Title: Lessons from Felix
In the book of Acts, we can see that there were two Roman governors who ruled Judea while Paul preached the gospel. One was 'Felix' and the other was 'Festus' governor.
After occupying vast territories, Rome tried to block rebellion in conquered areas in advance by appointing governors to each region, and to put them in charge of security.
In today's text, we want to think about who the Roman governor Felix was and what spiritual lessons he gave us.
1. We need to think about what kind of person Felix was.
In a word, he was ignorant and cruel.
As a person with a bad personality, he accidentally captured Guan Yun and became a Roman official.
After the Romans conquered the world, they appointed governors in each place to rule over them, and it was in this Palestine area that there was a constant rebellion.
Jewish independence movements have always been a headache for the Roman government, and Palestine has always been a site of terrorism and rebellion. In this region, an ignorant and cruel person like Felix was appointed governor of Rome. Just as the Japanese set up their governor-general in Seoul after the Japanese invaded the Korean Peninsula, so did Rome.
Legend has it that Felix was originally a slave.
He must have thought that he had succeeded because he was on the verge of becoming a governor. He was ignorant and cruel, and the appointment of him as governor probably meant that he should do well in a troubled area where there is constant turmoil. So he took the power of the Roman emperor and killed as many people as he could for political stability.
According to church historians, he killed rabbis, priests, and such people, and the Jews, who could not bear it, sent a complaint to the Roman emperor. When Nero saw this, he recognized that there was a problem, and dismissed him and appointed Festus. It's face-to-face.
Felix, a cruel slave-born man, seems to have always had uneasy thoughts in his mind, as he only flattered the regime and killed many people while remaining loyal.
Verse 25 says, "Paul came and was discussing the coming, and Felix was afraid and answered..."
As you can see from the words, it is true that Felix was afraid in his heart when he heard what Paul was saying.
So what did he say?
He said, "Go to the ten directions, and when I have time, I will call you again."
If you look closely at the Bible, verse 24 says:
There is a saying, "Felix came with his wife, a Jewish woman, and called Paul and heard him of the faith in Christ Jesus..."
It means that he took a Jewish woman, a conquered land, as his wife. That is, the Roman governor lived with a Jewish woman. Regarding this, the church historian Josephus said:
It is recorded as
is the daughter of Herod Agrippa I, king of Judea, who was said to be a beauty of modesty.
So, when she was only 15, she had already become the wife of the handsome king of Hamad in northern Palestine, but Felix was so beautiful that he coveted him the moment he saw him.
The way it was taken was also speculative.
It is said that she bought a magician and told her husband, E, that living with that woman would be unlucky and short-lived, so she forced them to divorce her and eventually divorced her and took Drusilla.
At this time, he was 60 years old, and was said to be 18 years old.
No matter how you think about it, you can see that it is not a proper marriage.
Being Felix who was married like this, I guess he could not overcome his wife's sanctification and listened to Paul's evangelism with his wife.
But when Paul knew this, he said, unlike other times, he was mainly talking about wa and wa. So, the moment she heard Paul's words, Felix was afraid.
In other words, he was afraid of the future judgment.
Still, due to the prestige of being a Roman governor, he was imprisoned and mumbled, not released for two years.
In that sense, what can we learn from Felix?
2. It is the fact that Felix missed the opportunity of salvation through 'superficial knowledge'.
When Felix heard Paul's statement, something struck her heart.
So he called him out of prison and quietly listened to him with his wife. Holy Spirit in Felix Heart
history has begun.
This was indeed a golden opportunity for salvation.
It was an opportunity to become a new person, an opportunity to gain eternal life, and an opportunity to change history.
Nevertheless, he quenched the influence of the Holy Spirit.
missed an opportunity.
According to the text, he was stabbed in the heart for the shameful things that came from his private life, but he
A missed opportunity with superficial knowledge.
He was a regional governor before he was governor.
I had been working in the areas around Samaria and Judea for many years already, so I had heard all the rumors about Jesus of Nazareth. So it means that he knew well about this Way, that is, about the Jesuits. So, what Paul is explaining is that, because he already knew it well, he put it off by asking to listen to it later.
That was the problem.
Even today, there are many people who are unable to enter the Christian faith because of the superficial knowledge of the world. How can we fathom God's mysterious world of truth with common sense knowledge?
The things of the spiritual world cannot be explained by the knowledge of the world.
He said that the things of the spiritual world can only be understood and understood spiritually.
Spiritual things are solved only by faith.
When you accept it with faith, everything becomes real.
Things in the spiritual world are not about knowing and believing, but believing and knowing.
In John 6:69 it says, ?쏻e believed and knew that you are the Holy One of God.??If you believe, you will understand and understand.
How can we explain the problem of salvation with the theories and knowledge of the world?
The knowledge of salvation cannot be known by the knowledge of superficial common sense. Felix missed the opportunity to be saved because of the superficial knowledge he had heard of.
Even today, there are many people around us who will gradually believe.
Everyone is like Felix.
The door of salvation is not always open.
Now is the time of grace, so anyone can enter.
However, once the door of the gospel of the kingdom is closed, it cannot be opened again.
3. Felix missed an opportunity for political 'repentance in interests'.
Paul said in front of this governor Felix, "I was discussing the coming and coming, and Felix was afraid and answered, "Go to the ten directions, and I will call you when I have time." Looking at this, it seems that his heart has been very pierced.
Paul knew all about Felix's private life when he was talking about Wah and Wah, not saying, "Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."
So Felix was afraid.
But he did not repent. He postponed repentance.
What did you do that for? It was because of the power of the trivial world.
The throne of the world is truly miserable.
The moment you step down from your position, you lose everything.
However, it was postponed to the next despite the fear of the poor governor.
There is also a lesson for us to learn here. If you have a fear of sin, you just need to repent immediately.
The Word is like a double-edged sword.
Poke, split and cut.
You can be pierced when the Word is proclaimed.
Then you just need to repent right away.
If you do not repent no matter how many times you give them a chance, you will be beaten later.
If you are accused of sin, you must repent.
If you get stabbed, you just need to repent.
Felix was guilty of killing many innocent people.
Felix was stabbed for his unrestricted privacy.
Felix was told that there was a judgment that would pay the price of great sin.
If so, you should have repented soon.
However, Felix postponed it to the next.
There are many such people today.
Because of the high places of the little world, they do not repent despite their fear of sin.
Repentance is also an opportunity.
Judas Iscariot also missed an opportunity.
No matter how much you regret missing an opportunity, what's the use?
Felix was afraid to hear what Paul had to say.
The sword wasn't scary, the war wasn't scary, but the judgment to come was scary.
If so, you should have repented.
But he put it off until later.
Dear saints!
Now, among your family, relatives and acquaintances, aren't there still people who are procrastinating like Felix?
Aren't we the ones who look at it and neglect it again?
We have to think deeply.
The first month of the new year has already passed.
Said to save time.
It is said that the times are evil.
Opportunities do not come every day in an evil world.
Today, here we must reexamine our faith.
We, too, should look back at ourselves at least once in regards to what is to come and repent if there is something to repent of without missing the opportunity.
If we repent, God's love is infinite love.
If you have ever disobeyed the Word of God, I hope you will turn back from this moment.
There, the road to true peace and prosperity will be opened. ??