The preparations for the indictment of Paul before Felix had been well considered. Somewhat formidable, save to the strong heart, and that divinely refreshed (Acts 23:11), most concerned in the matter, must the legal phalanx have appeared, when Ananias the high priest, and the elders, and their practiced professional helper Tertullus, and others of the Jews, made their appearance. The speech containing the accusation against Paul, which began with flattery for a Felix, not unnaturally culminates in falsehood hurled at Paul, and mockery flung at the Nazarene. The portraiture of perverseness such as this is no novelty; yet some peculiarity in the featuring may be found here, A new touch or two fails not to give some new expression to the countenance. What a mournful commentary on human nature, that it is necessary to contemplate its worst expression of countenance, and to study, not the model to copy, but the type false and debased to avoid! Consider, therefore -

I. WHAT IT IS THAT IS UNDERLYING THE FACT THAT THE FAITHFUL TEACHER OF CHRIST IS DESCRIBED AS "PESTILENT." These are the two things that underlie the ugly fact.

1. That it is the depths of a muddy nature that are reached.

2. That it is something that has the undisputed power to reach those depths that is present and working. The "pestilence" was all subjective to Tertullus and friends. The strong force was the force of Christ.

II. WHAT IT IS THAT UNDERLIES THE FACT THAT THE DEVELOPING MANIFESTATIONS OF GOD'S MIND TO THE WORLD HAVE SO UNIFORMLY FROM THE FIRST PROVOKED NOT A FEW TO VOTE THEM NOTHING BETTER THAN THE SIGNS OF SEDITION. These are at least some of the things that underlie the fact.

1. That the unfolding of God's mind and purpose to the world always means war with its inertness. The keen appetites of the world are not to true knowledge, not to godly activity, not to wisdom's perfect work.

2. That the growing manifestation of God to mankind always means a summons to simpler, purer, more determined holiness and height of life. The stir and report that swell round the echoes of the voice summoning men in this sort are indeed sedition to their stifled order of life and of habit and of affection. It is not in them to "seek for honor, glory, and immortality." God's greater, better, clearer gifts necessarily postulate a truer human return of them, and a correcter reflection.

III. WHAT IT IS THAT UNDERLIES THE FACT THAT THE PUREST FOLLOWING OF THE PUREST TRUTH AND OF THE HIGHEST IDEAL WHICH GOD HAS GIVEN TO MEN HAS SO OFTEN GATHERED OVER ITS INNOCENT HEAD THE WORST ACCUMULATIONS OF MISCONSTRUCTION, MISREPRESENTATION, AND FALSEHOOD. A notable instance is here before us. The polished orator, the trained and keen lawyer, heaps the epithets, every one ill or of ill omen, "pestilence," "sedition," "ringleader," "sect," "the Nazarenes." These were the fruit of a tongue rather than merely a pen "dipped in gall." And false is the word stamped, as a monogram is stamped, on every one of them. These are some at least of the causes at work under the fact.

1. That reason, opportunities of knowledge, convictions, conscience injured, ignored, insulted, know terrible ways of revenge, and a terrible force of revenge. Obscurity becomes thick darkness; mistake becomes willful preference for the wrong; one sin becomes a multitude.

2. That a certain sort of heart, once deeply conscious, without the slightest readiness to acknowledge it, that it is losing, loses also itself, loses its self-control, and finds itself drifted, hurried, hounded on to senseless lengths. Heaven's sweetest beneficence - for this it has nothing but the vocabulary of traducing slander.

CONCLUSION. These things are not the necessities and inevitable things of human nature. They are results of permitted unfaithfulness, condoned infidelities, encouraged willfulness, and deliberate defiance of truth, in place of devoted affiance to it. Deep need the roots of them to be sought, that without mercy they may be uprooted and exterminated. And they need the prayer earnestly offered, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." - B.

