Please open your Bibles to the book of Acts, Acts 24, Acts 24.
We covered some of it Wednesday, but we're going to delve a
little deeper. The title of this morning's
message is The Danger of Procrastination.
So I nearly wasn't going to come today.
I wasn't sure whether I do this or not.
You know, I hung about the church grounds for a while, and
I'll go. I'll hang in.
Paul is under arrest in Caesarea.
He will remain in this location for two years as Felix, the only
person in the Roman Empire who once was a slave and got his
freedom and now is a Roman governor living in Caesarea.
Caesarea is kind of like the Netherlands city.
It's more like the City Beach of Israel.
It's a beautiful beach area. It was the harbour then at the
time, but Paul's in prison there.
But the Roman governments, governors, Pilot lived there.
Felix lived there. There is a large contingent of
Roman soldiers there. You will remember back in Acts
10, it was where the Centurion lived, the Italian band,
remember, and the Holy Spirit fell.
That's the location. Felix is now the Roman governor
over all of Israel. He's the go between between
Israel and Rome, Caesar, and he's playing a cat and mouse
game with the imprisoned apostle because he knows he's innocent.
He's heard from the religious leaders already.
They're going to come again. He's done no crime.
But because Paul's a Roman, Felix is trying to just placate
his position and the Jews trying to keep everyone at rest.
His wife is a Jew as well, Jewess.
But as he's playing this cat and mouse game with the apostle
Paul, Felix is playing a cat and mouse game with God.
Dangerous. So let's read from verse 10.
Then Paul, after the governor had nodded to him to speak.
Anton, as much as I know that you have been for many years a
judge of this nation, Paul is saying to Felix, I do the more
cheerfully answer for myself, because you may ascertain that
it is no more than 12 days since I went up to Jerusalem to
worship. And those who are accusing me
neither found me in the temple, disputing with anyone, nor
inciting the crowd. I didn't do any of that either
in the synagogue or in the city, nor can they prove the things
which they now accuse me. But this I confess to you,
according to the way, and that is the way is called followers
of Christ. They're called the Way, which
they call a sect. So I worship the God of my
Father's, believing all things which are written in the Law and
in the prophets. It's the fulfilment of Jewish
religion. He says I'm following the
Messiah prophesied in the Law and the prophets.
I'm still Jewish. That's the problem that seems to
be here. Because I've done this, I have
hope in God, which they themselves accept that there
will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the
unjust. This being so, I myself always
strive to have a conscience without offence toward God and
men. Now, after many years, I came to
bring arms and offerings to my nation.
The collection that Paul brought to the church in Jerusalem, in
the midst of which some Jews from Asia, they were from
Turkey, found me purified. He was going through the the
rite of Nazarene neither with a mob nor with tumult.
They ought to have been here before you to object if they had
anything against me. These Jews that said I was doing
the wrong thing in the temple, where are they?
They're not here. It should be.
Or else let those who are here themselves say if they found any
wrongdoing. OK, speak up.
If I've actually done something wrong, prove it.
Where's the evidence? Well, I stood before the
council. That's the Sanhedrin.
Unless it is for this one statement, which I cried out
standing among them concerning the resurrection of the dead.
I am being judged by you this day.
Verse 22 when Felix heard these things, having more accurate
knowledge of the way Paul has told him all about Jesus than
Nazarene told him about him being resurrected.
So Felix now has a full picture of the gospel because Paul's
given it to him. He adjourned the proceedings and
said when Lyceus, that's the commander of the Roman centurion
who brought Paul to Caesarea, comes down, I'll make a decision
on your case. So he commanded the centurion to
keep Paul and let him have liberty and told him not to
forbid any of his friends to provide or visit for him.
So he's in prison after some days when Felix came with his
wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. So Felix is going to know all
about the Jewish religion. His wife's a Jewess.
She he's going to have full understanding of what Judaism is
and also the connection that Paul is making with this guy
Jesus being the Messiah that has been long for especially by
every Jewish woman. He said for Paul and heard him
concerning the faith in Christ. So Paul, tell me more about the
faith, your faith in Christ. So it's a testimony now, as he
reasoned. Paul reasoned about
righteousness, self control and the judgement to come notice
what happened. Felix was afraid and answered.
