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THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
The th ird point in P a u l’s confession of fa ith is his love for his brethren. This love was manifested in th e sincerity of his desire to give them the Gospel, and his procuring and bringing the g ifts of the churches for the poor brethren in Je ru salem. He asserted th a t his conscience was subjected to constant practice in order th a t he m ight be right w ith God and right w ith men (T itus 2:11-14): “ F or the grace of God th a t hringeth salvation h ath appeared to all men. Teaching ns th a t denying ungodliness and Worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in th is present w orld; Hooking for th a t blessed hope, and th e glorious appearing of- the great God and our Saviour Jesus C hrist; Who gave him self for us. th a t he m ight redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto him self a peculiar people, zealous of good w orks.” (3) The Address, vs. 24-27, “ Then Paul * * * answ ered.’’ Paul was invited to a p rivate audience w ith the governor and his wife. Drusilla was a Jewess,—a wicked woman who had abandoned her own husband to be the consort of Felix and was living in adul tery w ith him. She had, no doubt, heard of Jesus of N azareth and of the new sect and desired to know more about it. When before Pelix, as ruler, Paul was properly deferential. Now, in private, as a preacher of the Gospel, he takes the place of a mes senger from God and faith fu lly and fear lessly presents his cause. The man before him is an adulterer, an extortioner, a dealer in human souls, a defrauder of widows, an unjust judge. To him Paul reasons of righteousness! Paul had faced dangers of all kinds; he had fought w ith w ild beasts a t Ephesus (1 Cor. 15:32); faced a mob on the castle steps (Acts 21:40) and the Jew ish council (Acts 23:1); had been persecuted, stoned, shipwrecked and m istreated, and now he boldly proclaims the tru th to this ruler. Righteousness is “ rightness.’’ Perhaps he presented th e Gospel to Pelix as he did to the Romans (Rom. 1:17), setting forth the holiness of the tru e God and H is rig h t ful demands, thus, by contrast, bringing out, the unrighteousness of Felix. To the debauchee, whose life has been given, over to lust and licentiousness, Paul reasoned of temperance. He pictured the
life of self-control, of self-restraint, of ' 0 chastity and m astery of the passions, of victory through faith , climaxing his ad dress w ith the solemn note of judgm ent, rem inding them of th e tim e when all rulers, princesses, paupers and beggars must stand unclothed before the righteous Judge. How the sins of the guilty couple must have stood out before them ; How th eir hearts must have thumped as the scene was' painted by Paul through the Holy Spirit! No wonder Pelix trembled and, although he put the message away for a season, etern ity w ill never blot it out of his memory. PRACTICAL POINTS (1) , Talents of gold would have been of more service to the Jew s th an talen ts of oratory. (2) The prosecution of Paul was per secution. (3) I t is easier to make charges than to confirm them. (4) Paul had an unseen Advocate, even Christ, the righteous. (5) P a u l’s sermon was evangep.ral (fa ith in C hrist); logical (he reasoned); practical (produced conviction). (6) Paul had a good conscience (exer cised); Pelix, a guilty conscience (trem bled); Drusilla, a godless conscience (un moved). (7) Paul was on tria l then; F elix ’s tu rn came later. Christ is on tria l now-; the w orld’s tu rn will come later. v. 10. Many years a judge. The com bination of u tte r fidelity and delicate cour tesy which we find in Paul is exceedingly r a r e . He would COMMENTS FROM by all means pre- MANY SOURCES fe r to win the fa- K e ith L. B ro o k s vor of those whom he would lead to Christ. One can be fran k and faith fu l w ithout being brusque and boorish.—Torrey. I do cheerfully answer. I t was the language of one who was conscious of his own in teg rity and whose h eart did not reproach him, whoever else did.—Henry.
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