Festus, a Good Lost Man – Acts 25:1-21

This last baseball season, the Montreal Expos franchise moved from Quebec to the United States and became the “Washington Nationals.”

They had a reasonably good year – at least when compared to some of the preceding seasons.

They won 12 more games than the Seattle Mariners, but still only finished by winning half their games.

You don’t suppose that it was because of their new team chaplain do you?

I don’t even know if the Mariners have a team chaplain, but the Nationals do.

Or at least they did; he was fired.

His name was Jon Moeller.

This is the account of the incident which lead to his dismissal as described by one of the ball-players:

“I said, like, Jewish people, they don’t believe in Jesus. Does that mean they’re doomed?

Jon nodded, like, that’s what it meant.

I was like, man, if they only knew.

Other religions don’t know any better. It’s up to us to spread the word.”

Apparently the Washington Nationals team chaplain was fired for saying or implying that only people who believe on Christ have eternal life.

As I have said many, many times. there are only two kinds of people in this world.

It might be put several different ways:

But every person in this world is either a child of God through the atonement provided by the Lord Jesus Christ, or they are doomed.

This is not a matter of race, intelligence, or economics.

It’s not about nationality, gender or personal beauty.

It’s about the grace of God and whether or not you have repented of your sins before the cross of Christ.

We are reminded of that, once again, through Festus, the new Roman Governor of Judea.

It is safe to assume that this man was no saint – by anybody’s definition.

He had not been sanctified through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

He hadn’t been canonized by the Roman Catholics.

And I’m reasonably sure that not even his best friends with smiles on their faces would call him a saint.

According to the clear and unmistakable statements of the Word of God, Festus was a sinner.

That is the condition of ALL the children of Adam.

But that doesn’t mean that Festus in his sinfulness was equal in sin to the next guy.

From what we read of him in the Book of Acts, this governor was far superior to the previous Governor.

And yet, I’m sure if we knew more about him, we’d be able to find others who were morally superior to him.

And that is just my point this morning:

When you and I stand before God, we are not going to be judged upon the opinions of our neighbors.

I can’t tell you how many times on the news, I have heard the neighbors of some accused murderer say,

“I had no idea that he was capable of committing such a crime.

Until this happened I thought that he was a really nice guy.”

Being a “really nice guy” will not be the basis of our final judgment before God.

Like Pontius Pilate, Governor Felix may have been a moral monster,

capable of committing just about any sin imaginable,

and this Festus may not have had imagination enough to commit some of those same crimes and sins,

but that doesn’t mean that when he died, he got a free pass into Heaven.

As Jesus told the very religious and very self-righteous Nicodemus, “Ye must be born again.

Except a man [any man and every man] be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

This morning let’s notice a few good things about Festus, which had no roll to play whatsoever in that man’s eternal condition before God.

First was his HIGH POSITION in Caesarean society and in the government.

I know that it might be hard to imagine, given the condition of the Roman Empire at the time, but this man may have earned his right to this post.

He may have been a Lieutenant-Governor somewhere, handling all the menial jobs of that office,

while some big cat got all the glory and wealth,

but then when that man died of a heart-attach Festus, might have assumed his position for a short time.

He may have proved his value to the Emperor, by taking care of some difficult governmental problems.

Perhaps then he was made governor of some insignificant province, but again he handled himself so efficiently that he was eventually re-assigned to the difficult province of Judea.

By the time we meet him, Festus had become a man of power, influence and wealth.

If he was married, you can be sure that he would be entertaining the most powerful people of Caesarea.

If was not married, then you can be sure that he had lots of eligible women crawling all over themselves, hoping to ensnare this great catch – even if his name is “Porky.”

But a person’s standing before men has nothing to do with his standing before God.

If that king, that governor, that prince or that princess does not come in total surrender to the King of Kings, then he will be over-run by the army of God’s justice.

If that person is a preacher, a missionary, the son of missionary or the daughter of a Baptist deacon,

if he or she doesn’t realize that he is nothing without Christ,

he will be brought to nothing before Christ.

Festus may have been a far better Governor than Felix, but the office itself was the same for both of them.

It provided no argument with which to impress the Lord.

A second very good thing about Festus was his apparent DILIGENCE TO DUTY.

“When Festus was come into the province, after 3 days he ascended from Caesarea to Jerusalem.”

Let’s say for the sake of argument, that this Governor had a sincere desire to be best leader of Judea since Solomon.

Let’s interpret his almost immediate departure from Caesarea to Jerusalem as a statement that he took his job very seriously.

