If you want to follow along with
me, turn to the book of Philemon. I love this little short letter
that Paul wrote to Philemon while he was a prisoner in Rome. He
was being held under guard by a Roman soldier there, and what's
referred to in Acts, the book of Acts, is Paul's own hired
house. And you can read about that in
the 28th chapter of Acts, where we learn that while he was being
held captive in Rome, he still was allowed to receive visitors.
And there he would share or preach the gospel to those who came
to hear him. And so among those who went to
hear Paul was a fugitive named Onesimus, who had once been a
servant to Philemon and his household. And from Philemon, it would appear
that Onesimus had either robbed or embezzled some goods from
his master, And then, apparently, we know
whatever it was, he left there indebted to Philemon, and then
he fled to Rome. And then by God's divine providence,
he came to Paul's house, where he heard the gospel of God's
grace in Christ, and thereby was converted under Paul's ministry. So in Philemon, we'll read of
Paul's efforts to reconcile Philemon, a fellow believer now, to his
former servant, Onesimus, as he asked Philemon to receive
Onesimus, not only as a returning servant, but now as a beloved
brother in Christ. And in this reconciliation request
from Paul, we see a beautiful illustration or a metaphor, if
you would, of how God reconciles sinners unto himself. And as
such, most true gospel preachers will emphasize how Paul willingly
substituted himself on behalf of Onesimus, willingly standing
in his place at surety to pay the debt that Onesimus owed to
his former master, Flehmen. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ
willingly substituted himself as a surety for all those he
reconciles unto God. Those he saves by having taken
on and actually paying the debt before God's holy justice due
unto their sins. Our sins are against God. And
that's a debt that none of us by any means could pay for ourselves. And with that sin debt being
paid, then they're debt, they're sins. They're fully forgiven,
remission made, forgiveness of debt. Now that is certainly a
truth that stands out in this epistle, and it's a truth I'd
be remiss if I didn't likewise emphasize. But along with that
today, I also want to direct your attention to how spiritually
speaking, not in the physical realm, but spiritually speaking,
all of fallen humanity by nature, we closely resemble this wicked
thief Onesimus. But as we'll see, not everyone
resembles Onesimus, the born-again believer. And with that in mind,
I title today's message, Kinship with Onesimus. By way of background,
Philemon, he was a Gentile believer who seems to have been a resident
of Colossae. and a fellow minister there,
as the opening verses of the letter indicate. And as Paul
often does, he opens the letter with kind greetings and thankfulness
for Philemon and for the manifestation of his faith towards Christ and
his love for fellow believers. And in picking up now in the
main body of the letter here, in verse eight he writes, 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 an one as Paul the aged, or your elder, and now also a
prisoner of Jesus Christ, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom
I have begotten in my bonds. So he's referring to Onesimus
now as his son, speaking as his spiritual father, if you would.
Paul having been the instrument of his conversion while he was
held captive in Rome. Continuing in verse 11, he said,
which or who in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now
profitable to thee and to me. Well, you know, Flehmen, as he's
reading this letter, he has to be thinking certainly Onesimus
had been anything but profitable to him. He apparently having
robbed or embezzled goods from him, which left him indebted
to Flehmen. And I want to just stop right
here a moment and consider how all of us begin our walk on earth,
much like Onesimus, is spiritually unprofitable. You know, God describes
us all that way, as we read in Romans 3, beginning in verse
10, as it is written, there's none righteous, no not one. There's
none that understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. They are all gone out of the way. And then he says, they
are together become unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. So he's telling us here in Romans
three, that just like this thief Onesimus, none of us are profitable
to God in our natural state of spiritual darkness. How we begin
this life. We may say, well, Wait a minute,
I've never been a common thief like Onesimus, and I hope you
haven't. But you know, akin to him, we
too began as spiritual thieves in this sense. And that our natural
religious thoughts reflect an attempt to rob God of his chief
design, his glory. That is, his glory in the salvation
of sinners by Christ alone. And you may say, as I would have,
well, I certainly did not intend to rob God of his glory or attempt
to rob God of his glory, but in the spiritually lost state
of darkness and blindness in which we all begin this life's
journey, according to God's word, we perhaps unwittingly, but nonetheless,
we're doing just that. by those natural, initial religious
notions. The way that seemeth right to
a man's, the way that ends in death or destruction, Proverbs
16, 25. We were doing that with those
notions that have us believe that salvation's at least in
some way, to some degree, conditioned on me, the sinner. In other words,
oh, we'll talk a lot about what Jesus has done, but we think
we seal the deal by our act of believing or our receiving him. And that's a false doctrine that
effectively attempts to rob God of his glory, and I hope I can
show you that as we go forward. If you go down a little further
in Romans 3, he describes all of us by nature In this way,
in verse 15, he says, their feet are swift to shed blood. Now,
he's not referring to murder here. He's referring to that
practice of religion that's consistent with all of our fallen natures.
