I am going to take three words out of this scripture but give you a message which is almost totally unrelated to this scripture.
That doesn’t mean that it will not be Biblical; it will just not be directly related to Paul and Festus.
I have mentioned a couple of times that the Greek word usually translated “grace” is translated two other ways here.
Acts 24:27 says, “But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix’ room: and Felix, willing to shew the Jews a PLEASURE, left Paul bound.”
The word “pleasure” is “charis” in the original language.
Verse 3 says that the Jews accused Paul “and desired FAVOUR against him.”
Once again the Greek word is “charis”
And then in verse 9 – “Festus, willing to do the Jews a PLEASURE, answered Paul, and said, Wilt thou go up to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these things before me?”
The word “charis” is used 156 times in the Greek New Testament.
130 times – 83% of the time – it is translated “grace.”
“Favour” is the next most highly used translation of “charis” and that is only 6 times.
“Pleasure” is used only twice and we have both of those right here.
As we said the other day, all well-taught Baptists should know that “charis” or “grace” means “unmerited favour.”
So obviously, “favour” as we have it right here is an acceptable translation.
In fact, so is “pleasure” if we are talking about the right definition.
So both Felix and Festus wanted to use Paul to earn points, or “grace,” or unmerited favor with the Jews.
And those Jews desired “unmerited favour” from the new governor in an attempt to kill Paul.
There is hardly any message at all in the things that I have just told you, except that men like to corrupt even the very best things of God.
But rather than preach on those things, I would just like to spend the next half hour magnifying the true grace – the unmerited favour of God.
AND the outline that I’d like to use is not my own.
It comes from a sermon that I read years ago, which helped me to understand God’s marvelous grace.
That isn’t a theological definition, but the actual meaning of the ancient word.
No less a Greek than Aristotle, analyzed the word and defined it in his Greek dictionary by saying:
It is an act which finds its only motive in the goodheartedness of the giver.”
If there are strings attached, or if I must do something to obtain the so-called gift, it is no longer a gift.
Then it becomes payment for a deed which has been done or which must yet be done.
In common Koine Greek the word “charis” speaks about a favor freely given without any claim or expectation of repayment in any form.
But it was more than just that.
“Charis” among the ancient Greeks was a kind of perfect word.
It means that person possesses a sense of balance and completeness.
“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
GRACE be to you, and PEACE, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
As the word evolved through use, it became associated with gentle actions, loveliness of sound, winsomeness of personality, refinement of speech, and so on.
Felix willing to shew the Jews some grace left Paul bound.
Undoubtedly they were pleased – but actually, they were mostly pleased with themselves.
And then at their first opportunity, they rid themselves of that corrupt man who had once been gracious towards them in persecuting Paul.
Little things of grace mean little thankfulness and little glory, if any at all.
but to whom LITTLE is forgiven, the same loveth LITTLE.”
The greater the grace, the greater the thanksgiving and the greater the love to the Giver of that grace.
So the doctrine of SAVING grace always gives the glory of that salvation to God, and to Him alone.
Sinful man, obviously, does not deserve to be saved, yet God provided a Way of salvation in spite of that fact.
It was definitely not that we are so full of good deeds that our lives commend us to the Creator as being worthy of salvation.
Just the opposite, man’s evil thoughts, rebellious spirit, self-exalting words and sinful actions, commend him as worthy only of the harshest punishment by the righteous God.
Yet, in spite of our unworthiness, the Lord acted in grace toward everyone He has saved.
“For God commendeth His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
It was love, the heavenly “agape” which is the very nature of God’s being, that made our salvation possible: not our human goodness or intrinsic worth!
If I am saved because of good on my part, then the glory belongs to me, not to God.
But if I am saved in spite of what I am, then it is by His grace and His is the glory.
And that is precisely the way that the Bible explains it.
The old preacher Thomas Hooker put it this way:
“To say we are saved for the worthiness of anything which is ours, is to deny we are saved by grace.
Grace bestoweth freely, and, therefore, justly requireth the glory of that which is bestowed.
We deny the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we imbase, disannul, annihilate the benefits of His bitter Passion,
If we rest in those proud imaginations that Life everlastingly is ours deservedly; that we merit it, or that we are worthy of it.”
Amen!
The man who pictures himself worthy of God’s favor completely denies the Scriptural declaration of his utter depravity, and takes away all real meaning from the death of Christ at Calvary.
He who thinks that his righteousness merits heaven has no concept of the holiness of God or his own awful sinfulness.