Go away for now. When I've convenient time, I'll
call you back. Meanwhile, he also hoped that
money would be given him by Paul that he might release him.
He wanted to get a bribe, therefore he sent for him more
often and converse with him. But after two years, two years,
this happened. Porsche's Festus succeeded Felix
and Felix wanted to do the Jews a favour, left Paul in prison.
Felix hears the gospel of Jesus Christ from Paul.
The word of God lands in Caesarea to the Roman governor,
and it pierces Felix like a gladius.
A gladius was the Roman sword 2 edged.
It jabs him in Hebrews 412. The Bible says for the Word of
God is quick, that is means it's alive, powerful, sharper than
any 2 edged sword, sharper than any gladius, piercing even to
the dividing asunder of soul, spirit, joints, marrow, and it
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
The new living puts it this way, for the Word of God is alive and
powerful, sharper than any 2 edged sword, cutting between
soul and spirit, between joint and marrow.
It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Elsewhere in the Bible. It also tells us that the Word
of God is a powerful sword. Ephesians 617 Take the harm of
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God. Now when you or I or anyone
hears the word of God, what happens?
It penetrates our innermost being.
I want to encourage you, when you have the little kids and
you're doing your devotional with them and they're playing
and they're laughing and they're giggling as you know you're
trying to have a family devotion and it's always someone starts
laughing or does something funky and you go, this is, is this,
are they listening to anything? If you're reading the Word of
God, it's going in, by the way. Also, you may be visiting a
relative who's in a coma, in intensive care, unconscious,
unable. You can't communicate.
You read the Word of God. You know why?
Because it bypasses these and it goes into the very spirit of the
person who's there. They're still there, just that
they their body won't let them communicate back to you and go,
I know you're here. I know you're reading to me.
So I encourage you when you go and visit someone in hospital
and they're out read the word of God, thou hear, and it's a
blessed hope that we have that they'll respond.
And so when we hear the word of God, it penetrates our innermost
being. Bible tells us that it reveals
the rawness of our heart. That's why many times you come
to church and go I wasn't happy today.
Why aren't you happy? I don't know.
I just what he said. I don't know.
I don't know what he said, but I was didn't like waste back
didn't like what he said. I've even had had a person, this
young lady come up to us many years ago and she went off at
me. I went, well, what's you just
spoke about me, didn't you? Who told you what?
What? It just went off and I went
Actually, no. And I think it's rather, I don't
know, selfish and proud to think that we would only deal with one
person, that you're the only person that this was for and
they went away because you see what happens.
That's why sometimes people come and they never come again.
Because even as we read the word of God and we speak the word of
God, it goes bang, we get unsettled.
And we don't like being unsettled.
We like things being calm. We don't like people poking into
our lives, into our into the privacy of our hearts and minds,
our thoughts. That's not what I think.
That's not what I'm thinking. That's not who I am.
And we have this facade that we carry around with us very well.
We practise it. We grow and grow and grow and we
have this facade that's, you know, I'm good.
No, everything's good. How you going?
Good. Used to have a friend I used to
work with. Every time someone says how you
going, he says pretty terrible. And he just keep walking because
he always wanted to know. He said you watch this, there
you go, pretty terrible. And we just keep walking with
him and they would never turn around there because they'd oh,
that's good because people just respond.
They don't listen. They're just saying it.
And he would say pretty terrible all the time.
And now I said, oh, you're terrible.
What was the problem? No.
Oh, that's good. Yeah, see you again.
Paul stood before Felix unashamed of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, and he gives Felix the word of God direct.
Paul spoke of three powerful things direct to Felix's soul in
verse 25, and he reasoned, and I like the old King James, the way
I put it, he reasoned of righteousness, temperance,
judgement to come, righteousness.
What is righteousness? Righteousness is being right
with God. We only made righteous by the
blood of Christ. That's the only way we become
righteous. This table is a table and the
only people that can come there are sinners saved by grace.
It's this table is not for good people.
Good people don't take communion.
Good people tell I don't need communion.
I'm a good person. I give to the charities.
