INTRO.- What’s the most difficult physical thing you ever did in life? Ride an unbroken horse? Climb an enormous mountain? Run a marathon? Fight a bull? Or run with the bulls as they did on Monday, July 7th, in Spain when 13 people were injured?
ILL.- The Spanish Red Cross said 13 people were injured, with head, rib or other injuries from falling or getting trampled. The worst off was a 37-year-old Spaniard with fractured ribs and a ruptured spleen, the Red Cross said. The whole run took just over four minutes.
YOU KNOW WHAT I SAY TO THAT STUFF? You guessed it. I don’t even want to go to Spain, much less run with the bulls. When you play with fire, you get burned. And they say that when you play with the bull you get the horns!
More than likely you’ve never done any of these things but you’ve done some things in life that you probably considered to be pretty hard or difficult in one way or another. They may not have been physical but they were tough!
ILL.- A couple with three children waited in line at San Francisco’s Pier 41 to purchase tickets for a boat trip to Alcatraz. Others watched with varying degrees of sympathy and irritation as the young children fidgeted, whined, and punched one another.
The frazzled parents reprimanded them to no avail. Finally, they reached the ticket window. "Five tickets, please," the father said. "Two round trip, three one way."
ILL.- I was in Walmart one day and passed by a man, his wife and children. He was holding a cute little baby girl in his arms. I asked how old she was. He said, "Four months old and these are my other children."
He had, I think, six or seven other children. He said, "But we’re not having any more." I glanced to look at his wife and you should have seen the look she gave me.
What’s hard or difficult in life? How about raising children? Now that’s a difficult thing for anyone! I dare anyone to say that raising children is an easy thing to do!
Life is full of difficulty and living for Christ is one of them. Even though we have the Lord on our side we will have trouble in this world. Why? Because we’re still human and ALL humans face difficulties in life. Also, because we’re in Christ the devil is going to throw the book at us, so to speak. He may well use every means possible to get us to fail and/or deny the faith. BUT REJOICE! Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world! (I John 4:4)
And what’s the most difficult thing in living the Christian life? Many things can be difficult and one of them is witnessing for Christ. It’s so difficult that many people don’t do it.
I’ve read that only 5% of all Christians do 100% of the witnessing for Christ. This means that 95% of all Christian people never lead anyone to Christ in their lifetime.
If we truly believe with all our hearts that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world then we must speak for Him! We must point others to Him! And sometimes that isn’t always easy to do.
Sometimes people don’t want to listen to us talk about Jesus. Some people turn away quickly and others may well get downright mean about it.
PROP.- From this text, let’s consider how one man and his wife responded to the gospel and how this relates to people today.
1- Some are acquainted with the gospel
2- Some are willing to listen
3- Some are repelled when convicted
I. SOME ARE ACQUAINTED WITH THE GOSPEL
22Then Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the proceedings. "When Lysias the commander comes," he said, "I will decide your case."
People can be acquainted with something but still not know anything about it in regard to any depth.
The sad truth is many people have only an artificial or a limited knowledge of Christ. What do people know about the gospel of Christ?
ILL.- Pollster George Gallup Jr. has long referred to America as a "nation of biblical illiterates." Only four in 10 Americans know that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. A majority of citizens cannot name the four Gospels of the New Testament. Only three in 10 teenagers know why Easter is celebrated.
Another poll by the Barna Research Group suggested that religious illiteracy has increased. For example, three out of four Americans (and nearly half of "born-again" Christians) believe the Bible teaches that "God helps those who help themselves."
I am amazed that people don’t know more about Christ and Christianity than they do. Here we live in a country that has long celebrated the birth of Christ and the resurrection of Christ! These are huge celebrations for Christians that take place every year and you would think they have some impact on people.
You would think they would begin to have questions in their minds, such as: "Maybe there is something to this Christianity business!"
However, we all know that acquaintance doesn’t mean inheritance. In other words, just because someone is acquainted with Christ and Christianity it does not mean they will inherit eternal life. THAT’S A VERY SHALLOW INTERPREATION OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.
Many people have the strange idea that just because a person either believes in God or Jesus that they will go to heaven. That’s barely skimming the surface of being a believer in Christ. And casual doesn’t mean commitment either!
For example, some people think that if they go to church once a month that means are committed. No, not according to scripture. Not according to the words of Jesus.
Some people are only vaguely acquainted with the Lord. And we need to introduce them to Him.
II. SOME ARE WILLING TO LISTEN
24Several days later Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess. He sent for Paul and listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus.
ILL.- A hardened unbeliever went one day to see—but not to hear—George Whitefield when he preached outdoors to a great throng of people. In order to have a good vantage point, he climbed a nearby tree. Putting his fingers in both ears, he began to watch the mighty preacher. Then a persistent fly lit on his nose. He shook his head, but the fly wouldn’t move.
Just as he removed a hand from an ear to flick the fly away, Whitefield quoted the verse, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15). Then he spoke of the willful refusal of many to hear the Spirit’s voice. The unbeliever was so impressed by what happened that he opened not only his ears to the gospel, but also his heart.
I think it would take far more than a pesky fly to get most people to listen to the gospel message.