In other words, he's saying they're religious. He was referring to
the shedding of animal blood as the Jews, or they were commanded
to do under the old covenant. But that command was not given
to support the false notion that their eternal welfare, their
eternal salvation, was a result of their obedience and participating
in those religious ceremonies. Now, see, they all were to point
to Christ. Christ said, Moses wrote of me.
Those sacrificial blood offerings, they were intended to picture
and to point them to the blood of the coming Messiah, the Lamb
of God, as John the Baptist called Him, Christ, the God-man, who
alone, whose infinitely valuable shed blood, could and did fully
pay the debt due unto the sins of every one of those for whom
that blood was shed. Continuing in verse 16 of Romans
3, it says, destruction and misery are in their ways and the way
of peace. Here's talking about peace being
the peace between God and man, the reconciliation of those he
saves. And he says that way of peace,
that's the gospels, how God saves sinners. Have they not known? There is no fear of God before
their eyes. And there's the indictment. You
see, we'll think, as I once did, that, listen, because I did not
intentionally attempt to rob God of his glory, because perhaps
I was mistaken about a few things, because of my good intentions,
that means I wasn't guilty of those things. And he says, well,
here's what you're guilty of. You just didn't think about it
that way, did you? because there's no fear of God
before your eyes. That means they have no reverential
respect for the glory of God as he's uniquely revealed in
the person and the work of Jesus Christ. You see, it's only in
Christ and his finished work on the cross that we can see
how God can be God as he declares himself to be in this book. You
see, only in Christ and that finished work Do we see how he
can be both a just God, that is one whose holy justice is
not to be perverted or set aside, and still be a merciful savior? That's his redemptive glory.
His glory is basically his God revealing who he is. That's his
glory. And by nature, we all deny and
show no regard for that, as evidenced by the natural, initial religious
motions that have us say, like the Philippian jailer, what must
I do to be saved? And you know, when Paul and,
who was it, Paul and Titus? Who was it? Yeah, when they corrected
that jailer, you know, they said, oh no. You believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, they wouldn't given him something to do. They're
saying you gotta believe on the doing and dying of another. So
spiritually speaking, we really have nothing better than the
thief Onesimus to offer unto God as we all begin that religious
journey with God dishonoring thoughts. And those thoughts
are akin to attempting to rob God of his glory. Some may say,
as I perhaps would have, wait a minute, that doesn't describe
me, but hear God's word in Romans 3. This is his description of
us all by nature. We like a Nesmus, you see. We
are indeed unprofitable, as God declares that we are, unless
and until God does it work and makes us profitable. He gives
us a new heart. and a new mind, a new, he turns
our world upside down, if you would. Look again back in Philemon
verse 11, where he said of Onesimus, which are who in time past was
to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me. So here Onesimus in his born
again state, he's now profitable to Philemon as his returning
servant. But Paul speaks of how he's profitable
to both of them. And that's the truth that now
he's their fellow minister and their brother in the faith. And
so profitable in that sense, as is all the members of the
body of Christ. We read of that in scripture.