I do the right thing by my neighbours so they don't take
communion. Communion is for sinners.
Sinners have been forgiven who? Not yet.
I'm a Sinner. I I need Christ.
So that's what the table, it's a table of Thanksgiving where we
remember why we're here, why we can give thanks because of what
Christ did for us, righteousness being right with God.
Now this made the Roman governor Felix, who was a cruel man,
because when a slave came to the throne, man, he got his own
back. I've been a slave and so I've
been treated like a dog. Anyone comes to me, you're going
to get, you're going to get it like I had.
It's payback time. And he did.
He was an immoral man. This was his third wife and made
him look back over his life as Paul is speaking the word of God
about righteousness, his life, Felix life was staying with the
word as rapacity. It means greedy.
He was greedy. It was just for him.
It was it's one who lives by catching prey.
He's cunning. He's always shifty.
It's a life of ultimate cruelty. That was Felix.
He was the opposite to righteous temperance.
Temperance means a life of self control.
You see, when you get saved now God is in control.
You're no longer flying off the handle all the time.
You're no longer, you know, raging a raging idiot and doing
stupid things. Now you we're under the control
of the Holy Spirit and we walk in step with God.
Now it's been a change temperance.
But Felix, his life was one of wrong desires, no self control.
He had wicked passions. They dominated Felix's life.
It's the if it feels good, do it.
It's the Nike slogan, If it feels good, do it.
That's the opposite to temperance.
Judgement to come. Felix is married to the Jewess
Drusilla. They know there's judgement.
Jews know about judgement. This struck Felix to his core.
Because any man with any savvy knows, you know, at the end of
things, how I've lived, I'll face judgement.
A life that he knew that there was a great being that whom one
day he would have to stand accountable to.
You see, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the standard of divine
truth and truth is absolute. The world says, Oh no, there's
no things such things as absolute.
Yes there is jump off a building 10 storeys high.
Gravity is absolute. Romans 116 For I am not ashamed
of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto
salvation. To everyone that believes, to
the Jew 1st and also to the Greek, for therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.
It's the truth as it is written. The just shall live by faith.
Humanity, mankind as a whole does not set the standard that
defines truth. And this is where people go,
well, I'm good with God, I'm OK. I used to think that before I
was saved. I mean, I, I grew up in a nice
family. You know, I went to Sunday
school when I was like, you know, I went to church and, you
know, I thought about God and thought I was right with God
until someone showed me the Bible.
I went, oh, I haven't done that. I didn't know I had to do that.
I didn't know I had to repent. I thought God and I were we were
OK. But no, we don't set the, the
standard. We don't worship God in our own
way. Can't your standard is no good
man's own conscience is not reliable to guide us.
The Bible tells us that Jeremiah 17/9.
The prophet says the heart that is our feelings, our emotions is
deceitful above all things desperately wicked.
Who can know it? Please deal with crimes of
passion people. You know when someone usually in
a marriage, someone kills someone in a marriage, who's the
first most likely person, the husband or the wife.
It's it's a it's but they're the ones that crime of passion.
The ones love them and then they kill them.
How quickly we can turn even King David man after God's own
heart said this Psalm 13923. He said to the Lord, Lord search
me, oh God, know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, see if
there'd be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of
everlasting. One thing I realising even now
as I grow older in age and in my walk with God, there are times
when I come to myself and I go, man, I'm, I'm not pleasant, you
know, the way I've reacted, the something I've said and I go,
I'm disgusted with myself. Because you see, as I grow
closer, closer to the Lord, the more of myself is revealed by
the word of God and my walk with God and, and, and that's why we,
we had this constantly. I need to come to God and go, Oh
God, thank you for your mercy. It's what the Nazis cried out
and we went to Nuremberg, walked into the place where they had
the trial. I stood in the place where
Hitler stood and proclaimed the the Reich, the thousands,
hundreds of thousands of people gathered.
And then we went, as I said, to Nuremberg, to the courthouse.
Where the Nazis sat there and they were brought to judgement
for the crimes against humanity, the Nazis said we were just
doing what we were ordered no. And that's why it became known
as that statement, just doing what I was ordered to do, the
Nuremberg confession, because what you're doing was wrong, but
you just can't be. I wasn't.
