Okay, that was such a good message,
Gary. Thank you. I'm so thankful I
was here to listen to that. Be blessed by it. Let's get our
black folders. 14 is the song we're going to
sing, number 14. And then we'll have some special
music, number 14. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness
My beauty are my glorious dress. Midst flaming worlds in these,
Thou reign with joy. Shall I lift up my head? Behold I stand in thy great day
For who unto my charge shall lay Fully exiled through these
I am from sin and fear from guilt and shame When from the dead
of death I rise To claim my mansion in the skies Even in this shadow
be all my plea. Jesus hath lived, hath died for
me. Jesus be to thee whose boundless mercy
hath for me, for me a full atonement made, an everlasting ransom paid. O let the dead now hear Thy voice! Now did Thy banished ones rejoice,
Their beauty this, their glorious dress, Jesus, I put a righteous man on the
cross. Tears the price. ? Tis he, tis he ? ? Tis the living,
sanctified prophet ? ? David's son, yet David's Lord ? ? By
his Son, God now has heard ? ? Tis the true and faithful word
? ? Tell me, ye who hear him groaning ? ? Was there ever grief
like his? ? ? Friends through fear foes insulting his distress. Many heads were raised to was to save, but the deepest
stroke that pierced him was the stroke that justice gave. nor suppose thee evil great. Here may view its nature rightly. Here its guilt may, as dead may,
Lord, come set free, Thys appointed, Savior who bears Thee alone. Tis now a word, the Lord's anointed,
? Son of man and Son of God ? Here
we have a firm foundation ? Here the refuge of the lost ? Christ
the rock is the name of which we boast. Lamb of God, for sinners wounded,
sacrifice to cancel guilt. One shall ever be confounded,
who on him their hope hath built. Thank you. What a blessing the
special music has been to us thus far. And we're grateful
for these who present these excellent, excellent songs. And we're so
blessed by them. Brother Wells, you come preach
to us. It's so good to have you back
this year. I have to say it's so good to
be back this year. It's been such a blessing to
be with you. Thank you so much for your kind hospitality. It's
just wonderful to visit among folks who have a commonality.
Christ. I was born into religion. I grew
up in religion. I practiced religion. I went
through the formality of surrendering to preach in religion. Went down
to a Bible school in Texas to practice, learn how to practice
religion. We were taught to be midwives. This brother was telling us exactly
about that. How to send out the lure. What color to make it. While
I was down there, I went from absolute total Arminianism to
an absolute Calvinist. I traded my Ford in for a Chevy.
I had no change, no gospel change, no Christ change. I had an intellectual
change. Calvinism is more intellectual. And I started practicing Calvinism. And then one day, a man that filled this pulpit
flew all the way to Oregon and preached the gospel of Jesus
Christ. And I told my wife, I hate that
man. Because he only preached Christ. He didn't tell me what to do
or how to do it, and then tell me I wasn't doing a good enough
job about it. He just preached Christ. By God's grace, that
net caught this old sinner. I talked to that pastor many
years later and he said, of all that were there in that meeting,
you're the only one that ever contacted me that something had
happened. I says, I'm thankful it was for
me then. I found out I need a sacrifice. I need a ransom. I needed a redeemer. I needed
a mediator. Would you turn with me to the
book of Philemon? Philemon. Paul was the secretary, the Holy
Spirit is the author, and a wonderful message is laid out for us in
this passage of scripture, a very short book in the New Testament,
about what it is to have a mediator. There was a man, he was a slave. And he didn't know at the time,
but he needed a mediator. And he ran, as my granddaughter
would say, right doodly dab, into a man in Rome who knew about
a mediator. The book of Philemon, Paul a
prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, and to Philemon,
our dearly beloved and fellow laborer. And to our beloved Appiah,
and Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the Church in thy house,
grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ. I thank my God, making mention
of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and faith
which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints. that the communication of thy
faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good
thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy
and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints
are refreshed by thee, brethren. Wherefore, though I might be
much bold in Christ to enjoin thee, that which is convenient,
yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee. Being such a one
as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I
beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds,
which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable
to thee and to me. whom I have sinned again. Thou
therefore receive him, that is mine own bowels. Onesimus had committed a most
despicable crime. He was a servant, a slave, a
Philemon, and he committed a crime against his master. Paul does
not share with us, the Holy Spirit does not share with us the exact
crime that Onesimus committed, but it was a crime that was so
serious that Onesimus ran away from his home to Rome. Now this is not just across the
street. This is not just down to Arden.
