verse six but when Paul perceived that the one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees he cried out in the council men and brethren I am a Pharisee notice this I am a Pharisee the son of a Pharisee of the hope and resurrection of the dead I am called in question Now notice chapter twenty-four. Verse twenty-four. And after certain days when Felix came with his wife, Priscilla, which was a Jewess, she sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled. And answer, Go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. He hoped also that money should have been given him of Paul, that he might loose him. Wherefore he sent for him the author, and commune with him. But after two years Portius Hestus came, and Felix into Felix' room, and Felix willing to show the Jews of pleasure let all bounce. So often we've made a remark about the stakes in our advertising. I said the ads in, the first one, the fearless prisoner, and I'm the frightened judge, and I put that down for eleven o'clock, and also the one for tonight, the true, the darkness is past, and the true light now shine, that I could have put in. This thought also that there are none so blind as those that will not see. I didn't mention the chapters at all. And so he went back and got one of the old ads, and he put in there. My first sermon's warning was to be from chapter twenty-four, and the second one from chapter twenty-five. I guess you saw that in the paper. So we'll have to be a little more careful this morning from now on. But this morning I want to speak on something we didn't get into while we were taking up our previous messages on Acts, although tonight we will be in Chapter Twenty-six, Lord Willing. Tonight and the next Sunday, two meetings also, next Lord Willing. We, Lord Willing. I want to notice something about this fearless prisoner, that is, the Apostle Paul. Paul was fearless before he was converted. A very fearless man. I will seek to prove that. But we find the judge, the one who was going to try the Apostle Paul, and he was more frightened than the prisoner because it says, And so I want to emphasize those two points this morning. When you start to think of the Apostle Paul, he says, I am a Pharisee. I am the son of a Pharisee. And there are other references, too, to that very fact that we may have occasion to revert you. What is a Pharisee? What was a Pharisee? What did a Pharisee believe? What was his religion. Well, there are sixteen things I think we can refer to briefly. I'm going to try and skim over them as fast as I can. What a really a Pharisee was in those days. The Pharisee trusted in tradition. That was his strong point. He trusted in tradition. For instance, he believed in the right of circumcision. circumcised the eighth day and he tells us that very definitely over in Philippians three he believed in circumcision now there are those today in the religious world and for the last two or three hundred years they have tried to give us a counterpart to circumcision in the Old Testament and they have introduced sprinkling of infants they have introduced also confirmation. And they claim that this is a substitute or it's a counterpart to circumcision in the Old Testament. There is no such scripture in your Bible for any such thing. Has this thing, baptism, or confirmation, a counterpart to circumcision in the Old Testament? And yet we have those today who seek to practice that. But here's the Apostle Paul, and he trusted in a traditional rite of circumcision. And you'll find people today, and they trust in infant sprinkling. They trust in baptism and confirmation that it has no foundation whatever in the Word of God. Also, the Pharisees, they trusted in their natural link, like the Apostle Paul, when he said, I am of the stock of Israel. I belong to God's earthly chosen people, and he was proud of that fact. That was true of every Pharisee. He trusted also in his tribal family background. He said, I am of the tribe of Benjamin. And he really believed that. that he had some merit in being of the tribe of Benjamin. He also trusted in his national and family religion. He said, I'm a Hebrew of the Hebrews. And he put a lot of confidence in that fact. He also trusted in the fact that he was of the sect of the Pharisees. He tells us that. and he said, ah, the strictest sect, I am a Pharisee. He said, I was born a Pharisee. I am the son of the Pharisee. Yes, the Apostle Paul trusted in that fact. He felt he had a very rich heritage as he reflected over the past. Well, you know, the Jews in the eighth of John believe practically the same thing. Lord Jesus is speaking to them about being in bondage. Why they said we're in bondage for no man. We are Abraham's sake. We were never in bondage. And these Pharisees, they were speaking of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We have a rich inheritance. A rich heritage. We can trace our ancestry back to Abraham. We're in the seed of Abraham. What did the Lord Jesus say to them? You're in bondage to sin, and you're a slave to the law. You're trying to put some trust in your rich inheritance. And at the same time, you're in bondage to sin. You're a slave to the law. How do you know you meet people like that today? They talk about their heritage. My father was a preacher. My grandfather was a preacher. My great-grandfather was a preacher. My mother was this. My grandmother was that. Friend, your heritage. I care not how rich it is. Your heritage will not take you to heaven. Think of Timothy. He had a wonderful mother. He had a wonderful grandmother. They brought him up on their knees. They brought him up straight in the Scripture. He says, from a child I've known the Holy Scripture. Paul rephrased him, from a child thou hast known the Holy Scripture. But Timothy did not know Christ until later