There wasn't anything in it. That's the standard.
You see, humanity needs standards apart from our own.
They're called the 10 commandments.
They're written in stone. And the first of them says, you
are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul
and strength. And it tells us about how to to,
to deal with one another, what we shouldn't do, how we should
live. They're the standards.
When Felix heard the gospel spoken by Paul, he's agreeing
with it and said, well, I hear what you're saying.
Let's stop talking now and I'll hear some more of this.
He heard it, but it did nothing. He didn't do anything about it.
James chapter 2 verse 19 James says you believe that there is
one God Oh yeah, many Australians see there is one
God. Yeah, you do.
Well, the devils also believe and tremble.
They tremble as well. Doesn't make them righteous.
Doesn't make them holy. You know, we have this funny
thing, You know, I've heard people when we try and be nice
to people, say, well, I was talking to someone about
something and they said they were spiritual.
And when I mentioned God, they said we have a fear of God and
it means nothing. But we're trying to kind of
like, I think they're Christian. No, you can sit in the church
and agree with all that is preached.
You can nod yes. Amen.
But it is what you do with the truth of the gospel, what you do
with it. James goes on to say.
I'll show you my faith by my life, by my works.
I'll show you my faith by my life.
God's truth, God's Word probed into Felix's soul, stabbed it.
When we sit under God's word, the truth of God probes into
hidden wounds of our spirit that need healing.
That's why we get upset, because we, we pack those things away.
We don't want to bring them out. They hurt too much.
I don't want to go back there. I, I, I, I've hidden that away.
No one needs to know about that. God says.
I know about it. When we hear God's word, like
Felix, the word tears the scab off the the callous scar is
removed and it reveals the raw tissue of who we are, and it
reveals this. We are all sinners lost.
That's what Christ came. Romans 323 says that all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God.
In this room, we're all guilty before God.
The difference is, if you sit here today, whether you've
accepted the pardon or not, if you haven't accepted the pardon,
you sit here still guilty before God.
God's arrow fired through the lips of his servant Paul to
Felix, empowered by his Holy Spirit and the sort of sword of
God, plunged into the sinful soul of Felix with the mighty
force that truth brings. That old saying, it's pretty
true. Truth hurts.
Truth hurts Felix. You're the man, you know the
things you've done, you're not righteous, you're not tempering,
you're going to be judged. You know that there will be
judgement awaiting you. Paul didn't say that to him.
He just gave the word of God. It's the word of God that does
it. Jesus said when the Holy Spirit
comes, what will he do? Convict.
When you sit here and you get that uncomfortable feeling,
there's a difference between condemnation and conviction.
Condemnation says you're useless, you're no good, you'll
never come up to anything. Conviction is yes, you're a
Sinner, but there's hope. Change Jesus is the answer.
There's hope. That's conviction.
Do you know the difference between conviction and
condemnation? No wonder it says Felix
trembled. He literally, physically
trembled. In Daniel chapter 5, The Last
Night of Life for a Man called Belshazzar, grandson of
Nebuchadnezzar, The writing appears on the wall.
Many, many tackle you fasten. You've been weighed and you've
been found wanting. Your life is short.
You've mocked the God that you're drinking wine and
celebrating in and of the vessels of the God that we that
are used by the Jews to worship back in Israel.
And you're you're making a mockery of the God in whose
hands your very breath sits, Daniel said.
It's said when Belshazzar saw the writing on the wall, the
word of God, the King's countenance changed.
Daniel 5, verse 6. His thoughts troubled him.
He knows he's guilty. His knees knocked together.
It says that his hips dislocated.
Felix trembled, answered. Go your way for this time, Paul.
When I have a convenient season, I'll call you again.
Not now. Isn't that often the response
when we're trying to witness to someone?
And let's not talk about that now.
Convenient. The word convenient in the Greek
here means a fixed and definite time, a seasonable time, the
right time, a limited period of time.
What Felix did is he procrastinated.
He said let's talk about this another time at a more
convenient time, Paul, another date.
Felix is really uncomfortable as Paul is simply sharing his faith
in Christ. Remember, Paul hasn't come up
and said you, you, you, this, you're this.