(text, and Matthew 2:23): —

1. Our Saviour, though born at Bethlehem, was commonly known as Jesus of Nazareth, because Nazareth was the place where He was brought up. This was a place very much despised, and the people were the boors of the country. More than that, you will generally find everywhere some town made the butt of ridicule. The name signifies "sprouts," and the Jews, who were great at puns upon names, threw it as a jest at the people who came from that town. And Matthew refers to Isaiah 11:1, where it is said that a rod shall come out of the stem of Jesse, and "a Netzar, a Nazarene, a Branch shall grow out of his roots." Perhaps Nazareth was called "branch" because trees flourished there, and not much else; or because they thought the people rather verdant, and they therefore called them "sprouts" and "greens," as the vulgar do at this day when they wish to express contempt.

2. As Nazarene was a term of contempt in the olden times, so it has continued to be. The apostate emperor Julian always called our Lord the Galilean; and when he died, he cried, "O Galilean, Thou hast vanquished me." This is still the name given to our Lord by the Jews, and Christians are called among Mahometans, Nazarenes.

3. Our Lord was never ashamed of this name: He called Himself "Jesus of Nazareth" after He had risen from the dead. Notice our Redeemer's condescension. It was a marvel that He should live on this earth at all; but if He must, why is He born in Judaea? Why not in Rome? Yet if born in Judaea, why must He live in Galilee? And if He must live in Galilee, why not at Capernaum? Why choose Nazareth, and be a carpenter's son, and be rejected by His fellow townsmen? Was there ever such condescension as this? Verily "He emptied Himself." Nothing was left Him of honour or respect.

I. OUR MASTER, THE NAZARENE, WAS, AND IS DESPISED.

1. He was despised because —(1) In His person, parentage, state, habits, etc., there was nothing grand. He was no popularity hunter, flatterer of the great, or man of strife.(2) His followers and chosen friends were common fishermen — unlearned and ignorant men. He was not a preacher that attracted the elite of society. Those highly cultured minds went to hear Rabbi Simeon, the Pharisee, who expounded points of no earthly importance; but Jesus was one of whom it is written, "The common people heard Him gladly." And so the wise ones ran Him down as "a Nazarene."(3) His doctrine was unpalatable. He told a learned Rabbi, "Except a man be born again," etc. They could not bear His levelling teaching. He went further, and dared to tell the Scribes and Pharisees that all their outside religion was a lie unless the inner part of the soul was cleansed.

2. Christ is as much despised as ever. How frequently you will find in newspapers, and magazines contempt poured on the doctrine of justification by faith, the Atonement, etc.

II. CHRIST'S FOLLOWERS MUST EXPECT TO BEAR A MEASURE OF THE INDIGNITIES POURED UPON THEIR LEADER. If you follow Christ fully you will be sure to be called by some ill name. They will say —

1. How singular you are! "Mine inheritance," says God, "is unto Me as a speckled bird. The birds round about her are against her."

2. How old-fashioned! You believe those old Puritanical doctrines. Do you not know that the world has made a great progress and has entered upon the nineteenth century? Will you never move with the times? Will you get as far as Moses, and Jesus, and John, and stick there?"

3. How credulous! They say, "You simple-minded people have great capacity for believing! We are far too sensible to feel sure about anything. As to this Spirit of God that you trust in, it is sheer enthusiasm. Be rational."

4. How enslaved! "You dare not go to the theatre; you dare not drink." No; but you need not say that we have no liberty because we do not feed out of the swine trough, for such liberty we never desired. We have liberty to serve God and do good, and this is the freedom which we covet.

5. What company you keep! Keep to "society," and society will smile upon you; but if you attend meetings where so long as people love Christ you count them the best of company, then you are low and vulgar, a Philistine, or a Nazarene.

III. THERE IS, AFTER ALL, NOTHING DESPICABLE IN EITHER CHRIST OR HIS PEOPLE.

1. What is there to be ashamed of in Him? He is the Son of the Highest. His is the sublimest of all lives, and even His enemies have been struck dumb by the splendour of the love that moved Him to stoop so low.

