Christmas Eve 2001
Tom Shrader uses the encounter between Paul and Felix in Acts 24 as a lens for a Christmas Eve evangelistic message, drawing out themes of sin, righteousness, judgment, and grace. He cites Romans 3:23 and Romans 6:23 to establish that all people fall short of God's perfect standard and that the consequence is spiritual death, while the free gift of eternal life is found in Christ Jesus. Like Felix, who heard Paul's message and said he would respond at a more convenient time, many people delay their response to the gospel — and Tom urges listeners not to wait, but to come in repentance and faith.
“The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord — it's not $640,000, it's free.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Christmas
Recorded: 2001 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 14 min
Themes: christmas, salvation, sin, grace, judgment, repentance, faith, procrastination, seekers, delaying commitment to christ, not yet a believer, feeling spiritually stuck, questioning faith, adult searching for meaning, someone raised in church but uncommitted, new believer
Scripture: Acts 24, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23
Theological Themes: justification, total depravity, romans 3:23, romans 6:23, gift of eternal life, regeneration, evangelism, conversion
Full Transcript
thing they said they would pay the most for was eternal life. And the price on it was $640,000. You see, even these people, even these wealthy, successful people, understood that there is something beyond this life, and they were willing to pay a great deal for it. But here's the thing. Here's what's incredible about Christmas. The Bible says the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. It's free. It costs you nothing. It cost God everything.
The Story of Christmas
That is the story of Christmas: the announcement of the pregnancy and the coming birth to Mary and Joseph, and the story of Jesus being born. It is certainly not the end of the story or the life of Jesus. Jesus lives in relative anonymity for about thirty years and then begins His public ministry, which lasts about three years.
Early on in that ministry, He begins to declare to His apostles that He must go to Jerusalem and that He will be crucified. He also proclaims to the world and to those who have ears to hear that He is God come in the flesh. Many people even today still try to argue that Jesus never claimed to be God, but read the Gospels — it is so clear. He says, "I and the Father are one." He says, "I am He." Jesus does not stutter or stammer. He declares that indeed He is God, and the proof of that is that unlike anyone else, after He dies, He rises from the dead.
So there is the Christmas story. There is the Easter story. But for tonight, I want to talk about something a little bit different.
Paul: A Life Transformed by Christ
I want to talk about a man whose life was changed by Jesus Christ. He was a Pharisee — the Pharisee of Pharisees. He was, and we do not say this in any pejorative or negative way, a super Jew. His name was Saul. You know him as Paul.
He was a persecutor of the church. His desire and passion was to wipe out the church of Christ. But on the Damascus road, God changed his life and transformed it forever. That becomes a picture of all regeneration, all conversion. Your conversion has to be like Paul's, or it is not conversion at all — not circumstantially the same, but substantially the same. In other words, you understand who Christ is, and it revolutionizes your life.
Paul would never be the same. Rather than persecuting the church, he becomes its leading advocate. That calling takes him all through the region proclaiming the gospel. In one instance, he comes back into Jerusalem and begins to teach, and the Jews stir up a rebellion against him. They try to find charges to bring against him, to deal with him once and for all, but they cannot.
So they send him down the road to Caesarea to a Roman governor whose name was Felix. Felix listens to Paul, and the case falls apart very quickly. Paul is a Roman citizen, which means that to find Paul guilty, you must have at least one eyewitness — and there were none. Not only do the Jews fail to find him guilty, Felix cannot either.
Felix Hears the Gospel
We pick up the story in Acts chapter 24. Here is what it says: Felix sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. Felix invites Paul in, and Paul not only addresses the charges before him but begins to speak about Christ. I am certain that he spoke about Christ's crucifixion and His resurrection. Then he went on to discuss righteousness, self-control, and the judgment that was to come.
When Paul talked about righteousness, he talked about the human perfection that is required to meet God's perfect standard. He begins to work through this with Felix — a standard that is absolute, not relative. He told Felix, in effect, that this is how you are required to live, and that it demands self-control.
At that point, Felix is in serious trouble. Felix is a perfect example of the lack of self-control. He has been a brutal ruler. He is on his third wife — a teenager he stole from a rival — and he is notorious for it. Paul is saying: here is the standard of righteousness, here is the self-control it requires, and if you do not measure up, Felix, judgment will come.
The Standard of Perfection
That is a familiar theme in Paul's teaching, and it applies powerfully to us tonight. Here is what Paul writes in Romans chapter 3, verse 23: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." That word sin literally means to miss the mark.
When we talk about goodness or righteousness in human terms, the standard is always to be as good as you can be — to do the best you can. But God says that is not what He is talking about. He is talking about perfection. That is the standard: perfection. And every person in this worship center is a sinner. Every person has missed the mark, and there is a consequence for it.
Here it is, Romans chapter 6: "The wages of sin is death." When you sin — and every one of us has — we die spiritually. It means we are separated from God. It means we are in a state of war with God, where we do not accept the things of God.