He's just sharing the gospel. You see, the Word of God does
the convicting and terror flows now through Felix, every part
causing him to physically tremble.
This is the conviction, as I said, of the Spirit of God
through the Word of God penetrating into his soul.
Fear flows through his heart. He cuts off the exchange with
Paul sharply. Go away for this time.
Stop. Come back another time when it's
more convenient. I'll call for you.
You see, Paul had diagnosed Felix's heart and offered him
the remedy. What's the remedy?
He'd spoken of him. Jesus resurrected.
It was up to Felix to receive him.
You see, procrastination is the thief of time.
And time, as I've gotten older, I found, is probably the most
precious thing that you and I have.
We can talk about money and other sorts of things, but time,
when it's gone, it's gone. If you miss one child's
birthday, you can't go back to when they're six or seven or
four and you've missed it. You can't go back and get it
again. You can't recycle and go back
over and go, well, I should have been there that time, let's do
it again. You can't.
You can't do that. We can't go back.
Time is precious and procrastination is the great
thief of your time. One of these days is none of
these days. Procrastination is the thief of
souls. The Bible itself declares 2
Corinthians 6. Two, now is the acceptable time.
Behold, and it repeats. Now is the day of salvation.
Felix had a foolish attitude towards God, toward God's Word,
thinking that, well, let's talk about it at a later date.
That's very Australian, isn't it?
Yeah, I know, I know. You go to church, we'll talk
about it some other time, but let's not talk about it now.
We've got other things to do. It's very Australian, but God
says in Acts 1730, but it says God in time Pass winked at the
way that people lived. I covered it.
But then Acts 1730 goes on to say but now commands.
Notice but now commands. That's not a suggestion.
All men everywhere to repent all means all men where everywhere
to do what? To repent.
That's a command. Felix knew he was a Sinner, yet
he refused to break with his sins and obey the Lord.
He had a foolish attitude towards God's grace.
Take a step back from this for a moment and look at the scenario.
Is this Roman governor the greatest teacher on earth at the
time? Bible teacher there two years.
How gracious is God with Felix? I mean, you got the greatest
Bible teacher, expounder, one who's seen Christ himself coming
for you back and forth, back and forth.
Isn't God trying to save Felix the soul?
I think he is. You see, God is not willing.
The Bible says that any should perish, but that all should
come. How long suffering was God
toward this Roman? Yet Felix would not surrender.
Felix had no idea of another day's life to be lived.
He didn't know when he was going to live or die, yet he
procrastinated. Proverbs 27 One says, boast not
yourself of tomorrow, for you know not what a day may bring
forth. Isn't that true?
40 People who are alive today in West Australia will be dead by
tomorrow. 40 a day die. 40 alive today will be in the morgue by
tomorrow. Procrastinated or
procrastination, is a dangerous game to play.
It's Russian roulette with your soul.
Russian roulette for those you don't know.
You get a gun, put one bullet it, you spin it around and you
click, spin it again, click. How in contrast, do we see feel
as compared with perhaps the Philippian gaoler who also
trembled back in the book of Acts Acts 16 verse 27 earthquake
hits the prison doors are open. The keeper of the prison
awakened and have his sleep. Seeing the prison doors open, he
drew out his sword is going to kill himself.
Supposing that all the prisoners had fled, but Paul cried out
with a loud voice saying don't do yourself any harm.
We're all here, Paul, Silas. They've been singing at
midnight. Then he called for a light and
sprang in and came, came trembling.
So the gaoler comes in, he's trembling.
He falls down before God and Silas.
And he brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be
saved? There's the difference.
This is the choice that all humanity will face.
Procrastination will cause you great harm, Eternal damnation,
if you continue to defer and to defer, yet knowing the truth and
constantly rejecting it. The trouble is when I talk to
people about the gospel and they know what I'm saying is true and
they hear it and they go, I know what you're saying is true.
They've said that back, but they don't do anything about it.
It's dangerous. It's so dangerous.