I think for most people it takes pesky troubles, persistent difficulties in life in order to wake them up, shake them up and make consider Christ.
What’s going on in America that SHOULD make people think about God? Floods, fires, tornadoes, violence (horrible violence), immorality, bad economy (gas prices, housing foreclosures, jobs losses, etc.), war in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc!
ILL.- I recently saw this news headline: Americans’ unhappy birthday: ’Too much wrong right now.’ Even folks in the Optimist Club are having a tough time toeing an upbeat line these days. Talk turns to the state of the Union, and the Optimists become decidedly bleak. They use words such as "terrified," "disgusted" and "scary" to describe what one calls "this mess" we Americans find ourselves in.
Joanne Kontak, 60, an elementary school lunch aide inducted just this day as an Optimist, sums things up like this: "There’s just entirely too much wrong right now."
I would think that because of these difficult times that more people would be willing to listen to the claims of Christ.
ILL.- When people talk about the difficulties of this life and more people than ever are doing this, I often say, "When things go wrong in life Jesus is the only one I know who can make things right."
That’s a good way to respond. Of course, if people question you further you must be willing to give them some answers.
ILL.- What if someone said to you, "What if I were to believe in Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of the world, what does this mean? Of what benefit is there in doing this?" WOULD YOU KNOW HOW TO ANSWER THAT PERSON?
There are several things you can do: 1- you can give your personal testimony of what Christ has done for you. Hasn’t God ever worked in your life in a special way? 2- you can present Biblical truth and promises.
What does Christ offer to hurting people? 1- Forgiveness of their sin. 2- Promise of provision when we put Him first in life. 3- Protection from evil in this world. 4- Promise of eternal life beyond the grave. YOU CAN’T GET ANY BETTER PROMISES AND PROVISIONS THAN THESE!
Even though some people are willing to listen to the gospel of Christ we must somehow convince them to believe in Christ and respond to Him! How do we do this? We must preach more convincingly. We must live more faithfully. We must speak more fervently. We must be serious about living by faith, being faithful in worship and witnessing!
III. SOME ARE REPELLED WHEN CONVICTED
25As Paul discoursed on righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and said, "That’s enough for now! You may leave. When I find it convenient, I will send for you."
ILL.- Calvin Coolidge attended church alone because Mrs. Coolidge was sick one day. When he got back home he went up to his wife’s room to see how she was feeling. She promptly reassured him that she was better, and asked him if he had enjoyed the sermon.
“What was the sermon about?” she continued.
“Sin.”
“What did the minister say about it?”
“He was against it.”
God is against sin and this is why many people don’t want to hear God’s message of repentance. When they hear the message, they often turn away!
ILL.- Elaine and I saw on Primetime TV special about a man who lives with bears in Alaska. "Living With Bears, Playing by His Own Rules." His name is Charley Vandergaw, 68 year old retired school teacher.
Charlie is convinced the bears — which weigh up to 500lbs when fully grown — are his friends. He says: “They’re such big, powerful creatures. They could break my neck with one slap. If they wanted to attack me, I wouldn’t stand a chance. But they don’t want to.
“Just to see someone get that close to the grizzlies seems insane, but it’s like taking something out of context. You have to see the whole thing — you have to understand the number of years of experience I have. I think you can prevent an attack situation just by being observant. Saying all of that, I could get chewed on tomorrow.”
Incredibly, Charlie used to KILL bears for sport. But it was while hunting them that he fell in love with the amazing animals.
He says: “Every time I saw a bear it was a little bit more exciting than the time before. The mystique of bear hunting is that you’re hunting a huge, dangerous predator. But the more I was around bears, the more I realized there was something more there than a vicious wild animal.”
It was a very interesting show but that’s about it as close to wild as I want to get. WHY? Because they are still wild no matter how tame they might seem at times AND THEY CAN KILL A PERSON!
That man is playing with fire, so to speak. And the sad truth is sin will do the same thing to a person, only it won’t be a one time death. It will be an eternal death!
Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Matthew 25:46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
Unless I’m reading the Bible incorrectly, it says that some people who play with sin and continue to live in their sin, will suffer an eternal punishment. NOW THAT DOESN’T SOUND VERY GOOD TO ME!
The problem that many people have with sin today is same as Felix of old. They don’t want to listen! They enjoy their sin too much to give it up! What do you do? You can’t force to believe and surrender to Christ. All you can is present the truth of Christ. If they listen, then so be it. If they don’t, pray for them. That’s about all you can do.
CONCLUSION---------------------------
ILL.- Recently I’ve had some health problems that knocked me for a loop. And during that time I had two different people offer to mow my grass and I turned them down.
That was dumb on my part. Both were willing to help and that from a gracious and loving heart.
One of the hardest things in the world is when you want to give someone something that’s good for them and they won’t accept it.
Brothers and sisters, we have the greatest gift in the world to share with others and many don’t want to hear about it or accept it. And even though some don’t want to hear about Him or don’t want Him in their life we must continue to keep on talking about Him and pointing people to Him. HE ALONE IS OUR ONLY HOPE IN THIS LIFE AND THE NEXT!