Let’s say that he put the needs of others above his own needs and pleasures.

These are things which most people would say are very good qualities.

These are things that Christian parents try to instill in the hearts of their children.

Romans 12:15 – “Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep.”

I Corinthians 10:24 – “Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.”

In other words, strive to make your neighbor better off, not yourself.

Philippians 2:4 – “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.”

I can’t tell you that Festus had somehow learned these principles.

I can’t tell you for sure that is what he was trying to do.

But for the sake of argument, let’s say that Festus was honestly seeking to put the needs of his appointed nation above his own needs.

Even if that was the case those good deeds were not earning him points with God.

What is your favorite smell?

Maybe it’s a flower smell – roses or gardenias.

Maybe it’s something like barbeque chicken or some sort of roast.

Maybe it’s the smell of new tires, or that smell that dealers squirt into their new cars.

Now, let’s say that your kitchen was filled with the smell of fried liver (and if you like fried liver, let’s make that fried tripe).

What would happen if you tried to cover that noxious odor with the smell of gardenia, licorice, or coffee?

The addition of the new, doesn’t very often take care of the really, really bad.

It’s very unfortunate, but that is the way that many people think when it comes to God and their sins.

They have the idea that if, they spray enough good works around their lives, that fragrance will somehow cover up the stench of their sins.

They tell me that there are electronic noses these days; things called olfactormeters, which can be brought into a room to detect and describe all of the various odors in that room at the molecular level.

That man-made device doesn’t begin to detect the odor of sin the way that the omni-olfactory God does.

The smell of gardenias doesn’t remove the stench of wickedness and rebellion against the Lord.

A third fine characteristic of Festus was his apparent WISDOM.

“Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul, and besought him,

And desired favour against him, that he would send for him to Jerusalem, laying wait in the way to kill him.

But Festus answered, that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself would depart shortly thither.”

As I said on Wednesday, I believe that it was because of the providential will and kindness of God that Paul wasn’t immediately sent for and put on the road to Jerusalem.

If that had happened, then humanly speaking, it would have meant the probably death of the Apostle.

But it was the will of God that Paul be spared; he had a work to do for the Lord in Rome and beyond.

So the Lord vetoed that trip and the planned assassination attempt.

But by what means did the Lord thwart that attack?

For some reason or other, Festus decided that it wasn’t a good idea to bring Paul up to Jerusalem.

We explored some of the possible reasons for that decision:

Felix may have informed Festus about Paul, or he may have left some written documents about him.

Festus may have sensed that the Jews were up to no good.

He might have just decided that he had conceded several points to them, but he didn’t want to appear to be a push-over so on this question he just refused.

Whatever the reason that went through his head, in this matter Festus appeared to be a genius.

But human wisdom, genius or intelligence doesn’t buy favor with God.

When our children learn that 7 take away 3 is 4,

we praise them, and encourage them, and pat them on the back,

but we aren’t particularly impressed,

and we certainly wouldn’t be satisfied if that was the final extent of their mathematical abilities.

Simple and addition are nothing to the complicated math problems that adults can do in their heads. Right?

And our geometry, algebra and trigonometry are not to be compared to the intelligence of God.

Human wisdom, genius and brains doesn’t impress the Lord,

because whatever we have was given to us by His grace,

and we’ve probably even disappointed Him in how far we have developed them.

And besides, there is a very real difference between human wisdom and spiritual wisdom.

They aren’t wisdoms on a different level, they are wisdoms of two different kinds.

Forgive me for asking you to turn once again to that oft quoted passage from I Corinthians 1:17.

“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.

Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”

No, Festus’ wisdom, as commendable as it may have been, did not impress the Lord Who gave it to him.

Nor did his GENEROSITY satisfy the Lord.

“But 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?”

I think that we will take time to look at this in a little more detail later, but there is a recurring word in this scripture which is hidden to our English reading eyes.

We saw it in the closing phrases of chapter 24:

“But after two years Porcius Festus came into Felix’ room: and Felix, willing to shew the Jews a pleasure, left Paul bound.”

It also came up in verse 3:

“Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul, and besought him, and desired favour against him.”

As I pointed out on Wednesday, this is the Greek word “charis,” and it is most often translated: “grace.”

When we look at “charis” as “grace,” most well-taught Baptists are quick to define it as “unmerited favor.”

The grace of God is what the Lord does for us which is totally undeserved by us.

What we actually deserve, and what the Lord should do to us, is judge us and punish us for our sins.

God’s justice, based upon His holiness, says that we should be cast us into Hell for all eternity.

