Acts 24:22

But when Felix, the governor, heard these things, having a more accurate knowledge of the way, he adjourned the proceedings and said, when Lysias, the commander there in Jerusalem comes down, I will make a decision on your case... And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and he heard him concerning the faith in Christ. Now, as Paul reasoned about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and he answered, go away for now. When I have a convenient time, I'll call for you... But after two years, Festus succeeded Felix and Felix wanting to do the Jews a favor left Paul bound. (Acts 24:22–27)

Felix knew all about "the way"—and still let his only convenient time slip past forever.

A Confession in the Courtroom

When Felix heard Paul's testimony before him in Caesarea, around AD 58, he had heard from both the Jewish leaders—the high priest, members of the Sanhedrin, and their skilled orator—and from Paul himself. Luke tells us Felix had "a more accurate knowledge of the way," so he adjourned the proceedings until the commander Lysias could come down.

Back in verse 14, Paul had openly confessed before the governor. When a defendant stands up in court and says "I confess," everyone in the room leans in to hear what comes next. But Paul confessed this: "according to the way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers."

Many early Christians, especially in Judea, professed to be followers of the way. We connect this to the words Jesus spoke in John 14:6: I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by me. The Jewish people of Jerusalem labeled them Nazarenes, followers of Jesus of Nazareth, but the apostles called themselves followers of the way.

Who Was Felix?

How did this Roman man come to know about the way? History tells us Felix was a Roman freedman—a former slave. Because of something he did, he and his twin brother were set free, served within the Roman Empire, and rose to prominence. He even changed his name; it was not originally Felix. This former slave became the governor of Judea around AD 52, serving until somewhere around AD 58 to 60.

The New Living Translation says Felix was "quite familiar with the way." How did a former slave turned governor become so familiar with the things of Jesus of Nazareth? Perhaps it had something to do with his wife, Drusilla, who this passage tells us was Jewish. At this point she was only about twenty years old, but she was the daughter of King Herod Agrippa I.

Drusilla and the House of Herod

King Herod Agrippa I appears in Acts 12. When Drusilla was only six years old—she was born in AD 38, so this was about AD 44—her father was in Jerusalem with the family.

Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. (Acts 12:1–3)

You know James and John, fishermen from Galilee, sons of Zebedee, part of Jesus' inner circle of Peter, James, and John. Herod laid hands on James and had him put to death with the sword. When he saw it pleased the Jews—when it polled well politically—he proceeded further and seized Peter.

Herod put Peter in prison, but in the middle of the night an angel woke him and sprang him from the cell. The next morning, when word came back that Peter was gone, Herod was furious. He had the guards publicly executed and then went down to his seacoast home in Caesarea. If you go with us to Jerusalem in 2015, we visit the beautiful ruins of Herod's palace there.

Acts 12 tells us that on a certain day Herod put on his royal garb and gave a great speech, and the people chanted, "The voice of a god and not of a man!" In that moment an angel from heaven struck him, and he died—for blaspheming God, for harassing the church, for persecuting the followers of the way. I wonder how that affected six-year-old Drusilla.

A Private Hearing About the Way

Fourteen years later, Drusilla is married to Felix, the Roman governor of Judea. Maybe Felix came home one day, and Drusilla asked about his work. The high priest had come down from Jerusalem again with members of the Sanhedrin, troubled over a man named Saul of Tarsus—one of those followers of the way Drusilla used to talk about. "A follower of the way, you say? I think I'd like to hear from him."

So Felix called Paul in for a private hearing, a sidebar apart from the formal proceedings. It had nothing to do with the charges; he simply wanted to know more about the way.

This gives us our first point: you can be acquainted with the way and not know the Way. You can be familiar with the way and not actually know it. You can have family members who follow Jesus, attend a church, hear teaching on the Scriptures, and be satisfied with your knowledge—and yet not know the way. Because the way is not just a body of information or a thing. The way is a person. In John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way."

You can know followers of Jesus, how they live and what they believe. You can have sayings of Jesus filed away, even an accurate picture of His life. But that's not sufficient. You can know all of that and not know Him. Felix didn't know Jesus. He knew about Him.