2. There is nothing to be ashamed of in being a Christian. I am afraid that there are some Christians that we have need to be ashamed of, and that we ourselves do many unworthy things. Christians ought to be reflections of Christ, but I fear they often cast reflections upon Christ. But the fact is that the ungodly usually revile those who are true to Christ. Well, when they do, there is nothing in that to be ashamed of. Shall I be ashamed because I try to do what is right? Shall I be ashamed of chastity and truth?

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

On the occasion of some visits to Ireland, when Charles Wesley and other preachers were furiously assaulted by the mob, the depositions of the victims were laid before a grand jury. That body, after considering them, came to the following conclusion: "We find and present Charles Wesley to be a person of ill fame, a vagabond, and a common disturber of His Majesty's peace; and we pray he may be transported."

(J. F. B. Tinling, B. A.)

Ananias, Drusilla, Felix, Festus, Paul, TertullusAsia, Caesarea, JerusalemAccusation, Affirming, Agreed, Agreement, Assented, Asserting, Attack, Charge, Facts, Jews, Joined, Maintaining, Matter, Paul, Pressing, Professing, Saying, Statement1. Paul being accused by Tertullus the orator,
10. answers for his life and doctrine.
24. He preaches Christ to the governor and his wife.
26. The governor hopes for a bribe, but in vain.
27. Felix, succeeded by Festus, leaves Paul in prison.

Acts 24:1-9

     5201   accusation
     7505   Jews, the

Acts 24:1-23

     5593   trial

Acts 24:5-9

     5951   slander
     8751   false witness

Acts 24:5-12

     5936   riots

Paul and Felix
ACTS xxiv. 25. And as he 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. This is a well-known text, on which many a sermon has been preached, and with good reason, for it is an important text. It tells us of a man who, like too many men in all times, trembled when he heard the truth about his wicked life, but did not therefore repent and mend; and a very serious lesson we may …
Charles Kingsley—Discipline and Other Sermons

Felix Before Paul
A Sermon to the Young 'And as 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.' --ACTS xxiv. 25. Felix and his brother had been favourite slaves of the Emperor, and so had won great power at court. At the date of this incident he had been for some five or six years the procurator of the Roman province of Judaea; and how he used his power the historian Tacitus tells us …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

Paul Before Felix
'Then Paul, after that the governor had beckoned unto him to speak, answered, Forasmuch as I know that thou hast been of many years a judge unto this nation, I do the more cheerfully answer for myself: 11. Because that thou mayest understand, that there are yet but twelve days since I went up to Jerusalem for to worship. 12. And they neither found me in the temple disputing with any man, neither raising up the people, neither in the synagogues, nor in the city: 13. Neither can they prove the things …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

A Loyal Tribute
[Footnote: Preached on the occasion of the Jubilee of Queen Victoria.] '...Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, 3. We accept it always ... with all thankfulness.'--ACTS xxiv. 2-3. These words were addressed by a professional flatterer to one of the worst of the many bad Roman governors of Syria. The speaker knew that he was lying, the listeners knew that the eulogium was undeserved; and among all the crowd of bystanders …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

The Resurrection of the Dead
There are very few Christians who believe the resurrection of the dead. You may be surprised to hear that, but I should not wonder if I discovered that you yourself have doubts on the subject. By the resurrection of the dead is meant something very different from the immortality of the soul: that, every Christian believes, and therein is only on a level with the heathen, who believes it too. The light of nature is sufficient to tell us that the soul is immortal, so that the infidel who doubts it …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 2: 1856

Paul's Sermon Before Felix
We might stay a little while and dilate on this thought, and show you how, in all ages, this has been the truth, that the power of the gospel has been eminently proved in its influence over men's hearts, proving the truth of that utterance of Paul, when he said, that neither tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword, shall separate them from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ their Lord. But instead of so doing, I invite you to contemplate the text …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 4: 1858

