can see the apostle Paul as he
stands before Felix and all the other nobles
that were there.
Felix was there.
Felix's wife was there.
She knew what Paul was talking about.
She was a Jewess.
Felix knew what he was talking about.
Because he had studied these things.
There stands this little Jewish apostle.
And he's not a king, ah, but he
is.
He's been caused to reign in life through
Jesus Christ.
He's in chains and yet he's free.
For if the Son shall make you free,
you shall be free indeed.
And Paul stands before these rulers.
He says, you've got to do something about
yesterday's sin.
You can't cover it.
You can't deny it.
You can't live with it like a cancer.
It eats away at your soul.
And one of these days it will condemn
you.
You've got to do something about yesterday's sin.
And I've got the answer for it.
Paul says the answer is Jesus Christ.
One of the remarkable things about the Lord
Jesus Christ was that he forgave sin.
He was criticized for it.
One day he was preaching in a house
and some men opened up the roof and
they lowered a man before the Lord Jesus.
And the man was a paralytic.
And Jesus looked at the man and he
said, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
And the religious crowd immediately was incensed and
said, who is this that forgives sins?
And Jesus said, what's easier to say, thy
sins be forgiven thee or rise, take up
thy bed and walk?
What's the easiest thing to say?
You say one of them.
Can you forgive his sins?
No.
Can you make him well?
No.
Then I'll do it.
Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
Rise, take up thy bed and walk.
And the man was healed and the man
was forgiven.
Jesus turned to the woman who came and
wept at his feet and said, go in
peace.
Thy faith has made thee whole.
Your sins are forgiven.
They brought a woman to him who had
been caught in the act of adultery.
They were going to stone her.
Jesus said, if you're without sin, you cast
the first stone.
And one by one they left.
And Jesus looked at the woman and said,
where are your accusers?
She said, no man, Lord is accusing me.
He said, neither do I accuse you.
Go and sin no more.
And Jesus can come to anyone today.
I don't care how dark the pages of
your diary may be, how stained your life
may be.
Jesus can come to you and take that
whole burden of yesterday's sin and he can
wash it away.
That's a good reason for coming and trusting
Jesus Christ.
You've got to do something about yesterday's sin.
But Paul gave a second reason.
Paul says, Felix, this thing I'm preaching is
logical.
It's reasonable.
I'm not spinning a myth.
I'm not telling a fairy tale.
It's logical for you to trust Jesus Christ.
You must do something about yesterday's sin.
And secondly, you must do something about today's
temptations.
He reasoned with him about righteousness and about
self-control.
Now, he was talking to the right man
about self-control.
It's strange to find out that Felix had
been a slave.
He was a slave.
And the Emperor Claudius had made him a
ruler.
He had lifted him up from slavery and
given him freedom and made him a ruler.
But I would have you to know that
Felix was still a slave.
He was a slave to lust and cruelty
and wickedness.
His wife, quote unquote, Drusilla, had been another
man's wife.
He'd stolen her away from him.
He was a cruel man, a lustful man.
Felix was the kind of a person who
lived for the pleasures of this world.
And as Paul looked him straight in the
eye, he was looking down into his heart.
And Paul was saying, I know the kind
of a life you're living.
It's a life of drink and be merry.
Tomorrow we die.
But I want you to know something, my
friend.
Jesus Christ can give you self-control.
We've got to do something about today's temptations.
You see, my friend, when God saved us,
he saved us to be kings, not slaves.
We usually avoid the book of Ecclesiastes.
I don't know why.
But there's a verse back in Ecclesiastes that
I think is rather interesting.
I want to comment on it for a
moment.
Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and verse 7.
Now, as you know, Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes because
he was searching for the meaning of life.
Ecclesiastes chapter 10 and verse 7.
Here's what he says.
I have seen servants upon horses and princes
walking like servants upon the earth.
Let me read that again.
Ecclesiastes 10, 7.
I have seen servants upon horses and princes
walking like servants upon the earth.