Mr. Happy, Comfortable With His Familiarity

Felix commanded the centurion to keep Paul but to let him have liberty—Paul could move about, though he could not leave Caesarea because his trial still stood. His friends and co-laborers were allowed to visit and provide for him. But Felix was comfortable, happy with his familiarity with the way.

Interestingly, the name Felix, which he chose for himself after being freed, means "happy." So you could call him Mr. Happy. And Mr. Happy was content with his position, holding this follower of the way loosely until perhaps he might hear from Lysias—who apparently never came.

But after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, he sent for Paul and "heard him concerning the faith of Jesus." They didn't want to hear about the case or what happened in Jerusalem. They wanted to hear about Jesus of Nazareth, whom the followers of the way claimed was the Messiah.

Reasoning About Righteousness

Picture it: not a formal courtroom, but a Roman home in Caesarea—perhaps just Felix, Drusilla, and Paul, maybe with companions like Luke, who was with Paul in Caesarea, or Timothy.

Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid... (Acts 24:25)

The Greek word for "reasoned" is dialegomai, from which we get "dialogue." Paul sat speaking back and forth with these two—Drusilla, a beautiful young Jewish woman, and a former Roman slave who had risen to govern Judea. They wanted to hear about the faith of Jesus Christ, and Paul says, "I want to dialogue with you about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come." Light dinner conversation.

Acts 24:26 tells us this was not a one-time meeting. Felix heard from Paul a number of times over the next two years, though his motive was not pure—he hoped to solicit a bribe to release Paul, which was Felix's normal way of leading Judea.

The Elephant in the Room

Felix and Drusilla were not righteous people. That's not saying much, because none of us are. Romans 3:10, which Paul penned shortly before this, says, "There is none righteous, no, not one." We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. But for this couple, it was manifestly evident.

History helps us. Drusilla was Felix's third wife; she became his when she was about fifteen and he was in his early forties—the talk of the town. And Drusilla had a husband before Felix. Captivated by her beauty, Felix used a magician from Cyprus named Simon to seduce her away from her Jewish husband to marry a pagan Roman governor. They married around AD 53, and now, about AD 58 or 59, they sit before Paul.

And Paul says, "I want to talk about righteousness. I want to talk about doing the right thing. And not just that—about self-control, which you apparently lack." Don't you love the Apostle Paul? He goes right for it.

Every one of us has sat with a family member, co-worker, or neighbor living in open immorality, where the elephant in the room is their sin—and we're tempted to tiptoe around it. "Isn't the weather nice today?" Not Paul. "Yes, Felix, I know you're the talk of the town. I know you seduced this young woman to leave her husband. I know you're an adulterer, cruel in your leadership, cavalier in personality, carnal in morality. You want to hear about Jesus? Let me start a few pages earlier and talk about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment."

Righteousness and Self-Control That Are Not Our Own

Just days before, Felix had heard Paul declare to the chief priest, the Sanhedrin, and their orator Tertullus that there would be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15). "This being so," Paul said in verse 16, "I myself always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men."

When Paul said that, the religious leaders probably nodded—they believed in the resurrection and lived outwardly good lives. But that Roman governor had no pure conscience whatsoever. And now Paul sits with him and says, "I want to talk about righteousness, self-control, and the fact that there is a coming judgment. Are you ready for that?"

If we honestly look at ourselves in the mirror of God's word, we too lack righteousness and self-control. Apart from God, we have no righteousness; we cannot stand before Him in our own good works. But 2 Corinthians 5 tells us Jesus, who knew no sin, became sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of God in Christ. We are clothed in His righteousness. As Genesis 15:6 says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."

And self-control—in our fallen state, none of us have it. We are slaves to our desires and appetites, Paul says in Romans, apart from the work of the Spirit. Galatians 5 lists self-control as a fruit of the Spirit, evidence of God's Spirit within us.

Hearing Truth Without Knowing the Word of Truth

This brings our second point: you can hear the truth of the word and not know the Word of truth. John 1:1–4 tells us Jesus is the Word, the logos of God. John 1:14 says, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." And John 14:6 says He is the way and the truth.