They're all necessary. Where we learn of Onesimus, how
he was involved in the ministry of the gospel from a brief mention
of him in Colossians chapter four, And then also, if my Bible
has footnotes, yours may or may not, but at the end of this letter
to Philemon and the letter to the Colossians, there are footnotes
that indicate Onesimus was the one used to deliver those letters. And that includes this letter
of his own recommendation written by Paul to Philemon. So let me
digress just a little bit more on how we might be spiritually
likened to Onesimus. Like him, we unprofitable sinners,
you see, in and of ourselves, We need to be reconciled in our
hearts and minds to God, and that's in accordance with how
God reconciles us to him, his way of reconciliation. In other
words, it's in strict satisfaction to his inflexible justice. You
see, that's why Christ had to die and suffer an equivalent
of hell for all those he saves. If it wasn't necessary that that
justice be satisfied, couldn't God have just made up some other
rule and said, if you'll believe this, I'll save you? And when
we think that salvation's conditioned on us, we really make the doing
and dying of Christ not much more than that, don't we? No,
he had to come and die. You know, Paul's empathy here
of Fleeman's own interests, I think, demonstrates his recognition
that, you know, this physical death or debt, I should say,
what he owed under Fleeman was legitimate and it should be paid. Well, likewise, God, he doesn't
show any mercy to any sinner apart from his justice being
satisfied for that sinner. So God doesn't just simply say,
if you'll do this, I'll look over your sins and save a people
in spite of their sins, because that would be a perversion of
his justice. No, he died to pay the debt due unto their sins
and justice was satisfied by their surety. That's one who
takes on the debt of another. And he took on and paid the penalty
in full for all the objects of God's everlasting love. Well,
that's in keeping with God's description of himself in Isaiah
chapter 45. This passage is common to many
of you. In verse 21, God says, speaking through the prophet,
and there's no God else beside me. And look how he describes
himself, a just God and a savior. There's none beside me. Look
unto me and be ye saved. All the ends of the earth. Look
unto who? A just God and a Savior. For I'm God and there is none
else. Now we're all, without exception,
we're, as I said, we were born into this world in spiritual
kinship with Onesimus, that unprofitable one, that runaway thief. But
if now you're spiritually kin to Paul and Philemon and their
born-again spiritual brother Onesimus, you know this, it is
by way of God's justice being satisfied. That is the very righteousness
of God in Christ. Righteousness of God is his perfect
satisfaction to his law and justice. And that very righteousness,
the merit of Christ's work, you see, has been put or imputed
to your account. And you may say, well, you know,
Christ told those, the non-believers there in the book of John, he
said, you don't believe on me because you're not my sheep.
He was saying, you know, I didn't choose you before the world began.
Well, how do you know if Christ died for you? if justice was
satisfied for you. And the only evidence is this,
that his righteousness has been revealed to you, that is that
perfect satisfaction to his justice, that he accomplished by his finished
work on the cross. It's been revealed to you through
the preached gospel of grace and it's been made precious to
you, just like it was to Onesimus. Now how is that made precious
to us? Is it because we muster up enough
faith? No. It's by the God-given, listen,
blood-bought gift of faith that would have you look unto Jesus
for all your salvation and repent of your former dead works, those
works that you presume made the difference in your salvation.
and the resulting idolatrous thoughts concerning God and how
he saves sinners. Back to our text in verse 12,
Paul speaks of Onesimus as one whom I have sent again. Thou
therefore receive him that is my own bowels. Again, I think
he's referring to the fact that he considered Onesimus his spiritual
son in the faith. whom I would have retained with
me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the
bonds of the gospel. But without thy mind would I
do nothing, that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity,
but willingly. So Paul's conveying again his
strict regard he had for equity and justice. He knew that Onesimus
was Philemon's runaway servant, and as such, he was still his
rightful property. And regardless of what authority
Paul might otherwise have used to justify keeping him in Rome,
he's saying there's not gonna be a version of justice in this
case. But take particular note of that
phrase at the end of verse 14, where he said that the benefit
should not be, as it were, of necessity, but willingly. He seems to be saying that had
he kept Onesimus with him in Rome, then any goodness that
Philemon might attempt to demonstrate by way of forgiveness and in
renouncing his rightful claim as his master, that might appear
to be forced by Paul. Rather, if Philemon later were
to send Onesimus back to Rome after having first willingly
received him upon his arrival, it would be clear that it was
all of Fleeman's own doing. Well, you know, I'm always looking
for that picture, because we know that the whole script, all
of scripture points to Christ. And when I think of that, I'm reminded that our acceptance
by God, as it was, as it were, was not of necessity in this
sense. Now, we know that Christ became
indebted in the covenant of grace when he said, I'll pay their
debt. So there was that indebtedness. But what I mean by that is it's not
because God has become indebted to us as a result, again, of
some condition or requirement that we presume to have met.