The Bible writes about this that during the last days, when the
Antichrist, the world leader, takes position upon the throne,
Second Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 9, this man, the
Antichrist, will come to do the work of Satan with counterfeit
power, signs and miracles. He will use every kind of evil
deception to fool those on their way to destruction because why
they refuse? It's a choice to love and accept
the truth. They know the truth that would
save them not interested. So God will cause them to be
greatly deceived and they will believe these lies.
Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than
believing the truth. Choice.
The devil called a meeting, things weren't going well.
He's angry he got 5 fallen angels to come before him,
demons and he offered a prize with the winning suggestion how
to keep people from getting saved.
So the devil opened the meeting and said we need a new strategy
to keep people away from Christ. Knowing God the creator, Demon
one put his hand up. Simple, let's tell him there is
no God. That'll work.
The devil looked at him and then responded.
I'd be an idiot. People only have to look at the
wonders of creation, birth of a new child, glance up at the
heavens, see the stars, the sun, the moon, how the seasons come
and go. That won't work at all.
Demon 2 put his hand up. Well, how?
How about we tell them there's no such thing as evil?
Will that work? They can simply just believe as
they like. The devil responded.
That won't work either. They just have to look at the
world around them, watch the news, the broken lives
everywhere. I think again, Demon Three put
his hand up. What if we tell them churches
aren't relevant, that they're old fashioned, antiquated, out
of touch, and they just after their money and the devil
responded, They already think that that way anyway.
Don't need to do any more about that.
That's not new, Demon Four. Well, my suggestion is
foolproof. This will work.
Get the mortals addicted to TV. I can watch it until they just
fall asleep. Just waste their lives away.
Not bad, the devil responded, and they'll eventually lose
interest in TV. They might start to think for
themselves. I'll watch podcasts all the time
now. I do church in their own lounge
room, coffee in hand, but it's not enough.
I need something more better. And the last demon stumbled and
stammered. The devil shouted.
Speak up, you've got something to say.
I'm not sure, but what? What if we told them that they
have plenty of time and that there's no hurry?
The devil was silent for a moment, jumped to his feet and
shouted. Excellent prize is yours, now go
to it. And that's how it is.
We wait till we go to the funeral and then we hear those
words. They're down, up there, down
looking at us. They're now with sunset.
And we rattle off all the names of everyone that's died and
they're there. And it's so sad because of the
cross, says Heaven is not default for every person,
otherwise there'd be no cross. The reason that he came is that
there is no man comes under the Father, but by me I am the way,
the truth and the life. Alexander the Great was asked at
the age of 33 how he had conquered the world.
He replied by not delaying did it straight away.
Hebrews chapter 2 verse 3 says this.
How shall we escape if we neglect that's defer so great
salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord
the Word, and then was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him,
the apostles. Atheism has claimed its many,
many souls. Vice immorality claim many more,
but procrastination has claimed millions of lost souls.
Those who know the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and yet
procrastinate on receiving it and obey are spoken of by Paul
in Romans chapter 1 and God says in Romans 118.
But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful,
wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness.
In other words, they know the truth, push it away, push it
away, push it away. They know the truth about God
because He has made it obvious to them forever since the world
was created. People have seen the earth and
sky through everything God made. They can clearly see his
invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature.
So they have no excuse for not knowing God when the second
resurrection occurs and they stand before Christ.
It's not a judgement, it's a sentencing and people go, well I
see God, I got a few things you want to say to him.
He won't say a word by book of Romans says you won't say a
word. You are not a word because you
know you are completely guilty as you stand before he who came
as a saviour. But now is your judge.
Have you been procrastinating? Are you now procrastinating?
You come, yet you've not surrendered.
You're walking in a dangerous path that grows more threatening
each day. For each day you procrastinate
is like taking a shot of religion in the arm, just enough
each time to keep you immune from the faith.
Felix had opportunity. Time after time, Paul's two
years of captivity, Felix had the chance to hear and obey the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Felix's procrastination over
those two years grew to be a powerful force within him.
At first, he trembled. He wasn't at the end of those
two years. For it binds those who hear the
gospel, reject it, know it's true, and yet its conviction is
set aside. In Exodus Chapter 7, verse 13,
it says this. Pharaoh's heart, however,
remained hard. He still refused choice to
listen, just as the Lord had predicted.