Saurin -- Paul Before Felix and Drusilla
Jacques Saurin, the famous French Protestant preacher of the seventeenth century, was born at Nismes in 1677. He studied at Geneva and was appointed to the Walloon Church in London in 1701. The scene of his great life work was, however, the Hague, where he settled in 1705. He has been compared with Bossuet, tho he never attained the graceful style and subtilty which characterize the "Eagle of Meaux." The story is told of the famous scholar Le Clerc that he long refused to hear Saurin preach, on the …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3

The Awakened Sinner Urged to Immediate Consideration and Cautioned against Delay.
1. Sinners, when awakened, inclined to dismiss convictions for the present.--2. An immediate regard to religion urged.--3. From the excellence and pleasure of the thing itself.--4. From the uncertainty of that future time on which sinners presume, compared with the sad consequences of being cut off in sin.--5. From the immutability of God's present demands.--6. From the tendency which delay has to make a compliance with these demands more difficult than it is at present.--7. From. the danger of God's …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

The Epistles of the Captivity.
During his confinement in Rome, from a.d. 61 to 63, while waiting the issue of his trial on the charge of being "a mover of insurrections among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5), the aged apostle composed four Epistles, to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon, and Philippians. He thus turned the prison into a pulpit, sent inspiration and comfort to his distant congregations, and rendered a greater service to future ages than he could have …
Philip Schaff—History of the Christian Church, Volume I

Of Presbyters who are Corrected by their Own Bishops. ...
Of presbyters who are corrected by their own bishops. Alypius the bishop, a legate of the province of Numidia, said: Nor should this be passed over; if by chance any presbyter when corrected by his bishop, inflamed by self-conceit or pride, has thought fit to offer sacrifices to God separately [from the authority of the bishop] or has believed it right to erect another altar, contrary to ecclesiastical faith and discipline, such should not get off with impunity. Valentine, of the primatial see …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

A Plot Detected
'And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they bad killed Paul. 13. And they were more than forty which had made this conspiracy. 14. And they came to the chief priests and elders, and said, We have bound ourselves under a great curse, that we will eat nothing until we have slain Paul. 15. Now therefore ye with the council signify to the chief captain that he bring him down unto you to-morrow, as …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: The Acts

The Witness of Our Own Spirit
"This is our rejoicing, the testimony of out conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world." 2 Cor. 1:12 1. Such is the voice of every true believer in Christ, so long as he abides in faith and love. "He that followeth me," saith our Lord, "walketh not in darkness:" And while he hath the light, he rejoiceth therein. As he hath "received the Lord Jesus Christ," so he walketh in him; and while he walketh …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

The Parables Exemplified in the Early History of the Church.
"To Him shall prayer unceasing And daily vows ascend; His Kingdom still increasing, A Kingdom without end." We have seen that our Lord described in His Parables the general character and nature of "The Kingdom of Heaven." Consequently, if the Church established by the Apostles under the guidance of the Holy Ghost is "The Kingdom of Heaven," it will necessarily be found to agree with the description thus given. Let us therefore now consider how far the history of the Church, in the Acts of the Apostles …
Edward Burbidge—The Kingdom of Heaven; What is it?

Christian Perfection
"Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect." Phil. 3:12. 1. There is scarce any expression in Holy Writ which has given more offence than this. The word perfect is what many cannot bear. The very sound of it is an abomination to them. And whosoever preaches perfection (as the phrase is,) that is, asserts that it is attainable in this life, runs great hazard of being accounted by them worse than a heathen man or a publican. 2. And hence some have advised, wholly to lay aside …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