But God is merciful toward us, not giving us the judgment that we deserve as sinners.

And on the other side, He is gracious towards us, giving us blessings and favors which logically do not belong to us as sinners.

Felix, willing to shew the Jews an act of grace, left Paul bound.

And the Jews desired an unmerited gift from the new Governor and asked that Paul be shipped to Jerusalem so that they might kill him along the road somewhere.

Then Festus willing to give the Jews an undeserved blessing asked Paul if he would be willing to make the trip to Jerusalem.

I think that we might say that Festus was a generous person, willing to dispense a little grace to those wicked Jews.

Likewise, the citizens of this country could very well be the most generous and giving people in all the world.

After 9/11 millions of donated dollars were poured into the coffers of all kinds of benevolent funds to meet the needs of the widows and orphans.

After the tsunami of South East Asia, hundreds of millions of dollars was given by Americans to feed and clothe the people of nations which basically hate everything that we represent – including our money.

And more recently, over a billion dollars in goods and money have been shipped to Louisiana and Mississippi after hurricane Katrina.

I wish that there was some way to analyze the hearts of the givers of all that money.

How many gave for no other reason but that they saw people in great need, and they wished to help?

But how many gave in order to impress their neighbors?

And how many gave in order to impress their gods and to earn points for heaven?

In places, like America, where wealth is relatively abundant, the giving of that wealth has somehow been understood to be spiritually meritorious.

The more we give to our churches, our families, our favorite medical causes, and to our unknown neighbors, the better we feel about ourselves and the more confident we feel about eternity.

I don’t want to discourage people from generosity, but it must be kept Biblical.

I have known Christians who gave their tithes to support pictures of little children in South America rather than to support their church.

I have known professing Christians who would more quickly send $1,000 to earthquake victims than to give a $100 to help a Baptist missionary buy paper on which to print the gospel.

Something is wrong here.

But as wicked as that might be, the idolatry of worshiping generosity is infinitely more wicked.

We need to be as gracious as we can be toward others, but the moment that we think that our grace somehow buys us a chunk of God’s grace, we have committed an unpardonable sin.

I commend Festus for wanting to gain the favor of the High Priest, but it certainly didn’t gain any favors from the Lord.

When it came to the really important things, Festus was TOTALLY APATHETIC.

After he had been in the country for a few weeks, one of the neighboring Roman rulers came for a visit.

“And after certain days king Agrippa and Bernice came unto Caesarea to salute Festus.”

Eventually the subject of Paul came up and the short trial which had taken place.

Festus explained it to Agrippa:

“Therefore, when they were come hither, without any delay on the morrow I sat on the judgment seat, and commanded the man to be brought forth.

Against whom when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed:

But had certain questions against him of their own superstition, and of one Jesus, which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.”

When Festus used the word “superstition” it was in much the same way that Paul had used it in Acts 17.

It didn’t carry the same negative overtones that it does in our day.

It was simply the recognition of the religion of another person, to which he showed no interest at all.

The problem about Paul was that he said that someone named “Jesus” was alive, but the Jews said that he was dead.

“And because I doubted of such manner of questions, I asked him whether he would go to Jerusalem, and there be judged of these matters.”

Festus confessed that he couldn’t make any sense out of the arguments; they perplexed him; they bored him.

This isn’t to mean that he couldn’t have been brought to seriously consider Paul’s Jesus later, but at that time the whole subject seemed silly.

Resurrections from the dead? Logically impossible.

Death threats and jail sentences over the superstitious ideas of religion? Ridiculous.

Again, I think that Festus was an outwardly better man than his predecessor Felix.

But the truth is, inwardly, they were one and the same.

There are only two kinds of people in this world – those who worship the Lord Jesus Christ and those who don’t.

And as Ryan Church recently said, “Those who don’t believe in Jesus are doomed.”

Felix, Festus, the High Priest who wanted to murder Paul, and the earlier High Priest who did murder Jesus, were all alike at heart – they were unforgiven, unrepentant sinners.

All the good things that men might have said about Festus, could not be uttered in Heaven – the Lord was not interested in those things.

What matters is that person’s relationship to Christ.

So now, what about YOUR relation to the Saviour?

Do you use the same words as Festus – “superstition” – when it comes to the doctrines of the Bible?

Do you talk about Christ in the same flippant way, “one Jesus – someone named Jesus.”

Or do you talk about Jesus as the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, MY personal Saviour?

Is Christ Jesus, YOUR Saviour from sin?

Come and let us talk about that.