What's he saying?
He's saying the servants are supposed to be
leading the horses and the princes should be
sitting on the horses.
But it's reversed.
Those who should be ruling are serving and
those who should be serving are ruling.
Now God put into your life and mine
certain desires to be our servants.
There's nothing wrong with appetite because appetite tells
you you need food and if you don't
eat, you'll die.
There's nothing wrong with instincts to love or
for protection.
God has built into us servants.
He gave us a body to be a
servant.
He gave us a mind to be a
servant, a will, appetites, desires.
All of these are to be our servants
and they will be our servants if we
are God's servant.
If you and I have yielded to Jesus
Christ, then our body becomes our servant and
his servant.
The desires that are written into our very
nature become his servants and our servants, you
see.
But when sin takes over, everything is reversed
and I'm speaking to some people right now
who are leading the horses instead of riding
the horses.
What I mean by that is those things
that ought to be your servants have become
your masters and God never meant it to
be that way.
When God made us, he made us to
have sovereignty under his sovereignty.
He made us to have power under his
power.
He made us to have liberty under his
direction.
P.T. Forsythe used to say that man's
purpose in life is not to find his
freedom but to find his master.
And you find the right master, you'll have
your freedom.
And some of you today are leading the
horses instead of riding the horses.
And Paul said to Felix, I want to
talk to you about self-control.
You are a slave.
Oh, I know you were lifted up and
given your freedom, but you're a slave.
You're a slave to lust and a slave
to cruelty and a slave to power.
And Jesus Christ can move into your life
and give you victory.
He reasoned with him about self-control.
You've got to do something about today's temptation.
Now, what do most people do with temptation?
Sad to say, most people yield to temptation.
God made us to be kings and we're
slaves.
God made us to enjoy victory and instead
we are victims.
And Paul says the only answer is Jesus
Christ.
You see, Jesus Christ died to take away
yesterday's sin.
Jesus Christ lives to give me power over
today's temptation.
And I tell you on the authority of
the Word of God, that the Lord Jesus
Christ, when He moves into your life, brings
with Him a whole new purpose and a
whole new power and a whole new perspective
on things.
And when temptation comes, it looks cheap and
evil.
And we look at it and say, I'm
sorry, that's not what I'm interested in.
I have something far better.
This is what the resurrection of Jesus Christ
is all about.
We sing in one of our popular gospel
songs, He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives
today.
You ask me how I know He lives?
He lives within my heart.
Paul said in Galatians 2 20, Christ liveth
in me.
Jesus said, because I live, ye also shall
live.
And we do live through Him.
In fact, Paul wrote, for to me to
live is Christ.
Now, my friend, when you trust Jesus Christ,
He moves in and He makes a new
person out of you.
He gives you the ability to say no
to the wrong things and yes to the
right things.
He breaks the shackles of sin and He
sets you free.
If we stop at this point right now,
I think we've given you two good reasons
why a person ought to trust Jesus Christ.
We've got to do something about yesterday's sin.
And Jesus is the only Savior.
We've got to do something about today's temptation.
And Jesus is the only victor.
He breaks the power of canceled sin.
He sets the prisoner free.
His blood can make the foulest clean.
His blood availed for me.
But Paul gives a third reason.
Paul reasoned of righteousness.
You've got to do something about yesterday's sin.
And Paul reasoned of temperance or self-control.
We've got to do something about today's temptation.
And Paul reasoned of judgment to come.
We've got to do something about tomorrow's judgment.
It's rather interesting to note that the preachers
of judgment today are not the preachers in
the pulpit.
They're the scientists in the laboratory.
They are the politicians in the state house.
Many churches today no longer preach that there's
a judgment to come.
They preach the world's going to get better
and better and better and then Jesus will
come when it's good enough for Him.
Oh no.
No.
The word of God tells us very clearly
that there is a judgment to come.
And we're going to face it.
As you read magazines and newspapers and listen
to TV commentaries, one word keeps coming into
the vocabulary.