"Now the End of the Commandment," &C.
1 Tim. i. 5.--"Now the end of the commandment," &c. We come now, as was proposed, to observe, Thirdly,(474) That faith unfeigned is the only thing which gives the answer of a good conscience towards God. Conscience, in general, is nothing else but a practical knowledge of the rule a man should walk by, and of himself in reference to that rule. It is the laying down a man's state, and condition, and actions beside the rule of God's word, or the principles of nature's light. It is the chief piece …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Baptist's Inquiry and Jesus' Discourse Suggested Thereby.
(Galilee.) ^A Matt. XI. 2-30; ^C Luke VII. 18-35. ^c 18 And the disciples of John told him of all these things. ^a 2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent by his disciples ^c 19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them unto the Lord [John had been cast into prison about December, a.d. 27, and it was now after the Passover, possibly in May or June, a.d. 28. Herod Antipas had cast John into prison because John had reproved him for taking his brother's wife. …
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Verbal Inspiration
Not only does the Bible claim to be a Divine revelation but it also asserts that its original manuscripts were written "not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth" (I Cor. 2:13). The Bible nowhere claims to have been written by inspired men--as a matter of fact some of them were very defective characters--Balaam for example--but it insists that the words they uttered and recorded were God's words. Inspiration has not to do with the minds of the writers (for many …
Arthur W. Pink—The Divine Inspiration of the Bible

Of the Power of Making Laws. The Cruelty of the Pope and his Adherents, in this Respect, in Tyrannically Oppressing and Destroying Souls.
1. The power of the Church in enacting laws. This made a source of human traditions. Impiety of these traditions. 2. Many of the Papistical traditions not only difficult, but impossible to be observed. 3. That the question may be more conveniently explained, nature of conscience must be defined. 4. Definition of conscience explained. Examples in illustration of the definition. 5. Paul's doctrine of submission to magistrates for conscience sake, gives no countenance to the Popish doctrine of the obligation …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

Quirinius the Governor of Syria
WE come now to the last serious difficulty in Luke's account of the "First Enrollment". He says that it occurred while Quirinius was administering Syria. The famous administration of Syria by Quirinius lasted from about AD. 6 to 9; and during that time occurred the" Great Enrollment" and valuation of property in Palestine. [94] Obviously the incidents described by Luke are irreconcilable with that date. There was found near Tibur (Tivoli) in AD. 1764 a fragment of marble with part of an inscription, …
Sir William Mitchell Ramsay—Was Christ Born in Bethlehem?

Truth Hidden when not Sought After.
"They shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables."--2 Tim. iv. 4. From these words of the blessed Apostle, written shortly before he suffered martyrdom, we learn, that there is such a thing as religious truth, and therefore there is such a thing as religious error. We learn that religious truth is one--and therefore that all views of religion but one are wrong. And we learn, moreover, that so it was to be (for his words are a prophecy) that professed Christians, …
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

Jerusalem to Rome
Acts 21:17-28:31 THIS JOURNEY Scripture, Acts 21:17-28:31 1. The speech before the Jewish mob in the temple (Acts 22:1-29) in which Paul tells the Jews how he was changed from a persecutor to a believer in Christ. He relates also the story of his conversion. 2. The speech before the Jewish council (Acts 22:30; 23:1-10) in which he creates confusion by raising the question of the resurrection. But the provocation was great for the high-priest had commanded that Paul be smitten …
Henry T. Sell—Bible Studies in the Life of Paul

From Antioch to the Destruction of Jerusalem.
Acts 13-28 and all the rest of the New Testament except the epistles of John and Revelation. The Changed Situation. We have now come to a turning point in the whole situation. The center of work has shifted from Jerusalem to Antioch, the capital of the Greek province of Syria, the residence of the Roman governor of the province. We change from the study of the struggles of Christianity in the Jewish world to those it made among heathen people. We no longer study many and various persons and their …
Josiah Blake Tidwell—The Bible Period by Period

Of Christian Liberty.
1. Connection of this chapter with the previous one on Justification. A true knowledge of Christian liberty useful and necessary. 1. It purifies the conscience. 2. It checks licentiousness. 3. It maintains the merits of Christ, the truth of the Gospel, and the peace of the soul. 2. This liberty consists of three parts. First, Believers renouncing the righteousness of the law, look only to Christ. Objection. Answer, distinguishing between Legal and Evangelical righteousness. 3. This first part clearly …
John Calvin—The Institutes of the Christian Religion

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