The Free Gift of God
"The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." There is the good news. At Christmastime, when everyone is looking for the perfect gift, there it is. The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. It is free.
USA Today did a survey among a group of people they identified as rich, asking what they would pay for certain things. Here is what they found. On average, this group said they would pay $55,000 to be president, $83,000 for great beauty, $206,000 for reunion with a lost loved one, $259,000 for eternal youth, $285,000 for talent, $407,000 for a great intellect, and $487,000 for true love.
I was showing Haley this list this morning, and she looked at each one and said, "That makes sense. That makes sense. That makes sense." Then we got to eternal youth, and she said, "That doesn't make sense." I told her that maybe being twenty years old and healthy explained why it did not seem like such a bargain to her.
But at the top of the list — the thing they said they would pay the most for — was eternal life, and the price on it was $640,000. Even these wealthy, successful people understood that there is something beyond this life, and they were willing to pay a great deal for it. And yet here is what is incredible about Christmas: the Bible says the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. It is free. It costs you nothing. It cost God everything.
The Gift You Cannot Buy
A recent survey found that the thing people would pay the most money to achieve — $640,000 — is the assurance of going to heaven. If that is you tonight, we have a deal: it is not $640,000. It is free.
So many people come to God with that same instinct. They say, "God, I'll go to church. God, I won't do this, or I will do this. I'll do whatever it takes. I'll serve You here, I'll run over there." But God says, "No, keep your money." What He wants is repentance and faith. He wants you broken before Him, because you cannot buy this gift. It is absolutely free.
Are You Sure You're a Christian?
Are you here tonight and you have never responded? You are not a Christian? I want to narrow the group down even further. I want to talk to those of you who would acknowledge you are not a Christian, and then to those of you who are not quite sure — perhaps a cultural Christian. You were born in America, so you assume you are a Christian. Being born in America, living in Kansas, and driving a Chevy makes you about as American as it gets — actually, that just means you are a farmer. It does not mean you are a Christian.
A Christian is someone who understands what we have just talked about: that I am lost, that I am separated, that my sin has separated me from God, and that if I die in that condition, I will spend eternity in a place called hell. I will confess I have never been very good at making that message compelling — but the comfort is that is not my job. That is the Holy Spirit's job.
Don't Be Like Felix
I know what some of you are going to do, because it is the same thing Felix did. All of a sudden Felix becomes frightened. He hears this message, and it is not that he is confused or does not understand. He does get it. He understands that his righteousness does not measure up, that his sin is real, that judgment is coming — and yet here is what he says: "Paul, go away. I'll call you at a more convenient time." As far as we know, there was never another discussion in which Felix was frightened, and there is no record that he ever came to faith.
How about you? What is it going to take? It is remarkable what some people will do — they will sit and listen to that message and never respond. For some, it takes a doctor calling back after a physical and saying, "You need to come back in. We found something and it does not look good." All of a sudden they are serious. For others it takes a child speaking up, or the sickness of someone they love, or a spouse. Then all of a sudden they are open. Why go through all of that? Why not simply listen now?
September 11th is a vivid example. The very next day, businesses around us were calling and asking us to open the church so people could come in and pray. That Friday, the President's National Day of Prayer, this room was filled. But we have not seen those people since. The Barna Group reported just a week ago, and the Gallup Poll confirmed it yesterday: since September 11th, there has not been a fractional increase in the number of people who either identify themselves as born again or attend church. What is it going to take?
Legitimate Questions, Legitimate Answers
It is not my job to convince you — I cannot. But maybe the Holy Spirit is touching your heart tonight. If He is, would you respond?
Maybe you are here with genuine questions: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? Those are legitimate questions of life, and what you need to know is that there are legitimate answers to them. They come from this book. God has spoken to us. When this service is over, there will be some men standing right up front, and they would love to give you a book called *Ultimate Questions*, which contains the ultimate answers to the ultimate questions. They would be happy to sit and talk with you, or arrange a time to meet and talk about what it means to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Maybe you are here tonight with friends or family members. I can guarantee those people have been praying for you for months — praying that tonight would be the night God would move in your heart — hoping you might come and talk to these men, or go home around the Christmas table and ask, "What does it really mean to be a Christian?" Do not wait any longer. Do not be like Felix.
Come As You Are
Here is what you have to do: nothing you have done is too much. There is nothing so bad that you have out-sinned God's grace. I have met people who said, with tears in their eyes and complete sincerity, "God could never forgive me." God's grace is there to forgive you. All you have to do is come in repentance and faith.
I have also met people who say, "I'm just going to do the best I can. I'm going to work hard, clean up my act, and then I'll do business with God." You are never going to get it clean enough. We invite you — we beg you — to come and talk to these men and let them share with you the truth of not just the Christmas story, but the Easter story.
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Father, thank You for this story. As we close this extraordinary time, God, thank You for the great gift of eternal life that we find in Christ Jesus — Your Son, our Lord, our King, our Savior. God, thank You for Him. We can declare joy to this world because we have received the Lord. We pray these things in His name. Amen.