900 miles he ran to Rome from where he was staying. And there wasn't those fast planes
like we ride in today. It took him some time to get
there. The crime was a crime not only of his hands and his
feet and his mind, but the crime was a crime of his heart. He
had a heart crime against his master. He chose to do something
against his master that was against the rules of his master. Whatever he took, whatever crime
it was, it was sufficient for him in his state to run a long
ways away and try to hide himself among the trees of the garden.
This crime is similar to what we read about with Adam. Adam
was put into a very special place. I cannot imagine, we cannot imagine
in the state that we're in, we cannot imagine a place where
there was no sin. It is ever about us, it is ever
on us, and it is ever in us. I visited with a dear brother
yesterday and he says, the older I get, the worse I am. I told
a lot of people after the Lord saved me, I was a better Christian
before I was saved than afterwards. I worked hard at not letting
people know what the real norm was. I worked hard at being very
self-righteous. And when the Lord saved me and
revealed to me what I am, oh my, I had to say, as Isaiah did,
woe is me. And it hasn't got any better.
A man recently asked me, how do you measure success in the
Christian walk if it isn't progressive sanctification? And I just said,
I had to go to the Bible. Because in the Bible it says,
everybody that had a report about that, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I'm a wicked sinner. I'm a desperate
sinner. And that's being a sinner saved
by grace. The crime was not just a crime
of his being, of his hands, but it was a crime of the heart.
And this situation reflects so clearly the events of Adam in
the Garden of Eden. He had everything except one
thing, and that was godhood. He had someone in charge of him.
He had God in charge of him. The Almighty God was in charge
of him. And the Almighty God gave him great liberty in that
garden. Eat of every place you want to. Can you imagine not having to
mow the lawn in that garden? Not having to take care of the
trees in that garden, not having to spray insecticides and pesticides
so that the fruit would be worth selling. All of this was in a
perfect state as in our mind. And yet there was one thing that
Adam did not have and that was Godhood. And he rebelled against
this most holy God, a despicable crime, a crime against himself
and a crime against his entire family. He committed suicide
and murder in an instant. He destroyed all of those that
would follow after him. And it was not in ignorance that
he did this, just as with Onesimus. It wasn't in ignorance that he
stole that item that maybe he took, didn't fall off into his
pocket, and he got over to Rome and said, oh my goodness, how
did that get there? It was a planned purposeful crime and with Adam
it was the same way. It was a planned and purposeful
crime against Almighty God and God said the day you eat you
shall surely die. Now the wonderful thing about
it Philemon, when he found out that the crime had been committed
against him, he had no knowledge of it ahead of time. But being
God, the almighty God, the all-knowing God, he absolutely knew what
was going to happen. In fact, he purposed what was
going to happen, and he had a lamb slain from the foundation of
the world to take care of the problem. He was not caught off
guard. What he did was not plan B, it
was on purpose. Well, Philemon didn't have that,
God does. But in this that happened, in
that took place, we find that Onesimus ran 900 miles and ran
right to Rome. Now, Rome was just right to be
a place to hide in. That's like running down to Portland,
Oregon. Anything you want, you can find
in Portland, Oregon, except, yes, you cannot find the gospel
in the Portland, Oregon. Now, I have a dear friend that
used to sit right there. He lives out in Vancouver, Washington
now. He looked Portland, Oregon over
with a fine tooth comb trying to find a place to attend. He
said, in every church that said they were sovereign grace or
Calvinistic, there was an elephant in the room with them. Keep the law. We're going to
tell you what to do, when to do it, and you better have permission
to do it. It goes from bad to worse. but
there was no freedom in Christ being preached or Christ being
preached. It was all this. I went to a Bible camp one time
and I didn't even get the car door open to step out onto the
grounds and I had a group of men meet me and the first thing
out of their mouth was, what article of faith do you follow? What's the choice? I hadn't studied that, I was
having trouble having time enough to study the Bible. Issues are
always made by people that have no knowledge of Jesus Christ,
because if you have a knowledge of Jesus Christ, those things
take secondary position. The question laid before us now
is, can the offender and the offended ever embrace and shake
hands. A slave that ran away with something,
a crime. He had something that didn't
belong to him or he had a crime against his master. He ran 900