See, no one is saved because they believe. Sinners believe
because they've been saved. Sinners believe on Christ. They're
given the gift of faith. Why? Because it was purchased
for them. You know, in Acts, in the book
of Acts, it says Christ purchased his church with his own blood.
So saved sinners, they're redeemed. That means they've been bought
and fully paid for by the shed blood of their substitute on
Calvary's cross. So God's acceptance of sinners
is not a necessity forced upon him in this sense because he's
obligated to us as is suggested by that popular but false notion
that we the sinner do something and he then saves us in return. We naturally will imagine that
we must do something to acquire or appropriate God's blessing. And whether that be our believing,
our receiving him, our getting serious about religion, our reading
our Bible, or praying some sinner's prayer, or repeating some mantra
of sorts, whatever is prescribed, if you believe it's the difference
maker in your salvation, That's not salvation by grace. That's
salvation by words. The whole Bible speaks of how
we're saved. It's an act of God's mercy. We
read in Lamentations 3.22, it's of the Lord's mercies that we
are not consumed. Mercy is us not getting what
we deserve. All we deserve is death because
we're sinners. And what we can earn, the wages
of sin, is death. But the gift, the gift of God
is eternal life. Romans 4 says, now to him that
worketh is a reward. It's not reckoned of grace, but
of debt. That is, if you think you're
saved because of something you do, then it would mean that God's
now obligated to you. The presumptions being that you
earned it. But look what verse 5 says, but
to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifies
the ungodly. That's talking about believing
on one that will declare a thief like Onesimus not guilty. His faith is counted for righteousness. In other words, it's the object
of faith. It's what faith looks to for
righteousness, that which is required for God to accept us
into his holy presence. So it refers to that which God-given
faith believes in for righteousness or to satisfy the requirements
of a holy and just God, and that's Christ's work alone, not any
work of the sinner. And that, you see, it's his righteousness. That's been counted or imputed,
to use a biblical language, to all who will believe. And if
it's any other way, God would owe the sinner based on the sinner's
response to whatever he's told is a prescribed condition to
be saved. And that would not be a reward
of grace. That would be a reward of debt. That would be salvation
by works. And you know, God says salvation's
by grace, not by works lest any man should boast. God says that
can't be. Back to our text in verse 15,
Paul continues saying, for perhaps he, speaking of Onesimus, therefore
departed for a season that thou shouldest receive him forever. I love that. Paul is suggesting
that the divine overruling providential hand of God was in all that had
taken place. Onesimus robbing Philemon out
of the evil of his own heart and fleeing only to land in Rome
where he fell under the sound of the gospel of God's grace
and now being brought back to Philemon that he can rejoice
with him and receive him as his spiritual and eternal brother
in the faith. I marvel when I hear the stories
of how people's, the providential hand of God, the circumstances
and the events that led up to their coming to here fall under
the sound of the gospel of God's grace. That's a work of God. Verse 16, now, not now as a servant,
but above a servant. Speaking of how he receives him,
a brother beloves, especially to me, but how much more unto
thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. He's much more than
a servant to you, Philemon. He's not only has returned to
your family in the flesh as your servant, profitable in that sense,
but now in a spiritual sense, He can be received as a profitable,
a fellow citizen, a family member, and servant in the house of God. Double blessing. Now verse 17,
now we're getting to the great stuff. If thou count me therefore
a partner, he says, receive him as myself. What a picture of
substitution. Drawing a spiritual parallel,
we have God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, one
God and three persons partnering, if you would, in their respective
offices to achieve the one God's design, his glory. And Christ
in his interceding work, it says, the scripture says he's seated
at the right hand of the Father, ever living to make intercession
for us. In that work, he's ever saying,
receive these as you received me in my resurrection glory. In other words, on the very same
basis that he rose out of the grave, based on the righteousness
he established in their room instead in satisfying the justice
of God on their behalf. You know, a pastor's been taking
us through recently, not too long ago, he took us through
the high priestly prayer in John 17. He likes to call that the
Lord's Prayer. And, you know, if you remember,
after he had prayed for his apostles, when he gets down to verse 20,
He adds this, he says, neither pray I for these alone, that
is his apostles, but for them also which shall believe on me
through their word, that they all may be one as thou, Father,
art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that
the world may believe that thou hast sent me. That's amazing. All that the Father gave to Christ
the Son, they received in the glory and to the presence of
a holy God and accepted on the very same basis upon which Christ
arose from the grave, having the merit of his finished work,
his righteousness made theirs by the Father's gracious accounting
or imputation of it to them. I hope you love this message.