It's the word crisis.
And crisis is a good Greek word.
It's the word for judgment.
Now is the judgment of this age.
Now shall the prince of this world be
cast out?
It's the word crisis.
The world is coming to a crisis.
It's the crisis of judgment.
Now someone says, Pastor, I came to church
today to have my heart soothed.
I trust that in some measure your heart
has been soothed.
But if you don't know Jesus Christ as
your Savior, I don't want your heart to
be soothed.
I want your heart to be stirred.
I want you to come to the place
where you'll realize you need Jesus Christ.
Paul reasoned about judgment to come.
We have to do something about tomorrow's judgment.
Now there is such a thing as judgment.
As you read history, you find that God
breaks into history with judgment.
God broke into history with the judgment of
the flood.
God broke into history when He buried Sodom
and Gomorrah for the vileness of their sin.
God judged in the past, and God is
judging in the present.
But that's not what He's talking about.
He's talking about a future judgment.
There's a present judgment to sin.
If a person sows sin, he's going to
reap corruption in this life.
If a person sows lies, he's going to
reap it.
If he sows hatred, he's going to reap
it.
There's an awful judgment in this life, but
that's not what He's talking about.
He's talking about a future judgment.
He reasoned of righteousness and temperance and judgment
to come.
Now this judgment is described for us by
the Apostle John, who was the apostle of
love in Revelation chapter 20.
May I read it to you?
Make a few comments on it?
Revelation chapter 20 verse 11, And I saw
a great white throne, and him that sat
on it, from whose face the earth and
the heaven fled away, and there was found
no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God.
And the books were opened, and another book
was opened, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books according
to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead that
were in it, and death and Hades delivered
up the dead that were in them.
And they were judged every man according to
their works.
And death and Hades were cast into the
lake of fire.
This is the second death.
And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake
of fire.
Now please don't get the idea that people
go into heaven by their works.
This judgment is a judgment of the lost.
Verse 15.
And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into a lake
of fire.
How do you get your name written in
the book of life?
By doing good works?
No.
By trying hard and being religious?
No.
I'm glad for people who do good works.
I'm glad for people who try hard and
who seek to live moral lives.
But that's not how we get our name
in the book of life.
We get our name written into the book
of life by trusting Jesus Christ as our
Savior.
The apostles came to Jesus one day, and
they were rejoicing because they had cast out
some demons.
Jesus said, don't rejoice because the demons are
subject to you.
Rejoice because your names are written in heaven.
You say, I'd love to have my name
written in heaven.
You can have your name written in heaven
by receiving Christ as your Savior.
That's why He died.
Would you notice something about this judgment?
There's a judge, but there's no jury.
John didn't say, I saw a great white
throne, and off to one side I saw
a jury.
No, there's a judge, but no jury.
You see, many people have the idea that
when they stand before God, they can argue
their case.
There's a prosecution, but there's no defense.
God is the judge, and God is the
jury, and God is the prosecutor, and no
one will ever be able to stand before
Him with anything in His hand and say,
I deserve to get into heaven.
I deserve to be forgiven.
No.
No, we deserve to go to hell.
We deserve every judgment God can give to
us, but thank God, by the grace of
God, we can be saved.
There's a judge, but no jury.
God makes the decision.
There's a prosecution, but no defense.
People will stand before God, and their mouths
will be shut.
There is a sentence and no appeal.
If a person is tried in one of
our lower courts, he can take it to
a higher court.
He can go as high as the Supreme
Court if he wants to, and there have
been multitudes of cases that have been changed
by the Supreme Court.
There have been sentences that have been changed
by a higher court.
Not so when you stand before God.
When we stand before God, there's a sentence,
but there's no appeal.
Now, who's going to stand before this great
white throne?
The dead.
What's that mean?
The people dead in their sins.
Those who have never trusted Christ.
I get no particular joy talking about this,
but it's in the Scriptures, and I must
be faithful.