miles down to Rome. And the question now, can this
person ever shake hands with his master again? Job brought
that subject up. Would you turn with me back to
the book of Job chapter nine? In Job chapter nine, we find
that Job had the same concern. Job chapter nine, verse 30. Can Adam and his, Adam's children
ever be found in a place where they can shake hands and embrace
God again? Sin has been committed. It's
horrific, horrendous. It affected Adam and all his
children in their body, in their mind, and they died spiritually. Can they ever be back in fellowship
again? Can God ever come in the cool
of the evening and visit again? Will he always be, I can't go
there? Well, the question comes up with
Onesimus and Philemon as the Apostle Paul presents this and
says, there needs to be a mediator. In the book of Job 9, verse 30,
the scriptures share this. If I wash myself with snow water
and make my hands never so clean, Yet shall thou plunge me in the
ditch, and my clothes shall abhor me. Can I ever get clean enough? Will there ever be enough cleanliness
for me to approach a thrice holy God? For he is not a man as I
am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in
judgment. We're not dealing with a man. We're dealing with Almighty God. And then he says, neither is
there any daysman betwixt us that may lay his hand upon us
both. Let him take his rod away from
me, and let not his fear terrify me. Then would I speak and not
fear him, but it is not so with me. Verse 33, neither is there
any daysman betwixt us, a daisman, an arbitrator,
an umpire. Following the Eastern practice,
the daisman laid his hands on the heads of the disagreeing
parties, thus stressing both his judicial function and his
desire to give impartial verdict. A daisman reached out between
the heads of the two parties that are in conflict, He had
an interest in this party and an interest in this party to
settle the issue. And Onesimus needs a daisman,
somebody to step in. Now through the preaching of
the gospel, God has graciously saved this slave when he got
down there to Rome by, he's gone to this place, he's kind of like
the lost son. Read about him. He went down
and spent all that he had. Do you think he had anything
left of what he stole from that man, his master? Of course not. He spent it on riotous living
down there in Rome because there's an opportunity to do it. Anything
you want was there, but by God's marvelous grace and on purpose
that God intended before the foundation of the world, this
man who was a slave, who did some crime against his master
and ran 900 miles down to Rome, when he got down there, he ran
into a gospel preacher who did not preach works, but he preached
the work of God. almighty in Christ Jesus, that
he was a savior that actually saves people from their sins.
And something happened to this man by the marvelous grace of
God, and the apostle Paul is making mention of him in this
letter that he's going to carry back to his master and say, I
have found a mediator. His name is Paul, and you owe
him a lot too. He's the one that brought you
the gospel. He was saved by the gospel that you preached. So as Job said, we need a days
man, we need a mediator. In Job chapter 25, would you
read that with me? Turn over to Job chapter 25,
verses 1-6, and we have this said by Bildad the Shuhite. Now, that's just someone like,
Gary from Jacksonville. That's a place. All right. Job
chapter 25, and there in verse And then answered Bildad the
Shuhite, and said, Dominion and fear are with him who maketh
peace in his high places. Is there any number of his armies?
And upon whom doth not his light arise? How then can man be justified
with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? Behold, even to the moon it shineth
not. Yea, the stars are not pure in
his sight. How much less man that is a worm,
and the son of man which is a worm. Notice verse four. How then can
man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that is
born of a woman? If we ever see the glory of God and the truth about ourselves, we will find out that God has
worked a work of grace. The cry of Isaiah, woe is me. And we thank God for from all
eternity, he had a dazed man appointed. He had a mediator
appointed. He had someone that had an interest
in us, fallen, wretched sinners, children of Adam, but he also
had an interest in the Father and His righteousness. He had
an interest in keeping God Almighty in his righteousness and holiness,
and he had an interest in fallen sinners that were written down
in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
And when he came down to this earth, he had an interest so
compelling that he would take all the sins of all his people
and pay for them completely on the cross. and both could be
brought back in fellowship, allowing us to come boldly before the
throne of grace, sinners saved by grace. In Philemon, it almost
appears to be a coincidence that Onesimus runs away 900 miles
and runs to one of few in Rome that knew about the days men.
Paul was there as a prisoner. The paths of these two crossed.
