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Paul Mahan

Home To Stay

Philemon
Paul Mahan September, 2 2007 Audio
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'Perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever' (Phil.15).
The story of God's marvelous sovereign grace in bringing a runaway rebel back home. This is my story; the story of God's amazing providence in bringing His sons to Himself.
What does the Bible say about God's sovereignty in salvation?

The Bible teaches that God sovereignly saves those He chooses, demonstrating mercy and grace, as shown in Philemon's story of Onesimus.

The concept of God's sovereignty in salvation is central to Reformed theology, as highlighted in the story of Onesimus from the book of Philemon. In this narrative, God orchestrates events across thousands of miles to ensure that His chosen one, a runaway slave, encounters the gospel. This exemplifies how, in God's steadfast mercy, He actively seeks out those who are lost and brings them to Himself, fulfilling His divine purpose. As the Apostle Paul writes, it was God's intention for Onesimus to depart for a season so that he might be received forever, illustrating that God's plan for salvation is not haphazard but rather a demonstration of His sovereign will and love (Philemon 15). Ultimately, the work of salvation is credited to God, who chooses and calls individuals to faith through the foolishness of preaching His Word.

Philemon 10-12, 15

How do we know the doctrine of substitutionary atonement is true?

The doctrine of substitutionary atonement is affirmed in Scripture, particularly in the portrayal of Christ taking our sins upon Himself as seen in the letter to Philemon.

Substitutionary atonement is a foundational doctrine of Reformed theology, affirming that Jesus Christ died in place of sinners, bearing the punishment we deserved. In Paul's writing to Philemon concerning Onesimus, there is a profound illustration of this doctrine. Paul states that if Onesimus has wronged Philemon or owes anything, he asks to charge it to his own account, much like how Christ takes the debts of sin upon Himself (Philemon 18). This powerful analogy emphasizes the concept of imputation, where our sins are charged to Christ while His righteousness is credited to us. The truth of this doctrine is deeply embedded in the Scriptures, wherein Jesus, the sinless one, bore the sins of many, fulfilling God's justice while extending mercy to His chosen ones (Isaiah 53:6).

Philemon 18-19, Isaiah 53:6

Why is reconciliation important for Christians?

Reconciliation is vital for Christians as it restores our relationship with God through Christ, reflecting the grace we are to extend to others.

Reconciliation stands at the heart of the Christian faith, representing the restoration of a broken relationship with God through the work of Christ. In the context of Philemon's letter, Paul emphasizes the importance of receiving Onesimus as a brother, highlighting that our own reconciliation with God necessitates that we extend grace and forgiveness to others (Philemon 17). This principle of reconciliation is rooted in the gospel, where Christ's sacrifice provides the means for us to be reconciled to God. The Spirit of God works in the hearts of believers to bring about this change, enabling them to forgive and embrace those who have wronged them, just as Christ forgave us. This call to reconciliation is not only an opportunity to reflect the love of God but is also essential in fostering unity within the body of Christ, demonstrating that God's grace reaches even the most broken and estranged among us.

