No Time for Hard Truth

The Gospel involves some hard truth. Like Felix in today’s text, many, including you and me, find all sorts of ways to try and avoid it.

Too Busy

We busy ourselves with what is most important. When we think we’re too busy for Jesus, we’ve got everything backwards.

When confronted with the hard truth, Felix was suddenly too busy to stay.

v.25 Likely as a way to politely excuse himself, said he’d send for Paul “when he has time” to finish their conversation.

Who here likes going to the dentist? To the doctor? To pull back the curtain and see what’s really going on is not always a pleasant experience, and we often find other things to do instead. So it is with the word of God

James 1:22–24 ESV

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

Seeing ourselves in light of God’s truth is often something we’d rather put off till later. When life calms down, or we “have more time.“

I believe that’s why many of our friends and family don’t want to go to church.

Is not the God of the Universe, the King of all Kings and Lord of all Lords, the Creator and Judge, and Merciful, Holy Father worth the time it takes to watch two or three episodes of whatever show your currently streaming?

We'll binge-watch hours upon hours of stuff we don't really even enjoy with no real purpose or benefit, but not give God a couple hours on Sunday morning?

We see it in the public sphere as well. I remember a time when soccer practice, school meetings, and baseball games wouldn't be scheduled during normal times of worship. We need to carve out space and time for God. (I’m not simply trying to throw stones at people that will never hear this message. They aren’t the enemy, but that way of thinking affects us all!)

(Kudos to the City Council for prayer)

Believer, what spiritual priority are you putting off, (telling yourself you're too busy, you'll do it later)?

Are there truths you avoid, areas you need to grow in, struggles you need spiritual help with?

You are not too busy, but too burdened! There is grace, freedom and spiritual rest, but it may take pausing from lesser distractions, being willing to go through the difficult diagnostics of hard truth and face the reality of your spiritual state. No copay. Fully provided for you in God’s Crucified and Resurrected Son. He alone can fix what ails your soul.

But, when we don't want to hear what God thinks, and we've made up our minds that we know more than Him, are more righteous than Him and can make our own rules and way, then we'll push Him out of our agenda, too busy for hard truth.

Not, we are not too busy. God, and His truth is worth our time. One day, (hopefully before it’s too late), we will all realize it.

Too Important

Many feel that Christianity is only for the down and out; the poor, the disenfranchised, and the suffering. Christianity is for anyone with a soul.

Felix was an important man

Felix had authority as Governor of the Province to convict, condemn, or set Paul free. Yet Paul was telling him of judgement to come.

Felix had had some military success and had been directly appointed by the Emperor Claudius at the request of his brother, Pallas a very close friend of the Emperor and former slave of the daughter of Mark Antony himself.

“Claudius entrusted the province of Judæa to the Roman Knights or to his own freedmen, one of whom, Antonius Felix, indulging in every kind of barbarity and lust, exercised the power of a king in the spirit of a slave. He had married Drusilla, the granddaughter of Antony and Cleopatra, and so was the grandson-in-law, as Claudius was the grandson, of Antony.”

- Complete Works of Tacitus. Tacitus. Alfred John Church. William Jackson Brodribb. Sara Bryant. edited for Perseus. New York. : Random House, Inc. Random House, Inc. 1873. reprinted 1942.

Most people you speak with aren’t outright against Christianity and religion. They even think it nice and useful for others; it just isn’t necessary for them.

Position of authority, measure of wealth and comfort, good job, nice home and family, etc. They have what they need. They don’t need Jesus.

It's easy to think that only losers need to be saved. In a sense, that is completely true. The reality: Apart from Jesus's righteousness, we are all losers of the highest order.

Romans 3:10 NASB95

10 as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one;

Matthew 9:12–13 NASB95

12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. 13 “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Sometimes it’s the religious and those who have a sense of having a moral high ground that ignore hard truth.

Pastors, scientists, doctors and the highly educated all have a particular hubris. Whatever it is that you feel sets you above the rest, can be the very thing that keeps you from shining the light of truth on yourself, preventing honesty, repentance and saving faith.

No one is above righteousness, self-control and the judgement to come.

We need to stop handing out moral exclusions to those in authority! They, too, will be judged and they, too, need the gospel. They will not turn to Christ and be saved, nor repent of their wickedness and sin unless confronted with the hard truth. They aren't too important and Christians lose their witness when we are selective about who we rebuke for evil. (Ex. Jesus, Stephen, John and Peter, Paul.) - No one too important for the truth.

Jesus died for sinners. He calls sinners. Sinful, messed up, honest people can come to Him in repentance and faith and He will make them new. He offers the covering of His atoning blood, to place His righteousness on your account and take your sins upon Himself. Complete forgiveness and a spiritual renewal are given by God’s love and grace to those who believe.

But to those who insist on keeping only that righteousness they can muster, those who cling to their own assumed importance and autonomy before God - He leaves in their pride and sin. Sadly, they think too much of themselves to face the discomfort of the hard truth be saved.

Imagine if those who escaped the Titanic refused to get on the escape boat because they thought it too beneath them, choosing instead to stay in the luxurious room assigned them while it sank to the bottom of the ocean.

Too self-important. No time for the hard truth.

Too Afraid

The ultimate reason for Felix’s exit was he was terrified.

Terrifying truth

Righteousness - Both the idea that we are to be righteous (do the right thing, just) and that God will judge righteously are scary ideas.