One was a criminal on the run and the other was a criminal
saved by grace. Onesimus, it doesn't appear,
killed anybody. Saul of Tarsus had people killed. One was a criminal on the run
and one was a criminal saved by grace. Paul preached a mediator
for sinners with an angry God. Would you turn with me to the
book of Galatians chapter three? Galatians chapter three, verse
20. Galatians chapter three and verse
20, the scriptures share this. Now a mediator is not a mediator
of one. There's no need of it. I don't need a mediator if I'm
the only one in the contract. And God is one. But we need a mediator because
there's God the offended party. And we're the offending party. and we need a daisman, a mediator
to step in the breach. Now the requirement of this mediator,
there was a chorus that we used to sing, I owed a debt, I could
not pay. And he paid a debt he did not
owe. Paul mentioned mediated physically
for Onesimus with Philemon. Would you turn with me to the
book of First Timothy chapter two? First Timothy chapter two. Mediators not of one, but notice
here in First Timothy chapter two, verse five and six, For there is one God. We just
read over there, God's one. Mediator's not in effect if there's
only one. There is one mediator. First
Timothy chapter two and verse five, there is one God and one
mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Now this one has long arms. reached between heaven and earth,
reached between the holiness of God and the sinfulness of
his people. He reached down and mediated
the contract that was made in the covenant of grace. Now, this
contract was not made in time. This contract was made in eternity. This contract, the covenant of
grace, was drawn up between the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit before the foundation of the world, and you and I are
not the participants in it, but we are the recipients of it.
They only. participated in this covenant. And in this covenant, they purpose
to save a people and Jesus Christ was chosen freely, chosen, given
to be the mediator in this contract that he would be the one that
would come down to this earth and mediate on the behalf of
us. And the only way he could mediate
this contract was to be the lamb slain And that's exactly what
he did. He tried to be talked out of
it by his own disciples. And he said, I set my face as
a flint to go to Jerusalem. Why? He had a purpose. He was
a mediator. This action by the Apostle Paul
on the behalf of Onesimus is a reflection of what God Christ
and the Holy Spirit does on the behalf of his people. He traveled
back 900 miles freely. Onesimus left Rome to go back
900 miles. What would cause him to do that? a changed heart towards his master. He didn't have any excuses now.
You see this all the time in films. I deserve it. I'll take it. I deserve it. They
already have plenty. They won't miss it. He's rich
enough. It's not fair to be a servant
and blah, blah, blah, it goes on and on. You know, when Onesimus
left Rome, he had none of those thoughts in his heart. He went
back saying, guilty, guilty, guilty. But he had a mediator,
physically, who was the Apostle Paul, a man in prison. And he
took this charge back. He took this letter back to his
master and requested to be a servant again. The Apostle Paul called himself
a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ, a servant of God. He went from
being a servant or a slave to sin. And when God saves us from
that place, we automatically plead to be a servant of the
most, a slave of the most high God. I just please, may I serve
you. You know, the lost son came back
and says, I'm not worthy to be called a son, but can I be a
servant? Well, when the father saw him,
he was so glad. He rejoiced that he had returned.
He'd been brought back. He said, you're going to have
the ring on your finger. You're going to have my authority
as sons and daughters of the most high God. But all he wanted
to be was a servant. On his way home, he must have
had many changed thoughts. Oh, wretched man that I am. How
could I have done that? He had a new heart. He, or we,
no longer say, it was Adam's problem. It's my problem. And the mediator,
the Lord Jesus Christ, has cleaned it all up. He's brought, as the
days men, touching the head of Almighty God, and touching the
head of the sinner he died for, and bringing them back into full
fellowship, and then to have it written about every one of
those believers, welcome thou good and faithful servant. And those servants said, when
were we faithful? When were we faithful? You may not have been, but my
son was faithful in accomplishing all that he was purposed to do
as a mediator for his people. What a blessed, blessed message. It's been good to be here this
morning. If you would get those black folders again, look at
number nine. And I think this is a most appropriate
message and words and music. And we'll sing this about being
a wandering sheep. Number nine. Let's stand together. This evening we meet at 6. And
we'll have two messages this evening. These same two men.
We'll just flip-flop them. And they'll preach to us again. I hope you have a good afternoon.
If you're visiting, you want to know somewhere to eat, ask
any of us. Believe me, we know the good
spots to eat at. It's been a great morning. and
thankful I was here and I know you're thankful to be here as
well. Let's sing this together. I was a wandering sheep, I did
not love the foe. I did not love my shepherd's
voice, I would not be controlled. I was a wayward child. I did not love my home. I did not love my father's voice. I loved afar to roam. The shepherd sought his sheep,
the father sought his child He followed me o'er vale and hill,
o'er deserts waste and wild He found me nigh to death, famished
and faint and lone He bound me with the bands of love, He saved
the wandering one. Jesus my shepherd is, T'was He
that loved my soul, T'was He that washed me in His blood,
T'was He that made me whole. T'was He that sought the lost,
that found the wandering sheep. T'was He that brought me to the
fold, t'is He that still doth keep. No more a wandering sheep,
I love to be controlled. I love my tender shepherd's voice. I love the peaceful flow. No more a wayward child, I seek
no more to roam. I love my Heavenly Father's voice,
I love, I love His home. Better guys.