The Tragic Case of Felix

The Tragic Case of Felix | Acts 24:1-27
- Tragic stories like Job's, the nation of Israel, the evil kings of old, always come to mind when talking about the greatest tragedies in history
- However, most of them resulted in repentance and salvation
- The true tragedies of Scriptures are those that started in ease and prosperity and lead to damnation (e.g. Judas, king Herod, the Pharaoh, king Saul, king Ahaz, etc)
- Now, we come to another tragic story -- the story of Felix, who heard the Gospel message from Paul, but remained unconverted
- This may be the greatest tragedy in the book of Acts
- Let us be well warned by his case. Let's not be satisfied with being so close to the kingdom of God but that we are IN the kingdom of God!
Outline:
I. The Jewish Case Against Paul
- The Jews (accusers) came prepared, scheming, saying hypocritical things to the Roman governor Felix.
- The grave accusations they gave: He was stirring up riots . . . He was a leader of a sect . . . He was profaning the temple.
- (Pastor Ian discussed in passing about the missing verse 7 in ESV. KJV/NKJV translations have them. So, are the conspiracy theories true about our Bible being not credible? No, textual variances are actually very normal and an innocent part of transmission of the text.)
II. Paul's Defence
- The accusations were well refuted by Paul in verse 11-16.
- He took the opportunity to tell them that the Way he was preaching was backed by the Law and the Prophets, and instead accused them of being sectarian.
- The Bible is more concerned about being spiritual Jews than about being ethnic Jews.
- The true spiritual Israel are those who believe in Christ.
III. Felix's Response
- Felix was alarmed by these things.
- Paul must have been thrilled at the possibility of him being convicted.
- However, Felix's conviction did not lead him to repentance.
- Conviction doesn't mean conversion.
- We may be sorry for our sins and fearful of the consequences of it and yet remain uncoverted and unsaved (2 Cor. 7:10).
Felix had an opportunity to hear the message of salvation directly from the lips of Paul. For God to give us the message of salvation that we might be saved is of His grace and a tremendous gift. Yet many people waste the opportunity.We too have been presented the Way of salvation. What will our story be - a tragedy or glory?