on in his life when the Apostle Paul led him to the Lord. He had a wonderful heritage, a rich heritage, but that did not seal. He needed Christ. And again the Pharisees they trusted in zeal. The Lord Jesus, speaking of these Pharisees over in Matthew, twenty-four, twenty-three, why, he says, you'll compass, see, and land, to make one proselyte to Judaism. And when you've made that proselyte, when you've covered so much territory, when you've done so much work, and you've got a convert to your religion, he's twofold more the child of hell than you are. I need not draw reference to people today with their endless zeal. They ride bicycles. They'll come to your door. They're endless in their efforts. Talk about zeal. Others, they'll come knocking at your door on certain occasions. A car will stop and you're blocked and three or four people will tumble out, maybe women, maybe men, and they'll come to your door and, oh, their persistence is. Their zeal, they put real Christians to shame. But grand zeal won't save anybody. Here says the Lord Jesus, you'll compass sea and land. You'll go across continents. You'll sail across seas to get a convert to your religion. And when you've got one, when you convince one that you're right and he adopts your religion, he's twofold more the child of hell than you are. You haven't got a child of God when you end up with all your zeal and effort. You've got a child of the devil, a child of hell. Now that's the words of the Lord Jesus. They're not my words. Then again he trusted in self-righteousness, wisest concerning the law of things. That's what the Apostles said. And also he trusted in sincerity. How sincere the Apostle Paul was. You can hardly find a more sincere man than the Apostle. If you read his conversion, if you read what happened before his conversion and after his conversion, why sincerity was one of his strong points. But his sincerity didn't seem. He was willing to suffer for what he believed was right. Sincerity. That was true of the Pharisees. They trusted in doing God's service. Paul says, I thought I was doing God's service. But he wasn't. He was sincere. Also, they trusted in fasting. The Lord refers, using an illustration to the Pharisee in the eighteenth of Luke, why says I fast twice in a week but he didn't get saved he didn't get justified since fasting is self-denial well friend you can fast twice in a week you can fast seven days in a week and that won't take you to heaven and Paul trusted entirely for the Pharisees did that the man referred to again in Luke chapter eighteen he said I give tithes of all that I possess why is a man he tied and the apostle Paul as a Pharisee he tied he gave a tent maybe he gave more but that didn't save the Apostle Paul and the Pharisee trusted in a ritual The Pharisees wore what they called the phylactery, a little box, had it pinned on or sewed on to their garment. And inside that phylactery, that little box, was Old Testament scripture. And the idea was, and the reason they wore it on the skirt of their garment, their whole walk was controlled by the Word of God. That was a ritual, the phylactery. They took the word of God with them wherever they go. If you were to tuck the Bible under your arm wherever you went, they'd be trying to get a place for you up in Millard Street. You're a fanatic. You go down Pine Street or Broad Street with a Bible under your arm, they'll give you a wide berth. They think they're not. or they'll say he's also supposed to be a preacher carrying the Bible. But here are these Pharisees. They had the Bible wherever they went. And they weren't ashamed of having that philactory, that box with the Scriptures in it, publicly seen. They were so sincere. Yes, Paul trusted in that ritual. He trusted in separation. For the very word, parasy means separation. Separation from the word. No questionable places did he visit. He didn't mingle with the wicked and the ungodly. He was separate. He trusted in morality, cleanness. His life was clean above reproof. He trusted in honesty, as the Pharisee in Luke twenty-four that the Lord refers to. He says, I am not as other men or as this public. My life is set. My life is clean. It's above reproofs. He trusted in faithfulness or loyalty to the temple, the house of God like some today. They're so loyal to their church and they think that's going to see them through. Faithfulness to their church. They trusted the Pharisees in good works. Oh, they believed in good works. While I was in Canada this past summer, I've known Arthur Fryer all my life. Ever since I was a little fellow, I knew Arthur Fryer. His two sons were saved at the chapel. One was a fine preacher. On this occasion, I found out that Arthur and his wife were coming to the chapel. I said, well, his wife is the sister of the correspondent. Well, I said, that's something. After all these years in Arthur's past seventy, he's coming to the chapel. And so I went to see him. And he said, well, Lester, he said, you know, I was an altar boy in the Anglican church. And that's one of the high Episcopalian orders. He said, I was an altar boy. And he was proud of how he spent those years as an altar boy, this white garment carrying the candles and all the rest of it. And he said, Prayer book is what I read all the time. I said, Arthur, that's just a lot of formality. You look there in your prayer book and you find that the same funeral ceremony is for all. Regardless of who dies, whether it's a religious person or whether it's a wicked, ungodly person, they use the same language, they read the same portion. here end of reading number one, here end of reading number two. I said, isn't that so? Well, yeah, he says, you're right. Well, I said, according to that, everybody goes to heaven. The same message is given at the funeral of all. It's just a