Philemon 17, 2 Corinthians 5:18

Sermon Transcript

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A girl or a demon, God will lead
us out of love. Here's my heart, take this feeling,
feel it come back once in a while. Okay, go back with me now to
the book of Philemon. Let's read a few verses again. Philemon, let's read verses 10
through 12 and a couple of others. The Apostle Paul is writing to
a dear brother and friend named Philemon on behalf of a young
man named Onesimus, and he writes, verse 10, 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 sent again Thou therefore receive him that
is mine own bowels." Then down in verse 15 he says, Perhaps
he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him
forever. And in verse 18 he writes, If
he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, or anything, put
that on my account. A wonderful, wonderful message
of God's amazing, sovereign love, mercy, and grace, and bringing
a runaway rebel to himself, home to stay. Well, the story went
like this, and this is how it went. We are just filling in
between the lines. judging from what the apostle
wrote. Paul the apostle was preaching
in Colossae at some point before this, and there was a man there
who lived there named Philemon. And Philemon heard Paul preach,
and the Lord saved him. He heard the gospel. Faith cometh
by hearing. And it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. Philemon heard the Apostle
Paul preach the gospel, which I will endeavor to do in this
message. And the Lord saved him. And Philemon
was a fairly well-off man, fairly rich. And he had servants, slaves,
is what they were generally, a man or a woman or a young person
even, was a slave back then because of either a crime they had committed
or they had got into debt so deep that they couldn't pay it
off and therefore the law sentenced them to serve, to be a slave. But Philemon had slaves or servants
and one of them was a young man named Onesimus, a slave. Now Philemon heard the gospel
and the Lord saved him. And Philemon now loved the Lord
Jesus Christ and loved the saints of God and loved those who preached
the gospel like Paul. He loved Paul. They were close
friends. And Philemon we believe, had
Paul preach in his house while he was there in Colossae. This
is Colossae is where Philemon is from. He had Paul preach in
his house. There in verse 2 it talked about
the church in his house, didn't it? Are you with me? And he had
him preach to his friends, his family, and his servants. Everybody,
like old Feliz. Anybody remember the message
on a man named Happy down in Mexico? Him the Lord used to bring his
whole house to hear Brother Walter? Well, old Philemon had his whole
house to hear the apostle preach. And so I believe that this young
fellow named Onesimus heard. I believe he heard the gospel
from Paul, but it had no effect on him at that time. No effect. He heard it. He was just like
me. He heard it, but it didn't, it wasn't unto life. The seed might have been sown
though, you reckon? See, that's our hope, you know. Deborah,
that's our hope. God said, my word will not return void. It's like a seed, he said. Well, he heard, and Paul left
Colossians. He left Colossae after a while,
and he ended up in prison in Rome for preaching the gospel.
Now, Rome is a thousand miles from Colossae. A thousand miles away, God sent
this preacher a thousand miles away and put him in prison. Now this young man is never going
to hear the gospel, is he? God's ways are not our ways
either. He's able to save to the uttermost,
even to what? The ends of the earth. So he sent Paul a thousand miles
away and put him in prison. In the meantime, this young fellow
named Onesimus, this slave, And as I said, he's not really a
slave, not now, not to Philemon. The Lord saved Philemon. Philemon is now a merciful man.
You would have wanted to work for him now. Can you imagine
your boss being a believer? I mean, a believer. Could you?
How much time you want off? You need a raise? I'll give you
more. Huh? Oh yeah, he's a merciful man
now, a kind man. He's giving young Onesimus everything
he needs and more. This young man's not lacking
for anything now. He's not in slavery to Philemon. No, he thinks
he is though. This young boy thinks, I've got
to get out of here. I've got to get out of here.
I've got to get out in the world. I've got to see the world. I
want to be free. He never had it made like he
did under Philemon. I want to get out. I want to
be free. I want to be my own man. I want to be in charge of
my own destiny. No, you don't. No, you don't.
You're a ignorant young fool. How do I know this happened? You're looking at Onesimus. Got
to get out. Got to get out. You're not under
bondage, you're in a good place now. No, I want out. And so he
begins to plot his escape. Plot his escape. He says, what
I'll do is I'll steal me some money. He just needed to ask and they
probably would have given it to him. But I'll steal me some
money and I'll sneak out and I'll head to the big city. I'll
go to Rome. Where will I go? I'll go to Rome.
That's where I'll go. Big city. And I'll make my way and I'll
be prosperous. I'll go to Rome. So one night
he steals some money and a horse. And he rides away as fast as
he can in the darkness of night, as the old saying is, hell-bent
and slapping leather. You've got to get away from this
man and get away from this religion that he has and get away from
God. You're running to him and don't know it. What I'm trying to show you is
God, you see in between all of this, God's amazing providence. Old Brother Maurice Montgomery,
when he was headed off to the war, Korea I believe, his old
dad, Brother Hubert, who's gone now, to be with the Lord. And
his last words to Old Brother Maurice when he was just a young
boy, an 18, 19 year old boy heading out, you know, the old man's
heart was breaking. Brother Maurice, I don't think,
was a believer at the time, but Old Brother Hubert said to him,
Son, remember, God is everywhere. And He was. So Onesimus heads
out. He heads toward Rome. Big city
lights. Now, Onesimus is no good. He's no good. He's stolen. That's
what he did. He's unprofitable. Didn't Paul
say that? He's unprofitable. He's been a worthless servant
to Philemon. He's no good. He's an ungrateful
young rebel. He had everything that Philemon
