Thank you, Dave and Janet. I would like you to take your Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 24. As we go through the book of Acts and as we finish this particular chapter today, Lord willing, the theme of this chapter, as I have mentioned, could be the trial of Governor Felix. You would look at it and say, well, this is the trial of the Apostle Paul. But we have now arrived at the key verse or verses of this chapter. It's in the last part of verse 24 and all of verse 25 that Felix and Drusilla heard Paul concerning the faith in Christ. And as he, that is Paul, reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, Go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient season, I will call for thee. Paul is on trial in this chapter regarding his earthly life, but folks, Felix is on trial regarding eternal life. In verses one through nine, the prosecutor, Tetulah, is before Felix and Paul is denounced for his faith. In verses 10 to 21, Paul stands before Felix and defends his faith. That defense given in verses 10 to 13 is expressed in his worship, in his service in 14 to 16, and in his message, verses 17 to 21. We were looking at this two weeks ago, and we never got to his message in verses 17 to 21. Let me read those verses. Now, after many years, I, that is Paul speaking, came to bring alms to my nations and offerings. whereupon certain Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with multitude nor with tumult, who ought to have been here before thee and object if they had ought against me, or else let these same here say if they have found any evil doing in me while I stood before the council, except it be for this one voice that I cried standing among them, touching the resurrection of the dead, I am called in question by you this day." Notice he says in verse 21, this one voice, and that indicates the one thing for which he is truly on trial. This is what he's being tried for. They say he's stirred up a mob and so forth. It comes down to this, folks. He believes in the resurrection of the dead. That's his message. He said that I cried. And so this is the climax of his defense. The previous two chapters, he's mentioned the resurrection from the dead. When he stood before the Sanhedrin, and those 70 men had him in the center, and he said, it's because of the resurrection that I stand here. That's why you have me on trial. And so here in verse 21 of chapter 24, he again repeats, touching or concerning the resurrection of the dead, I am called in question by you this day. He is emphasizing the real reason he is on trial, his belief in the resurrection. You know, the problem that the world has with Christianity can be reduced to that one word, resurrection. They got a problem with that. Folks, if there's a resurrection of everybody, if every one of you, since every one of you is going to be resurrected from the dead one day, that tells you something. You are going to have to give an account of yourself. It really speaks of the judgment. And the last thing the unsaved man wants on his mind is that after I die, I'm going to stand before God. It made Felix tremble in verse 25, and he's a ruler. He is trembling. He is terrified. But you know how you deal with that? Just put it out of your mind. Just put it out of your mind. Don't think about it. Right? Well, that's what he does. So here in verses 22 to 27, Felix is before Paul, where Paul declares his faith. Last part of verse 24, Felix heard Paul concerning the faith in Christ. And yet it's incredible, it is incredible that even though he trembles, Even though he is terrified by what Paul declares, he procrastinates. Let's talk about procrastination for a minute. Procrastination has been called the thief of time. Thomas Jefferson, our third president, who was a deist, not a Christian, put together what is called, what he called the Decalogue of Canons for Observation in Practical Life. Let me go down from 10, number 10, down to number one, and I'm gonna skip some of them, but he put down his number 10. Here's a canon for observation in practical life. When angry, count 10 before you speak. If very angry, 100. Now that's pretty good advice. His seventh is nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. That's pretty good. Number six, we never repent of having eaten too little. Three, never spend your money before you have it. Number two, never trouble another for what you can do for yourself. His number one, never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. I think he had observed that procrastination is a serious issue. And I'll guarantee you that just as with me, we tend to procrastinate on things. Men delay, men procrastinate to make the most important decision. Young people especially procrastinate in making the most important decision they will ever make in this life. Who they marry? No. I'm gonna stand before God one day. I need to make a decision. And that decision not only affects this life, but that life which is to come. Felix is the focus in this portion of scripture this