ritual they go through. And I said, the same wedding, sir, the same thing. and it's all in that prayer book everything is formality it's literature and so I tried to give them the gospel I said Arthur that's not going to save me I spent two hours talking about the need of knowing Christ and talk about a faithful man I'll tell you the church door never opened without Arthur Friar being there By the way, I left his house and went down to my sister's home only about four doors down. As soon as I got in the phone rang, and I got the news of my young brother's death the same evening. But you know, the next morning, early Arthur was at the back door, and he came with his prayer book. He got stirred up. He began to realize that this wasn't the answer. there was something lacking and he was disturbed when I left I don't know whether anything has happened since but in other words you might call him a real Pharisee a real Pharisee and the Pharisees believed in saying prayers the Lord says you make long prayers you stand in the marketplace and you love to be seen as you go through your long, journalistic prayers. That was a Pharisee. As I've already mentioned, he trusted in typing. Here are sixteen things, and the Apostle Paul says, I'm a Pharisee, I'm the son of the Pharisee, I'm of the strictest, strictest sects of the Pharisee. That was the Apostle Paul, and I tell you, he fought for that. He was a brave, fearless man. But is this saying they should be the chief enemies and opponents of the Lord Jesus Christ? Did the Lord Jesus Christ not put his approval upon all these good things? All those things meant nothing if they didn't have Jesus Christ. and it was because the Son of God tried to convince them of this, that the Pharisees became the most unspoken opponents and enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the Lord Jesus Christ, He tried His best to convince them, although they were His opponents, His enemies, He rebuked them. He exposed them for their hypocrisy. He warned them of coming judgment. And last night at Norton, to be sure, I turned over to Matthew twenty-three, and eight times he uses the word woe. He warned them of the coming woes that were coming upon them because of their hypocrisy. They didn't have Christ with all their good works and their sincerity. And yet the Lord Jesus dealt very patiently, very graciously, and yet he spoke very sternly to them to try and bring them to repentance, try and show them their wrongs. Nice to notice that he received, he saved all who came, all who believed, all turn from all their good works their good deeds and their tradition and their heritage and everything like that they turn from it and they came to Jesus Christ as lost sinners he received them all such as he received Nicodemus John three and the Apostle Paul on this vocation I want to say this that all religious people are not hypocrites. A lot of religious people, and they're not hypocrites, I've heard to Mr. Friar, Arthur Friar, that man would do anything for him. A wonderful nation, any time, night, and day, he'd go to inconvenience and make a sacrifice to help him. He was no hypocrite. he was sincere but the trouble is he was sincerely wrong he was misled just like the Apostle Paul was in his experience there are a lot today that are misled dare to see they've been brought up under the impression even from children now if you do good Jesus will love you. They're told that when they're children. My mother never told me that. If you'd be good now, Jesus will love you. Mother says you're a little sinner and you need a good woman again. And that's the truth. There was a man here about three weeks ago at the chapel. He tried to tell us that children were sinless. children were sinless. I said, my Bible says they go astray as soon as they'd be born, speak, and lie. My Bible says, behold, her sheep and an equanimous sin that my mother could see. How in the world can you get a sinless baby from a sinful mother and a sinful father? That's an absolute impossibility. The only faith that was ever born into this world sinless was Jesus Christ. And he had no earthly father. He was born of the Holy Spirit. And so we're born sinners and we need to be born again the Bible very clear about. So many are like the Apostle Paul. They're blind to these. They're blind to the glories of a risen Christ as the answer to all the requests. And Paul speaks later on of all that he did as a strict, sincere, honest Pharisee. He says, I do count as the dumbest of the virtues that I might have Christ. Christ met all his answers. Without Jesus, Christ, friend, you may have a good character, a good light, engage in plenty of good work, be very loyal and faithful to your church, be very sincere and very honest and very moral, but if you haven't Jesus Christ, you haven't any. And if man could get to heaven by his good work, mistake he ever made by coming into the world. The very fact that Jesus Christ came into the world was to prove to man that man couldn't save himself. He needed a savior for all of sin and come short of the glory of God. Now he come to this frightened judgment. The Apostle Paul was fearless before his conversion, but after he got saved, he was more fearless. He stood before the council with the high priests. He faced them up, they didn't flinch. He stood and he faced an angry mob. And he stood and he faced Felix and then Pestus and then Agrippa. He backed off from nowhere. He was a fearless young man, a fearless Christian. If he was fearless as an unconverted Pharisee, I'll tell you he was more fearless as a born-again Christian. He had nothing to fear. But you notice this frightened judge. Paul had reason with this judge of righteousness, of temperance, and of judgment to come. The Bible says Felix trembled. He was scared. He was shaken to