Scary because we are not righteous. We may think we are good, but as the scripture says, even our best is like soiled filthy garments in light of the holy standard of God. (Isaiah 64:6). Add to that the reality of God’s righteous judgement and no wonder people want to hide from such truth.

Self-Control - the reality that we are to control our desires and temptations, living upright and moral lives before God and others is another troubling prospect. Every single one of us can echo Paul’s own words...

Romans 7:15 NASB95

15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.

Sin has so infected mankind, that we are bent in it and given to it. We are soaked in it and condemned.

We try and control ourselves. Control is comfortable. Safe. The frightening thing is the reality that we are not in control. We can’t really even control ourselves. And loss of control is absolutely frightening.

Judgement - Accountability and judgment are a terrifying prospect.

Especially someone as barbaric, and corrupt as Felix.

He’d been a slave in a royal family, and when his housemates gained power he was able to gain both his freedom and status in Rome. He’d squashed rebellions and deceived his wife to leave her first husband. He was shrewd and unashamed. The idea that God (or anyone) would hold him accountable for his actions was a terrifying prospect.

There is a judgement to come.

Hebrews 9:27 NASB95

27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

2 Corinthians 5:10 NASB95

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Hard as it is to hear and to talk about, it’s true. So is the gospel!

We are not righteous, but Jesus is. We don’t gain righteousness by doing better, but by receiving Him as God’s gift of grace by faith.

He did what we could not, and on that cross He became the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Read Romans 3:21-2

2 Corinthians 5:21 NASB95

21 He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

In Christ, we are covered in righteousness, declared righteous before God

Jesus practiced ultimate self-control. In Matthew 4, when Jesus was fasting for 40 days in the wilderness He withstood the intensity of the devil’s temptations. Never were desires felt so strongly and yet he said no to self and honored God.

Read Titus 2:11-14 *v.12

We gain self-control by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. It is Jesus, His Word, and His Spirit that trains, disciplines and instructs our hearts in godliness

It isn’t perfect now, but will be one day. (Remember, Paul wrote Romans 7 as a believer!)

God declares us holy, begins making us holy and will one day fully complete the work He started in us!

From an enemy, to a son. Felix would know some of that. He was a slave, but now a ruler. Was a servant, but now in the royal family. He had nothing, but now had much of what this world could offer. If only he had listened to Paul, and been willing to face the hard truth, this could be his story in eternity! (But he was too afraid)

Certainly Felix was afraid of the day when he must stand before his Maker. But he was also afraid to look at his own actions and behaviors and address what he saw. Maybe he ran from what he feared he was, and did everything to convince himself and others that he wasn’t. Sadly, he was running from the only One who could make him righteous, self-controlled and could pardon him from the coming judgement.

What happened to Felix? He kept Paul, and spoke with him at times. However, it was only to see what he could get from him. Felix was unable to truly look into the mirror of God’s truth. He held on to his own false sense of righteousness. Held to those things he could control - money, power, status. He manipulated to get what he wanted, and because of his fear of the truth - would lose it all.

Felix would soon lose his place as governor. We don’t know if he ever came to know Jesus, or what happened to his wife, but it seems he let his own sense of importance, his busy-ness and his fear keep him from redemption.

What are you afraid of, friend?

We are in a day when people are scared to death. Some are afraid of their dirt becoming public. Some are scared of a virus that can cause illness and for some, death. We are scared of financial or economic issues, of a war in eastern Europe as Russia sends thousands of troops on Ukraine's border, of deployments, of kids moving away. We are in a time of great fear. And yet, the gospel message has hope for every circumstance. It isn't a magic pill that makes it all go away, but tells of the God who entered into it, and will One day redeem and transform it all. Of His mercy and patience, waiting for more and more souls to be turned to His love and grace before the final day

I don't know if Jesus was terrified, but the Bible says he was deeply grieved and distressed in the garden of Gethsemane. He was facing the reality of the World's Sin, as the substitutionary atoning sacrifice. He would be tried, accused, spit on, scourged. He would be cruelly tortuously executed on a Roman cross for the sins of man. He felt all the weight of it in that garden, and yet, He was willing - "thy will be done." He faced the hard truth and bore the full and Holy wrath of God that we may be saved. All we have to do is face the reality of our need, turn to Him and believe.

Why do you stay away from God? Really? What are you afraid of?

Conclusion:

Christian, are there things you are afraid to face? Truths in the scriptures you avoid? Thoughts about yourselves or others, issues in relationships? We no longer have to fear. 2 Timothy 1:7 - God has given us the power, love and self-control we need. He has provided Himself to you. He has given His Word, His Son, His Spirit and His bride. He loves you. Don't fear, but seek His face, and the fellowship of His people. Shine the light of truth on what terrifies you, that it may no longer have power, but be put in it's place for God's glory and for your good. He is with you, You are His. (Romans 8:15, John 14:27)

Paul spoke of righteousness. Are you afraid, because you know you aren't who you're supposed to be? There's a darkness in you that you hate, but don't know how to deal with? He spoke of self-control. Maybe you've tried to change, tried to surpress that dark side but at times it comes out uglier and more forcefully than ever. (Anger, Pride, Harshness or coldness that alarms even you). He spoke of the judgement to come - an idea you've rejected over and over in your head, but the idea itself is terrifying. Friend, we should fear, but that fear should move us to act - to look to the God who sent His Son to be our righteousness, to give His Spirit as our Helper to sanctify us and make us more and more into His likeness as we follow Christ and to grant us full and complete pardon at the final Judgement.

Don’t think you need him?

Don’t think you have time for Him?

Avoiding certain truths?