morning. And it is his tragic response to a clear presentation of the gospel that the apostle gives that you need to be impacted by. Follow as I read beginning in verse 22, we left off in verse 21, and we'll go to verse 27. Verse 22, and when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them and said, when Lysias the chief captain shall come down, I will know the uttermost of your matter. And he commanded his centurion to keep Paul and to let him have liberty, and that he should forbid none of his acquaintance to minister or come unto him. And after certain days, when Felix, with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. And as he, that is Paul, reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled and answered, 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 offener and communed with him. But after two years, Horatius Festus came into Felix's room, and Felix, willing to show the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound. I want you to see in verses 22 to 23, Felix's deferment. He defers the trial. He puts it off. He procrastinates concerning the trial of this man who is standing before him. And there's two things that are related to his deferment. First of all, his knowledge. His knowledge of that way. Of that way. Concerning that way, it says in verse 22. The verb tense tells us that he had already had some knowledge of the way. His wife is a Jewess. Maybe that's where he learned a lot about the way. But he's also in Caesarea. Do you know anybody else in the book of Acts who is in Caesarea? Well, there's an evangelist who lives there by the name of Philip. There was a centurion converted there in chapter 10 by the name of Cornelius. There are Christians in Caesarea. There are Christians in Jerusalem. No doubt Felix has heard about these Christians before and no doubt he has heard of the Apostle Paul. And he has heard Paul's defense. And the Bible says there in verse 22 that as a result of Paul's defense, he comes to a greater knowledge of the way. The way has to do with the way of Jesus Christ. So Felix has come to a more accurate knowledge concerning the way. By the way, that makes him even more accountable when he hears of Paul's personal faith in Jesus Christ. The more you know, the more accountable you become. He knows about the way. He knows about Jesus Christ. And so he says, he defers by saying, I will know the uttermost of your matter. I'll decide your matter later. He defers. Not today. Even though the evidence is super clear that Paul is innocent. And he says, I'm going to wait for Lysias the commander to come down and I'll hear from him. Wait a second. He had just, he has a letter in his hands. Go back to the previous chapter. And then, excuse me, two chapters ago, back to chapter 23, the previous chapter, he has a letter from Lysias the commander in his hands. And the letter makes clear that Paul is not worthy of death or of prison in chapter 23 and verse 29. So if Felix were honest, he would simply dismiss this case. However, it says he deferred them. He literally puts them off. He postpones the verdict. He delays. Put another way, he procrastinates. He's a procrastinating man. But the second thing related to his deferment is what you see in verse 23, and that's his kindness to Paul. He is very kind. He has liberty. None of his acquaintances are forbidden to come and minister to him. And so when you look at the kindness of Felix, this governor, sitting there in judgment of Paul, but now being judged of Paul, You would think that Paul would be very, very careful because of the kindness of Felix to him, that in the way he now speaks to Felix, he would be very careful in confronting Felix. But you would be wrong. and his deferment in verses 22 to 23. I want you to see Felix's distress now in his own trial in verses 24 and 25. And this distress is due to what Felix heard. And I'm simply using the word that you find in your Bible. It says in verse 24 that Felix heard Paul concerning the faith in Christ. He gains a more perfect knowledge concerning the way. Now he hears some concerning the faith in Christ. Here, this is interesting. The literal translation is the into Christ Jesus faith. Let me ask you something. Do you have an into Christ Jesus faith? An into Christ Jesus faith? The object of the faith is emphasized, Christ Jesus, and it's not my faith, it is the faith. As you read this, it makes you wonder something. After Felix sins for Paul here in verse 24, did Paul initiate telling him about the faith, or did Felix request that Paul tell him more about the faith? The answer is not given there. But I wonder, is Felix searching? He knows more about the way. And I tend to believe that Felix is the one who says, Paul, tell me about the faith that you have. You've talked about the resurrection, you've talked about the way, and I have more of a knowledge, and perhaps what he has now heard, the seed's been planted. And now Felix wants to know more? I don't know. But whichever it is, Luke records now how Paul expands upon