It's truly good news to a sinner like me. Back in Philemon, verse
18, he writes this, if he hath wronged thee or oweth thee all,
put that on mine account. So here we have a beautiful illustration
of imputation. It's picturing how the Lord Jesus
Christ said that in essence for all that the Father had given
me. He said, if they've wronged thee, and we wronged him, Put
that on my account. Here he took on the debt that
was incurred by the virtue of the sins, the wrongs, if you
will, of God's elect, having the very demerit of their sin
imputed or charged to his account, that he might bear the penalty
as the spotless Lamb of God. He wasn't contaminated with their
sins. No, he said, I'll pay the debt
for their sins. That's how he took them on. The
infinitely valuable price of his own suffering and death was
paid. His blood, a price no sinner
could ever pay for themselves. He goes on to say in verse 19,
I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand, and I will repay
it. He's saying I'm good for it.
You know, Paul, he certainly, I believe he had every intention
of doing that, and he probably did. But you know, he's human. Something could have happened
to Paul before he fulfilled what he intended. Not so with God. Likewise, our surety and substitute
entered into covenant promise to come in time and actually
pay that debt on the cross, just as Paul here had had the debt
placed to his account. And he said, I'm good for it.
Committing to actually pay it. God is faithful. And so Paul
continues here in verse 19 saying, albeit I do not say to thee how
thou owest unto me, even thine own self besides. That appears
to note that he's gonna pay the debt even though Philemon in
a sense may be owed Paul. It was believed that Paul was
the instrument of Philemon's conversion as well. Now here,
there's again a picture of mercy and grace, isn't it? We owe the
debt. due to God's justice as sinners,
but it was God that provided himself a suitable and acceptable
sacrifice in our place. And so he continues in the remaining
verses saying, yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the
Lord, refresh my bowels in the Lord. And I believe he means
here, give me that cause for inner rejoicing. Having confidence
in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt
also do more than I say." He's again communicating that in view
of what Christ had done in paying their sin debt, both his and
Philemon's, and receiving them, sinners. You know, Paul was out
there persecuting the church when he was struck down on the
Damascus Road. Well, how could they not forgive
this likewise, this sinner, who's now brother in Christ, and receive
him as such. Well, just a quick summary. My emphasis today has clearly
been this. One, that all of us, without
exception, indeed, bear resemblance to Onesimus, that unprofitable
runaway servant. We've all gone out of the way,
we read. But secondly, while all men resemble
Onesimus, the runaway, the unprofitable thief, You know, only those who
are brought to recognize their kinship to that, their spiritual
kinship, to that Onesimus, the unworthy sinner, with nothing
to offer. Only they sense their desperate
need for Jesus Christ to be their substitute and their surety.
So unless until you've been convinced of your kinship to Onesimus,
the unprofitable, unworthy sinner, you really would be tragically
mistaken to consider yourself as spiritually akin to Onesimus,
the born-again believer, and the spiritual brother of Paul
and Philemon, and all the other blessed objects of God's mercy
and grace in Christ. You see, because apart from that,
there's no repentance. Except you repent, God said,
all of you shall perish. I pray God will use this message
to bring some to faith and repentance. You know, I've heard folks say,
and I bet you have too, that I've got some kinfolks I just
assume not claim, but it's really good news to be able to call
this guy Onesimus one of your kinfolks. Thank you.