his very heels. He trembled. Yes, he was frightened. In reading that portion, we didn't get time to get into it when we spoke around that chapter a couple of weeks ago. You'll notice that he... tried to avoid making a decision on Jesus Christ who stood before him because of the absence of the Chief Captain. He says, when the Chief Captain Lysias has come, I'll hear more about this. He tried to avoid passing a decision when he knew in his own heart that Paul was innocent. Well, there's something else. Why was it? He postponed the decision and said, when I have a convenient season, I'll call you, Paul. Was it lust? Was there a woman in his life? Yes. The queen, the wife, his wife who sat beside him, he had taken her from another man. And they were living in adulthood. could that have been behind paul saying it's not convenient right now paul when i have a convenience season i'll call but right now is just not convenient i've known men and women to say that the reason i'm not saved now is just not convenient There was something in their life, a person in their life. Therefore, they're not ready to be saved. Could it be money? You know, one of the strangest things is, on this occasion, if you read those verses we read at the end of chapter twenty-four, he thought money should have been given him of Paul. Therefore, he sent for him, you know. How in the world did he think that Paul had money? the poor preacher who had to build tents, make tents, to make a living. Where did he get the idea the Apostle Paul had money? Was it that he might have heard that Paul sent a lot of money to the poor saints who were at Jerusalem, and of course that money came from the Christian? It wasn't Paul. Paul said on one occasion, I have nothing. And yet here is this man, Felix, and he says for Paul quite often, hoping that Paul was given someone. In other words, he could be bribed. He could be bribed. Paul, you give me so much money, and I'll let you off. Was he saying, well, it's not convenient today, Paul, you don't have the money I'd like. you're not offering me any money and he sent for him the offerer hoping that Paul would come across with some money I'll tell you one thing friend you can't bribe the real judge you'll never bribe him the Lord Jesus Christ he knows all about you you can't bribe God you can't fool God you can't deceive God he knows everything and he's not interested in your money a millionaire can't buy his way into heaven I read a story recently of a trial in Turkey many years ago and he was a poor man he was clutching the deeds and documents to a house and a piece of land. He was watching them in the courtroom, and this was his evidence that this house and property were his. And it was all that he had, the poor man. But according to Turkish law, they had to have something in addition to that. They had to have witnesses, in addition to the deed. and documents they had to have witnesses. There was a rich man who wanted that house and that piece of property, and he challenged the poor man in court, and the rich man had the witness. quite a lot of it. And furthermore, the rich man handed the judge, who was a young judge, he handed him a bag with five hundred ducasins, ducasins, five hundred Turkish coins. He's going to bribe the judge, he's going to buy the judge off. So the court proceeded. And the poor man, he stood there clutching his deed and his documents, and that this was all he had, he'd worked hard. And then the rich man, he got up, but he claimed that the property was his. He had the witnesses to prove. And he arrested his case on that fact. the judge when time came for him to speak he said to the rich man he says you have been much mistaken in this suit about this poor man not having any wit and the judge reached down and he pulled out from under his desk And he said to the rich man, I have five hundred witnesses that you're guilty and the poor man's free. And he says the poor man owns the property. The five hundred witnesses were five hundred pieces of money. And the rich man tried to bribe the judge that he didn't get rid of. Let me tell you one thing, then. God knows all about your excuses. And he's not impressed. Just think of the excuses you've made time and time again. You're going to get saved. You're going to get saved. You're going to get saved. And you're going to do this and you're going to do that. And it's not convenient right now. I want to settle this sometime. God is writing down all these things. They're not impressing God one bit. And in that coming day of judgment, God will produce all this evidence, these witnesses. You had your chance. You had your opportunity. But you said, no, it's not convenient right now. You have had many convenient seasons. If ever you've been to this chapel, you've had a convenient season. You've had a convenient season when a loved one took sick. Or maybe a loved one passed away. That was a convenient season to get this question settled. And when the Spirit of God showed with you and your heart pumped in your breath, As you heard the gospel, that was a convenient time to get this thing settled. Every time you hear the gospel preached is a convenient season. And this morning as you sit there, this is a convenient season. What's wrong with right now? Yes, God will have all kinds of evidences and witnesses to condemn you in a day to come. plenty of evidence. Yet this king says it's not convenient. Paul, when I have a more convenient season of alcohol, nothing is gained by delay. Do you think of some time in the future? You'll be more willing, more able to repent than right now. No. You'll never be more willing, more able than right now. Do you think you will have less temptation sometime in the future? Then you'll get saved. Likely you have a temptation now, and that's making you hesitate. Do