the faith. And here's what we see. Not only Felix's distress due to what Felix heard, but now due to what Paul declared. How does Paul expand upon the faith in Jesus Christ or the into Christ Jesus faith? What does he talk about? What would Paul put under his eyes if he were a football player? What verse would he place there? John 3, 16? Not before this man. I'm waiting for him to talk about the love of God here. I'm waiting for him to talk about the grace of God, aren't you? But what does he reason of? Oh, he's one of those preachers always preaching hellfire and damnation. That's exactly right. Because Paul knows that's what Felix needs to hear. He does not talk about the love or the grace of God, but he talks about righteousness, temperance, and judgment. You know what the Holy Spirit, when he comes, what he would convict the world of, it says in John 16, eight, and when he comes, he will convince, he will expose the world of sin and of righteousness and judgment. And Paul is simply preaching along those same lines. Paul knew Felix to be wicked. And verse 25 is exactly what he needs to hear. Isaiah 26.9, I've quoted this verse to you many times. The Bible says there, Isaiah says, for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. But the reason so many people today think that they can just continue living the way they live, even Christians, professing Christians, that they can just do whatever they want and there's no fear of judgment, that everything's just going to be fine, is because people are always preaching on the love of God, the grace of God, to the exclusion of the judgment of God and the righteousness of God. There's nothing wrong with preaching those things, but people exclude that because you can't get a crowd when you preach on that. But Paul has a captive audience. You say, well, he's the captive. I know. But Felix is on that throne. He's up on that platform. And he's captivated by what the Apostle Paul is saying. And Paul doesn't flatter him. He doesn't flatter him with lies. He flattens him with the truth. Reasoning, it says, and as he reasoned concerning righteousness, temperance, and judgment. I want to remind you that that word reasoning is the same word found in verse 12 that's translated disputing. You could read it that way. And as he disputed of righteousness, the word has the idea, and we've seen this word before in the book of Acts, because Paul is constantly disputing. It has the idea of arguing, debating. Paul's reasoning here, folks, is characterized by arguments for the truth. He is able to debate the truth, and he does so here. before Felix. So I'm going to call it disputation. Let's look first of all at the content of his disputation. We've already seen it. You've heard me quote from John 16 to 8 where it's similar. He reasons of righteousness, temperance, Judgment, three compelling reasons why Felix and Drusilla should repent and believe on Jesus Christ. Folks, three compelling reasons that you should repent and believe on Jesus Christ. What are those three compelling reasons? Righteousness, judgment, temperance. Let's look first of all at the righteousness. I call this God the Father's standard. God the Father's standard. Did you know that righteousness is God's standard for you? Did you know that righteousness is what God requires of you? And it is that which these two people who sat before Paul, they do not possess this righteousness. Let me ask you something. Do you possess righteousness? Do you possess it? If you're gonna enter into the kingdom of God, You have to be perfectly righteous. Why? No sin can enter into heaven. Well, you say, well, you're not perfectly righteous. Let's finish this out. Let's look at that requirement. Let me read to you Matthew 5, 20, where Jesus says, accept your righteousnesses. or unless you accept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousnesses of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. In fact, the requirement is perfection. At the end of that same chapter, Matthew chapter 5 verse 48, be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. But see folks, we've got a problem. All of my righteousnesses are as filthy rags, Isaiah 64, verse 6. Well, what do you do about that? And here's the gospel, and I can imagine that the Apostle Paul is pointing this out to Felix, where he's been talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, his resurrection from the dead, and who he is, that he is perfectly righteous, so that maybe he even said this verse. Maybe he said what he had written sometime earlier. where he says to Felix, Felix, for he, God, has made him, Jesus Christ, to be righteousness for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. So in answer to your question earlier that you were thinking, well, preacher, you're not righteous either, and I would say that's right. But I stand before you here today in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. And one day when I stand before him, And if somebody would say, standing beside me, what do you think's going to get you into heaven? I can say, it's the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which I have placed my full faith and trust in, because I am an unrighteous person. I have sinned. I have come short of the glory of God. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. And I am condemned, except that I am in Jesus Christ. I have into Jesus Christ faith. which Paul talked about there in verse 24. There's God the Father's standard, it's righteousness. Then the next word, temperance. I call that God the Holy Spirit's fruit. God the Holy Spirit's fruit, and this is what they did not exhibit. They did not possess his righteousness, God's righteousness, and they do not exhibit the temperance, the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The word temperance literally means self-control. To exercise complete control over one's desires and actions. That is a definite attribute of a Christian. self-control. Temperance is the way it's translated in our Bibles. How do you know that's an attribute of a Christian? Because of what it says in Galatians chapter 5 verses 22 and 23. But the fruit of the Spirit is, and maybe you can quote this with me, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Temperance is a part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. That will be exhibited in the Christian's life. These two people in front of the Apostle Paul, Felix has no self-control. Drusilla has no self-control. Their lusts controlled them. Their emotions controlled them. Money, we're going to see, controls him. But a true Christian will be controlled by none other than the Holy Spirit. That's why it's the fruit of the Spirit that gives me temperance, that is self-control. Thirdly, judgment. I call this God the Son's ordination. God the Son's ordination. Judgment is certain to overtake them. Paul is confronting Felix and Drusilla with judgment because it is literally, here in our Bibles it says, and judgment to come, literally, and judgment about to be. It is closer than you think. Now, keep your fingers right there in Acts 24. Go back to Acts chapter 17. When Paul was talking to the Athenian philosophers in Acts chapter 17, he says this in verse 30, talking about the ignorance and the sins of these Athenians and the world, and the times of this ignorance God winked at. That is, He overlooked, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. That command there still stands. Look at me, God commands you to repent, all men everywhere to repent. Here's the reason, verse 31, because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness. Now you're gonna see the connection between the first thing Paul mentions, righteousness, and the third thing he mentions that we're looking at right now, judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness. How will He do that? Who will do it? By that man whom He hath ordained. That's why I call this God the Son's ordination. This is what He will do. He will judge the world. You say, how do you know that this is Jesus Christ? How do you know that He is that man? We'll finish the verse. Whereof He hath given assurance unto all men. Folks, this will happen and He has given you a promise. He has given you an assurance. He has given you proof in that He hath raised Him from the dead. The fact that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead, folks, is proof that there will be a judgment and that He will be the one who is ordained of God to do the judging. He hath appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained. Paul is not arguing about the love of God. He is not even talking about the grace of God. He is talking about the judgment of God. Men do not properly understand the love of God. They do not understand the grace of God until they understand the judgment of God. You get a man to understand that he is under God's judgment, then you can start talking about the grace and the love of God. But until he comes to the point where he realizes he is lost, He just feels like when you talk about God's grace and God's love that he can go on just living the way he is because God loves me. There is the content of his disputation. Look at the impact his disputation has in verse 25. Four words, actually three words. No, there's four. There's the word and. Felix trembled. And Felix answered. Let's look at that. Felix trembled, literally, literally, it means this. Felix was terrified. The Bible tells us of some others who tremble when they learn about the judgment of God. when they just know who God is. The devils, they believe, and they tremble. They're terrified. And like the devils, Felix trembles when he hears the faith in Christ Jesus expounded. I think of that Old Testament king. sitting there and banqueting and taking all the instruments from the temple that the Chaldeans, the Babylonians have captured and they're drinking wine and getting drunk. And while he's doing this and bringing believers in and making fun of them perhaps, The Bible says that there appeared a hand, and this