The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the Book of Acts. Please open your Bibles to Acts chapter 24, verses 22 through 27.

Tony Clark: And men, we have to be careful because of our power of persuasion with our words, and we can lure some woman away from her husband. Women love to hear how they look. They love to hear how they're perceived. They love to hear good things about them. If you get some slick-talking brother or something, I'm telling you, he can lure you, it doesn't matter who you are.

And this woman, other manuscripts talked about how she knew her beauty and how men came after her because of that. And just be very careful because no matter how strong you think you are, men, our weakness, our kryptonite, is women. It's just all to it. And you can think you're all that and a bag of chips, but I'm just gonna tell you, are you stronger than David?

David was a man after God's own heart. Show me anybody else in the Bible that was said about. David was the man. Well, you know, Pastor Tony, I don't have to worry about that. I'm old now. David was 50 years old when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. Fifty. Well, I'm strong, Pastor Tony. So was Samson.

See, Satan will always raise up a Delilah. He will always raise up a Bathsheba. He will always do that because he knows us. He's been at this thing for 6,000 years. He knows mankind. And we have to be very, very careful. Ladies, how you accentuate your physical beauty, because it can be a stumbling block. Now, I'm not saying you got to go around with a potato sack on and looking like a hot mess. I'm not saying that at all. You can't help your beauty, you can't help that.

But all I'm saying is just be very careful that you don't use that power that you have, because there's a power that women have over men. You don't use that power to lure a man away. And guys, especially for those of you who have the gift of gab, that you don't use that to flatter a woman, because a woman loves to hear how she looks. Ladies, you all just got it bad when it comes to that. You all love it.

Especially, it's like you heard the heavenly choir sing if someone says, "It looks like you lost weight." It's like you went to heaven for that moment. I mean, losing weight, it's like you won the lottery. You all just got that bad. And men, we just don't care. I mean, so what? You're not a teenager anymore, so what you gained some LBs? Like me, you got the COVID-19 pounds. Okay, so what? We don't care. You're all depressed, "What's wrong with you?" "I gained all this weight and I'm just feeling bad." And us men, we're just like, "Oh, we're so over that."

And we don't care. We love you the way you are. We don't care. Some guys do, some guys fool around and go, "Look like you're going to eat that? Look like you've put on a couple LBs there." That's something you never say, men. You are a, as my son would say, you're a terrible human being if you're saying stuff like that to your wife. So we just got to be careful. And Drusilla was a very beautiful woman, and she knew how to use that beauty in a negative way.

Look at verse 25. It says, "Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, 'Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.'" Now, I want you to notice the aspects of the faith in Christ that Paul reasoned with them about. The Greek word for "reason" is dialegomai. It's where we get our English word "dialogue" from.

It means a discussion, a dialogue. It wasn't a sermon. He had a discussion with them about the Christian faith. A back and forth, a give and take, a Q&A about the Christian faith. When was the last time you reasoned with someone about the Christian faith? First Peter 3:15 says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give every man an answer the reason of the hope that lies within you with meekness and fear." And this is what Paul was doing. Felix and Drusilla asked Paul for a reason of the hope of Christianity, and he had a dialogue with them.

Are you ready to do this with those around you? What if at the job, and you're keeping social distance, you got that mask on, and someone says, "You know what? I just remember before the rona, you saying something about Christ. Tell me a little bit more about that." Are you ready to reason with them, have a back and forth? And so many people don't reason with people about the faith because they're afraid that they may ask something that they can't give an answer to.

Just say, "You know what? Oh hey, that was a good one. Okay, I'm going to go get that answer and get back with you on tomorrow's break. You just be ready. I'm gonna have that." Or do you just go, "I just don't want to look stupid." Oh, so now it's about you and how you look? I thought it was about Christ. We're not going to know all the answers. There are 31,102 verses in the Bible, or 31,173, depending upon what version you're looking at. Eleven hundred eighty-nine chapters. You're not gonna know it all.

You're not gonna know it all. You just keep reading, keep studying, and just say, "Okay, I'm going to get back with you tomorrow," and you go and get that answer and get back with them. But when was the last time you reasoned with someone? This is why we have evangelism classes, we had foundation classes, all this before the rona. We try to do it online, but folks fool around. We try. We're offering this stuff. You still got to take it. We're offering this stuff.

Every fourth Thursday of the month, Colonel Mason is taking a whole group of folks and they just going out on the street around our neighborhood, right here, our church neighborhood, and just talking to folks. Every time they go out, they are leading folks to Christ. They're talking to atheists, Muslims, agnostics, you name it, they talking to all kind of folks, but because they know how to talk to people about the faith, they're leading these folks to Christ all the time. Praying with folks. And they're just going around the neighborhood here every fourth.