You can know what's written in the Bible. You can hear it preached week in and week out, as Felix did—and his preacher was Paul the Apostle, the man who wrote Romans, Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, the Thessalonian and Timothy letters, Titus. For two years, Paul the Apostle was Felix's personal pastor. And yet you can hear the truth and never come to an experiential relationship with the Word and truth that is Jesus.

Afraid of God, But Not Fearing the Lord

Paul wrapped up the truth about righteousness and self-control and tied a beautiful bow on top of it about the judgment to come. And what was Felix's response? "Felix was afraid. And he answered, go away for now. When I have a convenient time, I will call for you."

This teaches us, third: you can be afraid of God and not fear the Lord. There are people in churches all over the world who are afraid of God—and that fear is one of the reasons they attend, hoping to appease Him before they stand before a holy God. In 2003, 81% of Americans polled said they believe in some life after this, in a resurrection. Many of them are afraid of God.

As Paul spoke of the coming day of judgment, Felix—a former slave who pulled himself up to great privilege, yet a carnal man lacking righteousness and self-control—was afraid. But his fear did not compel him to bend the knee in reverence to the Lord Jesus Christ. So he said, "Go away. When I have a convenient time, I'll call for you."

The Judge Who Will Be Judged

Our fourth point: you can be the judge of a nation, but you will one day be judged. When we stand before God, our privileged position in this life will matter very little. You can rise from the bottom of the barrel as a Roman slave to the top as governor of Judea—and on the day of Christ Jesus, that will be meaningless.

Felix, the judge of the Jews in Judea, with power to take a man's life at his word, heard from Paul, a representative of the Judge of judges. He heard testimony about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, and he was afraid—but he sent Paul away.

A Convenient Time That Never Came

As far as we can tell, a convenient time never came for Felix or Drusilla. Paul was kept captive in Caesarea for two years until Felix was replaced by Festus. Secular history tells us the emperor Nero heard so much bad news about Felix's terrible leadership that he was recalled to Rome to stand trial. That's why, as the last verse says, Felix left Paul bound to do the Jews a favor—he hoped a good testimony from the people he had ruled so poorly might help him before Nero.

A convenient time never came for Drusilla either. Almost exactly twenty years after this meeting, secular history records that Drusilla, now in her forties, was at a gala in an Italian city with her son. On August 24th, AD 79, she was one of only three named individuals known to have been in Pompeii when Mount Vesuvius erupted. With hundreds of others she was encapsulated in a blast of ash and superheated gas, frozen in time—one of those famous casts. A convenient time never came.

For a season, she and her husband had a private meeting with the apostle who penned the Gospel of grace, the book of Romans. And yet they stopped at being merely afraid of God, never doing what they ought to have done.

Will You Wait for a Convenient Time?

We are not always presented with convenient times. Many people attend church and never bend the knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, waiting for a future time that never comes. This story challenges us with four realities: we can be well acquainted with the way yet never know Jesus; we can hear the truth preached constantly yet never know the Word of truth; we can be afraid of God yet never bow in reverence; and we can hold a privileged position that won't matter on the day of judgment.

I realize this is not your typical Mother's Day message, but it's important. Perhaps today you realize you don't actually know the way, the truth, and the life. You know about it. You may have even memorized John 14:6—but the words just before it, where Jesus says, "Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions... I go to prepare a place for you... I will come again and receive you to myself." When Thomas said, "We don't know the way," Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me."

Perhaps you'd confess you're afraid to stand before God as judge, but you have not yet bent the knee to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Let me encourage you to do what Drusilla and Felix apparently never did—on this day. It just may be that today is your convenient time.

Closing Prayer

Father, we thank you for the opportunity to come before your word—living and powerful, cutting deep, revealing the thoughts and intents of our heart, laying bare those things we don't expose to other people, before the One to whom we will one day give an account. And so, Lord, I pray as we stand here, if there is anyone who realizes and acknowledges for the first time that they know about who you are but they don't know you, who never entered into a relationship with you, never asked you to be their Lord—would you draw them by your Spirit? In Jesus' name, amen.