hand began to write on the wall, mene, mene, tuchel, laparsan. Your days are numbered, buddy. And you remember what happens to King Belshazzar when he sees that hand, the writing on the wall? His countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loose, and his knees smoked one against another. So too this governor Felix, having seen the handwriting of God on the wall of his heart, trembles. Felix trembled. Felix answered. Well, where do you see Paul asking? Paul is not asking, he's arguing. But Felix, when he's under conviction, feels compelled to answer Paul's argument. And how does he answer Paul's argument? We'll see that in the next point, but before we do, I want you to notice, who's doing the trembling here? First of all, who's listening? Tell me out loud, who's listening? And? Drusilla. Did you forget about Drusilla? She's sitting there. And yet the Bible says, Felix trembled. Well, my question is, well, what about Drusilla? She doesn't tremble. Two individuals hear the same gospel. One trembles and one does not. What's the difference? It's the soil of their heart. You know, you can give somebody the gospel, and the first guy you talk to can come under tremendous conviction. And the second guy you talk to, and this is when you give up because he slams the door in your face. That's Felix, that's Drusilla. One is under conviction, and one basically ignores him. Who is this Drusilla? She's a Jewess. She knows the Old Testament, folks. I don't know how many commentaries I read, but every commentary I read mentions her beauty. Because Josephus, the historian, the Jewish historian, mentions that she was a great beauty. She was one of the three daughters of Herod Agrippa I, the Herod who, in chapter 12, murdered James the Apostle. This is his daughter. The Herod in chapter 12, who God smote and he was eaten with worms. Do you remember that? That's her daddy. That's this Drusilla. She has two sisters, Miriam Nee and Bernice. You know, there's a Bernice mentioned in the very next chapter. When Portia's Festus comes into power, his wife Bernice is there. That is Drusilla's sister. Her great-uncle was Herod Antipas, who slew, who murdered John the Baptist. Her great-grandfather, talking about Drusilla, Drusilla's great-grandfather was Herod the Great, who killed the babes in Bethlehem. Well, she comes from a good line, doesn't she? You know what is true about her? You know what I believe is why she does not tremble? It's because her heart is so hard. Her heart is hardened because of all the things that have happened to her in her life, because of what she knew but rejected about the God that she would know from the Old Testament. There's Felix's distress, but we end with Felix's decision. His decision from his own trial, from being put on trial. He had deferred to decide his prisoner's case, and now he defers to decide his personal case. Two things about his decision. I want you to see, first of all, his delay. When I have a convenient season. Then I'll call for you. Wait, wasn't he just trembling? Wasn't he just terrified? When I have a convenient season, it's an idiom that means when I have the spare time. I don't have time for this right now. Now is not the time. I'll do it tomorrow. But the Bible says, boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Proverbs 27 and verse 1. You know, there's the story told of Satan. getting his top four demons together. And he commands these demons and says, I want you to try to give me a plan to deceive men the best you possibly can. And the first demon says, Lucifer, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to start convincing men that there is no God. And Satan says, that's not going to work. The second one comes to him and says, I'm going to convince men that there is no heaven. Satan says, that's not going to work. They know there's an afterlife. The third one says, I'll go around the world and I'm gonna start convincing men that there is no hell. And Satan says, that will not work, we've tried that forever. The fourth one comes to him and says this, I will tell them that there is a God. I will tell them there is a heaven, there is a hell, but I'll tell them there's no hurry. Yeah, just put it off. just a side later, when I have a convenient season. And you know, we often quote that passage, that part of the verse as a warning that Felix never had another opportunity. But that's not true. It actually teaches that refusing the truth, when you're terrified of it, if you refuse it, it easily leads to a hardened heart. Because other opportunities did arise. What does it say in verse 26? Last part of verse 26, Felix sent for Paul the offener and communed with him. I'm sure the apostle Paul kept bringing this up. Felix, have you made a decision yet? Felix, have you made a decision yet? He's communing with him a lot. But here's the truth that the Bible gives us. He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed. And that, without a remedy. That's what happens when you hear the truth and you harden your heart. And folks, there's been people here who have been here time and again, and they've heard the gospel. They've heard about the judgment of God, but they make no decision. They just go on. In fact, as soon as the service is over, this is what is so great about coming to a church. Well, we're going to have donuts and coffee afterward, and you can just put this all out of your mind. There's a Bible truth that Jesus wants us to understand in John chapter 12, verses 39 and 40. It's giving a summary of his ministry. And in that summary, John writes this, therefore, they could not believe. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second. Wait, I thought anybody could believe. That's true. But there comes a point when there is no remedy. Therefore they, John says, they could not believe. And here's how he finishes it. Because God hardened their heart. That they should not understand with their heart and be converted. Why would God harden somebody's heart? Well, it's like Pharaoh. When Pharaoh hardened his heart multiple times, then God hardened it. And when you harden your heart multiple times, there comes a point when God says, you don't deserve any more truth. You're shut out. And you cannot believe. I wonder if the apostle Paul told that to Felix. His delay. But what helps somebody continue to delay? It's that second thing, it's his distraction. Look at verse 26. The very first part of verse 26 said this, he hoped also. He hoped also. I'm gonna show you something here, that it is the devil's lie that people who procrastinate are just too busy. That's the common excuse, I'm too busy, I'll do it later. That's not true. The truth is people procrastinate because they don't want to deal with a troublesome issue as a priority. Let me illustrate it this way. When I was a freshman and I was finally challenged with academics in college because I was no longer in a public high school, now I'm challenged. And they had this course called English. It was EN 102. Now, EN 101 was bad enough. Grammar, syntax, and everything. But 102 was writing papers. And the teacher warned us, you're going to write a paper this semester. Do not procrastinate. You know what I did? I did that. Because every time I got to, it's troubling me, how am I going to start this? I don't even know how to do this. I'm a freshman. I'm an idiot from a public school. Don't you understand? I'm just an idiot from a public school. No, you're still going to write that paper, and you're going to do well on this paper. And if you don't pass 102, you're going to repeat 102. I don't want to repeat 102. That's our tendency when there's something that's a troublesome issue. We don't treat it as a priority. So we schedule distractions. to keep our minds off of what should be a priority. Well, what did Felix schedule to distract himself? Two things. Number one, frequent communion with Paul. Look at that in verse 26. Frequent communion with Paul. He hoped also. Listen closely, folks, because when it says, he hoped also, you look at the previous verse, and the previous verse ends with what punctuation? What's the very last punctuation of verse 25? Period. Now you've got a new sentence. Understand something. Punctuation is not inspired. Here's how this literally reads, and this is important for you to get. Felix answered, verse 25, go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee at the same time hoping. There's no period there, there's no comma there. At the same time, he is hoping for something. In other words, he got his mind off of thinking about the future doom by thinking of present dollars, because that's exactly what he does. You would think that Paul's directness would keep Felix from talking with him again. But after this, Felix calls him and says, let's talk. The Bible says, the King James says, he communed with him. Communed has the idea of having something in common. It's fellowship. But that's not the word here. The King James translates it that way, but that's not the word. It literally means they kept on conversing, not communing. And tragically, Felix was never to share a common faith with Paul. There was no communion. But he loved talking to Paul. After the colon, there in verse 26, he hoped also the money should have been given to him of Paul that he might loose him, colon. Wherefore, literally, for this reason he sent him for him the offener. For what reason? Hoping Paul would bribe him and based upon that he would release him. You see, he had heard Paul mention in verse 17 that he had brought alms and offerings. And Felix goes, well, maybe he hasn't gotten rid of those alms and offerings yet. Maybe he's the typical TV evangelist and he's got this money on him. And this excites the avarice of Felix for money. And that's why it says, hoping also that money should have been given to him of Paul that he might lose him. For that reason, he sent for him the offener and communed with him. So Felix scheduled distractions by frequent communion with Paul. But there's another thing. In verse 27, we see that he