Now, God's willing, November, they won't be doing it on the fourth because folks will be filling up on turkey fourth Thursday of the month. But they're going to do it on the third Thursday. And you can just go out, just see what they're doing, see how they do it. And they're not going to be like, "Oh, we got a newbie here. Let's put them out there, throw them to the wolves." No, just listen to what they're saying. Pray as they're talking. Just great thing, great thing to do. But you need to know how to dialegomai. You need to know how to dialogue with people about the Christian faith. You just need to know how to do that.

Now, what aspects of Christianity did Paul reason with them about? Notice the second part of verse 25. He says, "righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come." Now, this is the same thing Jesus said the Holy Spirit would come into the world to do. In John 16:8, when he says, "And when He," referring to the Holy Spirit, "has come, He will convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." See, Christianity is more than just some theological views and cute catchphrases, "too blessed to be stressed," and all these kind of little catchphrases. Christianity is more than just cute catchphrases and some theological views.

Christianity confronts our lives and the way we're living them. Paul probably told them what he would later tell the Corinthian believers in 2 Corinthians 5:21. He says, "For He," referring to God, "made Him," referring to Jesus, "who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." In other words, we can't make ourselves righteous. Please don't try. I did that before earlier on in my Christian walk. I tried to make myself righteous. We're only righteous when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

And when we do this, He clothes us in His righteousness according to Isaiah 61:10. Righteousness means right standing before God and right living. We can't make ourselves righteous. It is given to us when we put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Then Paul, notice, told them about the need for self-control in the Christian life. Oh my goodness. We live in a world that knows absolutely very little, if any at all, about self-control. We overindulge in almost everything, be it eating, TV, whatever we're doing online, we overindulge in everything.

The self-control spoken of in the Bible, I don't want you to miss this, can only be obtained by the Holy Spirit according to Galatians 5:22 and 23. This self-control is more than human determination or willpower or positive thinking. It is a supernatural power that comes from God to empower us to do what we cannot do on our own, in our own strength, or according to our own merit. It is a supernatural power that comes from God. It's not, "Oh yeah, I wish I could, I wish I could, oh, I'm just confessing it." Cut it out. You can confess until you're blue in the face.

The power has to come from God, not by your confessing and not by your willpower. "I'm strong-willed. When I was a kid, they always told me I was strong-willed, so I'm going to be strong-willed." You'll fall flat on your face when you try to do anything in your own power to try to live the Christian life. You can't do it. I can't do it. We need a supernatural power. This is why Jesus said before you go out and try to talk to this world about me, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

He said, "You better wait in Jerusalem until you're filled with power from on high." Said, "Don't try to go out there in your own strength. Those wolves out there will eat you up." But you need a supernatural power. "You shall receive power." Dynamis is that Greek word. It's a dynamic power, a dynamic godly enablement that can only come from God. Can't do it in your own strength. Some of you, I just need to say this, some of you have been trying to live Christianity in your own strength, and you wonder why you keep falling, you keep falling, and you keep falling. You can't do it in your own strength. It's a reliance upon the Spirit of God to come upon you to empower you to do what you can't do on your own.

Then Paul talked to them about judgment to come. Paul talked to them about the nearness of judgment. The statistics are still the same: ten out of ten people still die. But the problem is most people don't spend the time preparing for that judgment. We're too focused on this life instead of focusing on eternity. Second Corinthians 5:10 says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." Hebrews 9:27 says it's appointed unto man to die once, and then comes the judgment.

See, here's the thing. How did Felix respond when Paul reasoned with him about righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come? The third part of verse 25 says, "Felix was afraid and answered, 'Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you.'" Felix trembled when he heard about these things, especially the judgment to come. Why? Because hearing about judgment shocks people out of their fantasy world that they live in, that tricks them to think that they're going to live forever on this earth. That's what judgment does. It shocks us.

This is why I used to dread doing funerals, because of the emotional sadness of it all. But funerals cause people to hit the brakes and say that, "Oh, stop this madness of a train called life and realize that you won't be here forever." And it shocks people into thinking not only will you not be here forever, but there's an accountability that comes for how you live this life here. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That's what the scripture says. And so hearing about judgment, it shocks people out of their fantasy world.

Living in a fantasy world. This world is like going down the hole of Alice in Wonderland. You're going into a just a tricked-out madness of a world down this rabbit hole. And you got to realize that we're going to die one day. If the Lord doesn't come back in the rapture, we're going to die one day and we're going to give an account of how we lived in these bodies on this earth. And we're going to give an account of it.

See, what is another trick that Satan uses when people are confronted with these things? Felix said in the last part of verse 25, "Go away for now; and when I have a convenient time I will call for you." His trick, and going back to the title, is procrastination. When people are confronted with judgment to come, they say like Felix, "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time then I will call for you." Or you think that you have time to get things right with God.