You know Pharaoh had seven times that.
God gave Pharaoh the opportunity to surrender to the God of
Israel. Let my people go.
Each time Pharaoh rejected the offer, his heart hardened until
God said it. That's it.
In Exodus 7 three times, Exodus 81 time, Exodus 9 twice, and
Exodus 10 the last time in Hebrews chapter 3, the writer of
Hebrews says, and we are God's house speaking to the church if
we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.
That is why the Holy Spirit says today when you hear his voice,
don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled,
when they tested me in the wilderness.
Verse 12 of Hebrews says three says be careful.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, speaking to the church,
make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving.
Turning your way from the living God.
You must warn each other every day while it is still today, so
that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened
against God. Procrastinate, For if we are
faithful to the end, trusting God as firmly as when we first
believed, we will share. And all that belongs to Christ.
Remember what it says today. And he repeats when you hear his
voice. Don't harden your hearts as
Israel did when they rebelled. Habitual procrastination, never
done that. How many jobs are in the house
are not quite finished? How many projects we we've
begun, we'll get to, you know, guy's going to do up a car, it's
in the garage still projects around the house.
We're going to reshape this and change that.
You see, habitual procrastination makes response
harder and harder as God convicts you, but you
continually ignore his conviction and you don't act
upon it. What happens is then the
conviction grows fainter, Not God on God's end, but on your
end, on your ability to receive it.
Your receptivism to this is a minimism until this scarcely at
all. Finally, a procrastinator
becomes familiar with evil, sin hardened, gospel hardened.
Paul warned us that this would come in the last days on Timothy
41. Now the Holy Spirit tells us
clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the
true faith. They will follow deceptive
spirits and teachings that come from demons.
You got time. These people are hypocrites and
liars and their consciences are dead, speaking lies in
hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot
iron, procrastinated. Paul tells us that in the last
days some will abandoned the faith, follow false teachers,
their hearts so hardened now by putting off the truth, ignoring
it, that their hearts and conscience, that truth is
abandoned, their conscience is deadened.
Each time we procrastinate, the word seared means cauterised,
burnt. It creates the scar so there's
no longer sensitivity. Branded without feeling two men,
Paul and Felix 2 alternatives. We are all given death.
That means separation from God means hell, life eternal with
God, heaven. In Deuteronomy chapter 30, Moses
makes his great proclamation, verse 19, he says, I call heaven
and earth to record this day against you, speaking to Israel,
that I have set before you life and death, choice, blessing, and
cursing. Therefore choose life, that both
you and your seed may live, that you May 1.
Love the Lord your God, and that you may obey his voice, 2 and
that you may cleave to him 3 for his life four and length of days
five. Felix the Apostle Paul, you and
I have been created in God's image.
We have minds to think with, hearts to feel with, and I will
to decide with. And God calls us to make right
decisions today, not tomorrow. We're not machines.
We can hear God's word, as did Felix.
We can learn God's will and decide today whether we're going
to obey it or disobey it. It's a choice.
Jesus said he that believes on the Son has everlasting life.
He that believes not the Son shall not see life, but the
wrath of God abides on him. Today.
Choose life. Perhaps you're already a
Christian, but you keep putting off God's call on your life to
serve Him. You know He's called you.
You know there are ministries that you could do that where you
could serve in that God is often impressed upon your heart, but
you keep putting them off. You get uncomfortable.
It's uncomfortable to leave your world and start to live in His
will completely. It means change.
You have all the excuses, that's why you procrastinate, and God
knows each and every one of them.
But you do not want to leave this world with jobs left
undone, regrets, lives left untouched before it's too late.
Will you finally stop today, putting off God's call on your
heart? You can't go back in time, You
can't go forward in time, but today you can surrender to God
fully. Let's pray, Father, as sure as
your words spoke to Felix, your word and you do not change.
And Father, wherever your sword has pierced souls today,
wherever you have delved deep, deep into our lives, I pray that
we do not respond like Felix and set aside your conviction to a
more convenient time. I pray, Lord, move by your Holy
Spirit amongst all gathered here today, that today is the day
they surrender and walk with you.
This we pray in Jesus name. Amen.
Just to know you.