you think the time will come when you have less temptation? and then you'll get sane no the devil will see to it you'll always have temptation do you think for a moment that the cross will ever be lighter or the gospel will ever be easier to believe than right now no their cross will never be lightened and the gospel will never be any easier to believe than this morning right now do you think that you will ever be in the future sometime more acceptable to god than right now no you'll never be more acceptable to god as a sinner than right now You can't make yourself better. You can't clean up or turn over a new leaf. God will receive you like the Father. Receive the prodigal and all is ranked. This is a convenient season, friend, for you. Do you think God will be more lenient or more willing to save you sometime in the future than right now? No. God is just as willing to save you right now as he'll ever be. and God never will be lenient with the sinner till that sinner comes to Christ then God believes but not till then but God hates your sin now is the accepted time now is the day of salvation this is your convenient season are you going to take advantage of you have a sound mind that makes this very convenient how many times in my life i've gone to the hospital to see someone who was sick suddenly taken ill only to be met either by the doctor or the nurse or by members of family mr wilson it's not convenient to grin right now he's under sedation mind is straying and one is not convenient you've got your sound mind this morning you can think straight straight you're not suffering pain this is a convenient time when you meet a person who's in the condition i described It's not only inconvenient, it's almost impossible. The point of the trace. This is your convenient time. The gospel is simple. And remember, death can be sudden, and you may never have that convenience season. I want to say this. This may be your inconvenience season. But I'll tell you, it's God's convenience. God says, now is the day of salvation. And when your convenient season comes, when you have your sling of the world, when you've taken in all that you want to take in of this wicked godless world and want to turn the dregs of your life over to God before you die, that may be the time when God says, it's not convenient for me to save you. is inconvenient. You wouldn't come to me when it was convenient. I approached you time and time again and you said it's inconvenient. God might say then, it's inconvenient for me to save you. You had your convenient time. Death will be awfully inconvenient inappropriate unsuitable and maybe even embarrassing if you're not a christian when you die death will be all will be inconvenient awfully inconvenient you may die with the expression of fear pain upon your face but the undertaker take care of that and make you look pretty nice but not what you see in that casket or an expression of calm on your countenance that's not going to take you to hell A month ago, my younger brother died. He died at Baxter. And the doctor and the undertaker urged the family not to see him until they were ready. But when we were able to go and see him, I never saw my brother look death. He looked so peaceful. almost a smile upon his face. You thought if ever a man died happy? He died in fellowship with God, is that now? The undertaker did a marvelous job. But the undertaker didn't do a thing about his soul. Let me say this, friend, you're getting your convenience, he's not. get saying what folks do to you after you read your last and think of you and say about you is not going to affect your soul one eye older death may prove very inconvenient and inappropriate and even embarrassed my brother had no thought dying as quick as he did than only two or three days before he showed me a new station wagon and his new boat he was going fishing. He never used it. He never used it. And yet if you thought anybody was in heaven by the expression on his corpse, it would be him. Smile. So restful and peaceful. now is your convenient time make no mistake about it and you better avail yourself of it and this man says when i have a convenient season well it's more appropriate it's a little embarrassing right now paul for me to make a confession my wife's here we're a living and a doctor God's calling now this is your convenient time while in your right mind and you'll never have a better chance to settle this at this very moment will you accept Christ will you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will you this very moment pass from death unto life here stands as famous child of God the Apostle Paul before a frightened judge and the frightened judge as far as history tells us was dead two years after he was called her own for mismanagement of the Jewish blood and there's no record that Felix ever became a Christian yet he was faced with it then Paul challenged Paul it's not convenient it's not convenient is this going to be your convenient time are you going to avail yourself up right this morning except Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and he'll save you shall we pray Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we come into thy presence. We ask thy blessing upon thy word. We do trust, Father, it will find fertile soil in the hearts of those who are lost. Thou has taught us plainly from thy word that human merit, human character, human intentions, good intentions. are not sufficient Christ arisen glorified Christ is the only answer and the time is now for thou was said now is the day of salvation we ask thee to prevent any in this audience from postponing this sometime in the future when that day will never come this is the moment of their opportunity to receive Christ. May it be so we humbly ask, in our Lord Jesus' precious name. Amen.