The people in Chicago felt this way in 1871. They felt that they had time whether to accept Christ or not after hearing D.L. Moody preach the gospel to them. Well, on October 8th, and it lasted through October 10th, it is rumored that Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern and started the great Chicago fire that killed over 300 people. Most of them were at the crusade. This is why 2 Corinthians 6:2 says, "Now is the time, today is the day of salvation," because you never know when death is going to come for each one of us.

So we have no room to procrastinate about spiritual things, procrastinate about our walks with God, procrastinate about... and let me tell you something, and getting right with God is not always going to be convenient. "When I have a convenient time then I will call for you." It's not always going to be convenient. Because getting right with God may mean moving out from somebody you're living with and you're not married. Getting right with God may mean quitting a job that has you doing unethical things, but you want to get right with God, so you got to leave that job. See, it's not always going to be convenient getting right with God, but the rewards are eternal.

Look at verses 26 and 27 as we wrap it up. It says, "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 Porcius Festus succeeded Felix; and Felix, wanting to do the Jews a favor, left Paul bound." Now, as we can see that Felix had no appetite for spiritual things, but material ones. He would often call for Paul to talk to him, not because he was interested in the things of God, but for bribery. He was out for the money. He wanted to see if Paul would give him money to release him.

And Paul said, "I won't be bought. You can't buy me." And maybe Felix heard about the large amount of money that Paul brought back to Jerusalem to help the church there that was going through a famine. And he's like, "Oh, you got access to a few dollars. I kind of want a little bit of that too. So Paul, come on, let's talk some more." And then he's like, "He ain't even offering to give me any money. Let me call him back again." And he kept doing that. And Paul said, "Hey, I'm not doing it. You won't buy me."

Now, however, after Felix mishandled a riot between the Jews and the Greeks in Caesarea, he was called back to Rome by Caesar himself. And the reason why he didn't get into big trouble is because of his brother Pallas, who was friends with Caesar, interceded for him. But Felix was replaced after two years of being on the job by Porcius Festus. Now, what happened to Drusilla? It is believed that she went on a shopping spree in Europe, where she was killed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii and died at the age of 21 along with her son.

Now, let me conclude with this. In this message, we saw the greatest nation in the world is procrastination. We all procrastinate in some areas, but there is one area that we cannot afford to procrastinate in, and that is when it comes to our eternal life. There is judgment to come, and the question is: Are you ready for it? Are you ready to meet with God and give an account of your life here on this earth? You can get right by repenting of your sin and accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior.

And when you do this, He will forgive you and clothe you in His righteousness, because the Bible is clear that our righteousness is as filthy rags. Meaning that there is nothing that we can do to make ourselves righteous. We have to be clothed in the Lord's righteousness. And once we do that, we will be ready for His judgment. And the Bible says that many of those, when we get before the Lord, the rewards and crowns that He's given us for our faithfulness here, that we're going to lay them down at His feet and say, "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and praise, for You have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and nation of people."

See, that's the way we go before God, saying, "O God, You're worthy." And that's how you get ready. Are you ready to stand before God? Are you ready to stop procrastinating and say, "Oh, tomorrow, I'll get right with God next week, next week, I promise." We don't know around what corner death is. And this is why the Bible says, "Today, if you hear His voice, don't harden your heart." Today is the day of salvation. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow isn't promised. All we have is today. And it's time to stop fooling around with our spiritual life.

Just think about it. We should be spending every moment we have here because eternity is a long time. The Bible says our life here is but a vapor. It's here one minute, gone the next. You know the word "vapor"? The Greek word is, you know when it's cold outside and you blow and you see that cold air come out? That's how our life is. Somebody just died at 107 and we like, "Ooh, they old." Yeah, maybe, but that's nothing. Our life is as a vapor. Here one minute, gone the next.

My parents would have been celebrating their 61st anniversary yesterday. And I said, "Good grief." I said, "That is a long time." But when you look at life and when you look at eternity, that's nothing. Are you ready to meet with God? Aren't you tired of fooling around with your spiritual walk and kind of doing this thing and having what I call convenient Christianity? You practice your Christianity when it's convenient for you. Eternity is a long time and you want to make sure that you're right with Him.

Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for your word. Thank you for sharing these things with us because you love us. And dear God, I just pray for your precious people here and online. I pray for those who need to come back to you. I pray for those who need to come to you. I pray for those who need to get right with you. And Lord, may today be the day of salvation for many today. And if that's you today, just pray this simple prayer after me. Just say, "Lord Jesus, forgive me. I believe you died on the cross and were buried and rose again. Come into my heart. I make you my Lord and Savior. Help me to live for you from this moment forward. In Jesus' name, Amen."

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