There's going to be a coming judgment.
An old Appalachian ballad puts it this way,
I dreamed that the great judgment morning had
dawned and the trumpet had blown.
I dreamed that the nations had gathered for
judgment before the white throne.
And oh, what weeping and wailing as the
lost were told of their fate.
They cried for the rocks and the mountains
they prayed, but their prayers were too late.
The soul that had put off salvation, not
today, I'll be saved by and by.
No time now to think of religion.
At last he had found time to die.
Paul reasoned of judgment to come.
And as Paul reasoned with Felix, he said,
you've got to do something about yesterday's sin.
Jesus died for you.
You've got to do something about today's temptation.
He can live for you and in you.
You've got to do something about tomorrow's judgment.
He's coming for you.
That's the great message of Easter.
John 5, 24, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that heareth my word and believeth
on him that sent me hath everlasting life
and shall not come into judgment, but is
passed from death unto life.
A wonderful spiritual resurrection through faith in Christ.
I say to you again, the most reasonable
thing you can do is trust Jesus Christ.
It solves the greatest problems that you face,
meets the greatest needs that you have today.
How did Felix respond?
He understood and he trembled.
And as Paul reasoned of righteousness and temperance
and judgment to come, Felix trembled.
Why did he tremble?
Because he wasn't righteous.
Why did he tremble?
Because he had no self-control.
Why did he tremble?
Because he was not ready for judgment.
And anybody in that condition ought to tremble.
But please don't do what Felix did.
He trembled and he said no.
You say, Felix didn't say no, he just
said later on.
He said no.
When I have a convenient season, I'll talk
with you about this.
And he did talk with Paul.
And Paul urged him day after day to
give his heart to Jesus Christ, put his
faith in the Savior.
And Felix said no.
Somebody here today is saying, I do intend
to become a Christian.
I know that I have sin that needs
to be forgiven.
I know I have temptations I can't handle.
I know judgment's coming.
I can't face God without Jesus Christ.
I do intend to be saved, but not
now.
Well, if not now, when?
Well, before I die.
When are you going to die?
Well, you don't know.
Then you better be saved now.
Today while you hear His voice, harden not
your heart.
May I close by reading you some devastating
words from Proverbs.
Here's what God says to people like Felix
who tremble and delay.
Because I have called and ye refused.
I have stretched out my hand and no
man regarded.
But ye have said it not my counsel
and would have none of my reproof.
I also will laugh at your calamity.
I will mock when your fear cometh.
When your fear cometh as desolation and your
destruction cometh as a whirlwind.
When distress and anguish come upon you, then
shall they call upon me, but I will
not answer.
They shall seek me early, but they shall
not find me, because they hated knowledge and
did not choose the fear of the Lord.
They would have none of my counsel.
They despised all my reproof.
Oh, my friend, this is why the prophet
Isaiah says, seek ye the Lord while ye
may be found.
Call ye upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake His way.
Come to the Lord.
Let Him save you.
Felix could have been saved that day.
He should have turned to his wife and
said, we've been living in sin.
We deserve the wrath of God.
But this man is telling the truth.
Jesus is alive and He can change us.
And Felix and Drusilla could have been born
again that day and life would have been
different for them.
But instead they said, not today, some other
time.
Years ago you could have been born again,
but you said, no, I'll put it off.
I'll put it off.
I plead with you, put it off no
longer.
I have given to you three compelling reasons
why you should trust Jesus Christ.
You've got to do something about yesterday's sin
and He died for you.
You've got to do something about today's temptation.
He can live in you.
You've got to do something about tomorrow's judgment.
He is coming for you.
Will you trust Him today?
Heavenly Father, we pray that all who have
rejected the Savior who hear this word might
trust Him today.
Oh God, cause them to realize the solemnity
of this hour, that decisions are being made
that will count for eternity.
May there be many here who will trust
the Savior and be born again.
For we pray it in His name and
for His sake.
Amen.