But the prophet Isaiah understood this when he said – “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags!”
He knew that man’s condition in the sight of Jehovah was as ucky as an unclean leper.
Actually the Hebrew text is far more graphic than the English, because the Hebrew that Isaiah used actually declares the source of those filthy rags.
The Spirit of God in man never boasts of human merit.
Whatever good we think that we have – has no part whatsoever in our salvation.
And the person who does boast in his righteousness, merit or works, is not indwelt by the Spirit of God.
It is the consistent testimony of Scripture that:
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.”
And this New Testament teaching is consistent with Grace in the Old Testament.
Sometimes we fail to realize, that God is just as much a God of grace in the Old as He is in the New Testament.
Whenever Jehovah has received man with favor it’s because God has, out of love, chosen to do so.
That God has ordered man to meet Him as the Mercy Seat is not the point.
Isn’t it ironic that the High Priest was commanded to sprinkle the blood of a sacrifice on the Mercy Seat?
It’s because that Mercy Seat was actually a kind of Judgment Seat.
God graciously ordained, arranged and embraced the sacrifice, but it was grace which saved the sinner.
“Without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”
“But it’s by grace that we are saved.”
Noone has ever been delivered from his sins by keeping the Law of Moses.
Even with the offering of a blood sacrifice.
First, no obedience today can remove the disobedience of yesterday.
And even if that were possible, no act obedience can change the fact the offerer is by nature a sinner.
We have two kinds of problems about sin:
There is the problem of sins, and there is the problem of sin.
There are the acts in which we transgress the law of God,
and there is the sin which is innate to the soul, which prompted our acts of sin.
Even if an offering could wash away a transgression, there is nothing that we can do to remove the scar of sin on the soul, or the infected sinful wound with oozed the puss of that sinful deed.
It requires the miracle of God; its requires an act of the grace of God to save the sinful soul.
And the purpose of the Law was to prove to man beyond a shadow of doubt that he could not produce the righteousness which God requires, even if it is that man’s highest and most sincere desire to do so.
The Law shows man that he is a sinner and under the condemnation of death.
So Paul says:“Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
The five books of Moses, the Pentateuch, are full of the grace of God.
They reveal that Grace is a part of God’s being, just as they disclose Him to be righteousness by nature.
And it is because grace is a component part of this Divine Essence that Jehovah chose to be satisfied only one way – through the sacrifice of His Son at Calvary.
As we see the LORD dealing with Israel, it becomes obvious that His mercy towards them in their rebellion is all of grace.
They had nothing with which to commend themselves to the holy God.
His favor, indeed, is unmerited – undeserved.
Jeremiah was told, “Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever.”
The word “merciful” is the Hebrew equivalent of the Greek word “charis” or “grace” – “unmerited favor.”
Beginning in Genesis, with the story of Adam’s fall, we see constantly recurring declarations of the grace of God.
With no imperfections of heredity, and in a perfect environment, the innocence of man was put to the test and he failed.
Adam put his trust in the word of the enemy, rather than in the Word of God.
He believed Satan’s lie rather than the Truth.
Yet, in spite of this, the Creator mercifully “covered” Adam’s nakedness with skins which cost the life of an animal as a symbolic declaration that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”
Adam deserved the wrath of God, but the God of grace manifested His nature of grace by acting in mercy instead.
There is something quite interesting in Genesis 3:22-24 –
“And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”
Notice that the scripture doesn’t directly say, that the Cherubim were to keep Adam and Eve out of the garden.
Literally it says that they were to “keep the way of the tree of life.”
The Sword of God is as warm to maintain the grace of God as it is to slay the wicked.
Noah is specifically said to have “found grace in the eyes of the LORD” in Genesis 6:8.
This means that God was merciful to him in spite of what he was and not because of what he was.
He was a “just man” because he lived “by faith,”
and he was “perfect” because he maintained fellowship in his daily walk with God.
Although he committed a heinous sin with his son Ham ( when in a drunken stupor) he is still listed in the “Hall of Fame” in Hebrews 11,
since righteousness is determined by what God has done at Calvary,
and not by what we have or have not done before or since.
Again, it was by the “grace of God” that Noah and his household were delivered from the wrath of God.
Abraham was the object of grace.
While he was still an idolater in Ur of the Chaldees, God called him to go to the land of promise.
This was not based on the righteousness or human goodness of Abraham, for he was a demon worshipper.
His call was based upon the grace of God.
