Acts 24:22–27

 Acts 24:22–27

As long as there is breath in a man’s longs there is still hope. Felix was a bad man, a bad man in the extreme, but we see a picture or a glimmer of hope. Maybe he has not gone beyond the point of no return, at least not yet. Felix had stolen Drusilla away from her former husband Azizus the king Emasa with the help of a magician. Felix and his wife Priscilla listen to Paul talk. Priscilla was Jewish and would’ve had a smattering of context about the law and Messiah. Felix is described as having a more “exact” knowledge of the way. The language here indicates a high level of information. He didn’t operate on hearsay or rumor but knew correctly some of the facts about Christianity. 

Paul stands before them the battered spiritual warrior of thousands of spiritual battles. He dialogs with them not in a trial but in a conversation about faith in Christ and he address three themes: righteousness, self-control, and judgment to come. Felix became afraid as Paul talked about God‘s standards as it relates to the mastery of passions in the context of judgment to come. The word here indicates an intense fear from the core of one’s being. Felix, afraid, is teetering in the balance. He has enough conscience and conviction to still have some fear of God. He doesn’t reject the message of faith in Christ and move on, he thinks about it. He was a mixed bag wanting a bribe but listening to the faithful witness teach. At about this same time he made a decision in a conflict between the Greeks and the Jews in Caesarea that was illegal. As a result of that decision he was recalled to Rome before his heart was changed. 

The powers of darkness will call a person wavering in their heart into sin in order to tip the scales into darkness. We must never assume that any breathing person is beyond repentance.  Only God knows when a person is beyond hope. Only God knows who might hear and be saved. The possibility is that anyone still breathing, even the most corrupt of pagan rulers, still has a connection that might draw them to grace, even a man like Felix.

“Lord, help me never give up on anyone. AMEN”