scheduled goodwill with the Jews. You say, how did he schedule it? By not scheduling the end of Paul's trial. But after two years, Portius Festus came into Felix's room and Felix willing to show the Jews a pleasure. He wanted goodwill with the Jews. He never ends the trial. You know what? In verse 22, he had promised that he would give Paul a second hearing. That never took place. And here's Paul for two years sitting in prison. What did he do? What did he do for two years? There's nothing in the Bible that tells us. But I'm gonna address that this afternoon, some possibilities. The question now is this, in all that time of knowing the Apostle Paul, how could Felix keep on rejecting the gospel? I'll tell you why. Because one time when he trembled, when he was terrified, he did nothing about it. One time when he was under conviction, he did nothing about it. And his heart kept getting hard. Felix is more concerned about the Jews at that time than he is concerned about the judgment that's about to be. As far as we know, Felix and Drusilla died rejecting Jesus Christ. That being true, their bodies are in a grave somewhere in the Middle East today. But those two bodies will one day come out of the grave, John 5, 28 and 29, Jesus says, He will call forth them out of the grave, and they will stand before the great right throne judgment, the very judgment that the Apostle Paul warned about right here. H.A. Ironside said this, old men seldom turn to Christ. And he gives this illustration. He says when he was 12 years old, he was in Los Angeles and the great Dwight L. Moody was coming to preach. So H.A. Ironside crawled into the rafters because there was very little room. There were 10,000 people in that place. And he said, Dwight L. Moody had all the Christians stand. He said, if you know Christ as your Savior, please stand. And in those days, if people weren't saved, they wouldn't stand. Today, people will stand because everybody else is. And that day, people would not stand if they weren't Christians. He said, if you're a Christian, if you know Christ as your Savior, please stand. The ushers counted 5,000 to 6,000 people who stood. Then Dwight L. Moody had them sit if they were saved before the age 15, and half of them sat down. Then he said, if you were saved before 20, sit down. And half of that crowd sat down. Then he went through it before age 30, before age 40. And then he said this, how many of you were saved before age 50? 20 people out of 5,000 to 6,000 were left. He was making this point. You think you've got time? Listen, you're a young person here this morning, you think, well, I've got time. No, one day you'll be older because you've got time until you get older. And by then your heart is so hard that you will have no time left. And it will literally be too late. Procrastination is the thief of time, and folks, it is the thief of souls. Saving faith, that the apostle Paul is talking about there in verse 25, saving faith has three components, intellectual, emotional, volitional. And Felix, like the devils and many professing believers, maybe some of you this morning, only had two of those three. We know he had the intellectual component because the Bible says in verse 22, he had a more perfect knowledge of that way. Intellectually he knew. He had the emotional component. Where do you see the emotion of Felix here? He trembled. So he's got the intellectual, he's got the emotional. He does not have the volitional component. He does not yield his will by placing his dependence into Jesus Christ and to him alone. It was in this component that he procrastinated. Yes, intellectually, he knew about Jesus Christ. Yes, emotionally, he knew what was coming. But volitionally, he kept his will back and said, I will not. Unless your faith includes the volitional, your faith is just like that of Felix this morning. It is deficient. It is a faith that the devils have, and you're just like them. You see, the devils do not place their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. They reject him. Where's your faith? Is your faith the into Christ Jesus faith? that Paul talked about here to Felix. Maybe you're under conviction this morning. I warn you, do not put it off. After the invitation, there's gonna be distractions. Talking with people. This could be God's final call to you. Lord, those under the sound of my voice If there's anyone here who knows not Christ as Savior, where it's not evident they have no self-control, the world controls them, their own emotions, their desires, their lusts control them, as was true of Felix and Drusilla. Lord, if somebody here this morning is under conviction as Felix was, I pray that they would take this matter seriously. and realize that you're dealing with them right now, and that if they reject, it may be their last opportunity. May each one treat this as their last opportunity. So I pray for the working of your Holy Spirit in the midst of this congregation, and I pray it in Jesus' name. With your heads bowed and your eyes closed, I wonder if