He was declared to be righteous, as Paul points out in Romans 4:5 and Galatians 3:6.
He didn’t earn righteousness or become righteous by his obedience.
But ultimately “grace” comes by Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus has always been, is now, and ever shall be the channel through which God dispenses grace, just as much as He is the One Who is the Righteous judge through Whom He dispenses His justice and wrath.
It is for this reason that John said:
“This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me:
for he was before me. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
The Law of God was given to declare man’s terrible need of grace,
just as the sacrifices showed that Jehovah was also a God of grace and mercy
towards repentant sinners who believed His Word and called upon His Name.
So the Greek word for grace “charis” speaks of a favor freely given, without any expectation of a favor in return.
Its only motive lies in the good-heartedness of the Giver.
But, there is a huge difference between the Greek definition of grace, the Aristotle definition and that of the Bible.
In classical Greek, this kind of undeserved favor was always directed toward those who were friends.
In the common language it was never given to enemies.
But this is precisely the point at which the God of grace leaps across the narrow channel of human grace
and shows the magnitude and glory of Divine Grace.
God offers His “grace,” His “unmerited favor” to His enemies!
“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.
For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
Verse after verse of the New Testament reveals the wonderful God of grace acting in love towards man in his rebellion and self-centeredness.
The world that God so loved so much that He gave to it is a world full of undeserving sinners.
It is not a world of wholesome, pure-minded, holy, deserving creatures, worthy of the favor of their Creator!
On the contrary, the world which is the object of God’s favor, so much so that it is offered mercy through faith in His “only begotten Son,” is a world of sinful men and women who merit His fiercest anger.
Yet, in spite of the fact that we all deserve to spend eternity in hell fire, the glorious God of divine grace had given so many of us His perfect mercy!
It is this amazing act of grace extended towards His enemies that reveals the magnitude of the totally unmerited favor towards man on God’s part.
John in amazement said:
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.”
The words “what manner of “ translate a Greek word which means “what a FOREIGN kind of love.”
In other words when the God of Love offered man, His enemy, the opportunity to be restored to full fellowship,
with an understanding that “bygones would be bygones,”
it was an act of grace totally “foreign” to that known by man.
Man, by nature, acts in grace towards his friends, but not towards his enemies.
God, by nature, acts in grace towards His enemies, because grace is an attribute of the Divine Essence.
Clearly Salvation is by God’s grace.
Although it is true that a godly life should flow out of a genuine work of grace in the Believer,
still it must be insisted that no good work on his part has even a particle to do with his salvation.
Satan has so perverted man’s thinking that the “good works road to salvation” seems to be the way to heaven, when actually “the end thereof are the ways of death.”
Not only are you NOT saved in the first place by your total volume of good deeds outweighing your bad deeds, but your good works have no power to even “keep you saved.”
The only “good work” acceptable to God is that which was accomplished by Jesus Christ on the cross,
and that was more than sufficient to cover all of the sins you have committed, are committing or would commit.
Human effort has absolutely nothing at all to do with your gaining entrance into the courts of heaven.
Salvation was gained by Christ’s effort on behalf of the Elect, and all that you can do to enter into it is to believe His Word that Jesus paid it all at Calvary.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”
Language could hardly be clearer.
It is plain enough when the apostle says that we are saved by grace.
But when he adds that salvation has nothing at all to do with what we ourselves do,
and when he hammers the truth home by declaring that
“it is not of works, lest any man should boast ,” only a fool would continue to argue the matter.
It was grace that wrote my name in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
It was His desire that none should perish for whom, in grace, he died.
I openly confess that I do not deserve “so great a salvation,”
but I do indeed accept it with joy from the hand of God according to His gracious promise!
“Come ye sinners, poor and needy, Weak and wounded by the Fall,
Jesus ready stands to save you, Full of pity, grace, and power.
Let not conscience make you linger, Nor of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth Is to feel your need of Him!”
Oh how we need to realize that any teaching that suggests that any good work,
other than that of the dear Lord Jesus on the cross of Calvary, has a part in the salvation of sinners is a “doctrine of demons .”
God knows that you and I do not “deserve” to be saved, but He freely offers us eternal life through faith in His Son because He is the God of Grace.
He knew all of the sins you would ever commit before He called you to come to the Mercy Seat for forgiveness, and through the death of Jesus, in grace, He covered all of these sins.
To acknowledge this, you give Him the glory.
Deny it and you blaspheme because you exaIt yourself rather than God.