could give him, but he wasn't happy. Just like that old prodigal. Give me what's coming to me.
You don't have anything. You haven't earned anything.
But he's a young rebel and he's a thief. Knowing how he started
out, I know how he ended up in Rome. I know how he ended up
when he got there. Don't you? He ended up in the
gutter. He wasn't prosperous and all
that. He ended up in the gutter. That's
how he started out. You start out a thief, you're
going to end up that way, right? And he went to Rome, went to
the big city, and you know how he ended up. Spent, like that
prodigal. Spent, wasted all his substance.
And he's in the back alleys, and he's in the gutter in Rome. He's in the gutter. Now, as I say, or as the Scripture
says, God's ways are not our ways. And this is what we're
going to preach Wednesday night, Lord willing, Isaiah 55. My ways are not your ways. God's
high ways and thoughts. And even that's not what you
think. But God's ways are not our way. His way up is down. The way that God Almighty brings
us high, as high as you can get, no higher, is to make us low. The only way we can sit among
princes, among Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, the only way is
to sit on the downhill. God hath no respect, God hath
no mercy for the high and the lofty, but to this man will I
look, he said. The poor and the contrite, the
broken, the down and out, the sinner. So if you know someone, this
would be a good message to give them. If you know someone, maybe
you are that one, who is as low as they can go, perhaps like
this boy, the Lord brought them down, or you down, into the dung
heap to lift you up on high. So as I said, Paul is in prison
in Rome. But he's able to preach. The
Lord in his providence put Paul in prison to write the book of
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians that we have. Bless
God for putting Paul in prison. And the Lord made it so that
people could come in and listen to Paul preach while he was in
prison. And this happened, that Paul would sit in the jail cell
or wherever, and people would come in and listen to him preach.
Well, one day, one day, in walked Onesimus. This is no accident. A thousand
miles away, Tammy. How'd they get there? This could have happened. Some
woman that loved to go to hear Paul preach, some old woman named
Birgie or something, loved to go hear the apostle preach. And
she's walking by and she spots this young man in the gutters,
this young man. Why don't you come with me? Come
to hear the gospel. You're down and out. Come with
me and hear the gospel. There's a man down there God
has raised up to preach the gospel, the good news, to sinners like
yourself, like me. It's a faithful saying and worthy
of all acceptation. Come hear it. Who is it? Who's
the preacher? His name's Paul. Who? Paul, the apostle. He's
preaching down to jail. That's an old friend of my former
master. A connection with home. So perhaps he did. Perhaps he
went with her. And so he goes down to the jailhouse
with her on his own, and he sneaks in. That's the way you come when
you first hear of God. You sneak in. You don't want
to be seen. You don't think you belong there,
do you? You sneak in, and what you do also is you hide behind
the person in front of you. Oh yeah, that's what people do
all the time. It amazes me how people think
that I don't see that. Hide behind, either sleeping
or hiding. I see it all the time. But he
did, I know he did. He didn't want, Paul knows him.
And he sneaks in, he gets behind the person in front of him, you
know, and he's listening. Paul's preaching. What's he preaching? The gospel. There's only one message he's
saying. What does he preach? Well, he preaches God. In the
beginning, God. He preaches God, high and lifted
up. High and lifted up. A holy and
righteous God. Judge of all the earth. Creator.
Yet merciful and gracious and kind. And has opened his hand
and fed a people, Isaiah said. Lifted up my hand and fed a people
all their days. Girded them though they didn't
know me. Fed them. Took care of them. Their sustainer,
their creator. What'd they do? Rebelled against
God. Weren't thankful. Didn't worship
Him. Oh, that's all He required. Just
thank me. Just thank me. Rebels against God. In Adam,
all died and become rebels against God. We will not have God reign
over us. I don't like this truth about
God owning me. I don't like this. Nor thankful. Became children
of disobedience. Walking according to the course
of this world, the prince of the power of the air. Children
of wrath, even as others. Hating God, hating the truth,
hating holiness, loving sin, living for it. Rebels against
God. But God. Paul preached. If you're worthy of the name,
this is what you'll preach. But God. Rich in mercy. For His great love, wherewith
He loves some, doesn't have to, but He does. This is the amazing
part of it. God Almighty set His love upon a number that if
He had chosen one of these rebels, it would have been infinite mercy
and love, amazing grace. But He chose a number as the
stars of the sky. Who could argue with that? If
there's one person in glory saved, He'd be seen at the top of His
life. Sovereign mercy. But God, rich
in mercy, abundant in mercy, for His great love, loves a people
that cannot be numbered. And in mercy and grace and according
to His purpose, God Almighty's purpose to save them from sure
death, destruction. He's going to destroy this despicable
place called planet Earth. Yes, He is. And how he did that
was to send his beloved son. God was manifest in the flesh.
God Almighty came down here himself. He left the ninety and the nine
of the saints in heaven, the angels, and came down to this
earth and became flesh, became a man. to do for these rebels
what they would not do, what they could not do. But he could,
and he did. His name was Emmanuel. That's his first name. God with
us. But God gave him another name
that at the name of every knee should bow. His name, Jesus,
Savior, the Christ, the Substitute, the Redeemer, the Mediator, the
Intercessor, the High Priest for sinners. The Savior has come. Jesus Christ is his name. This
is what Paul preached. Who? He came and what did he
do? How did he save these people?
These rebels. Why? We already said why God? He just pleased God. And how
did God do this? God himself came down here. And this rebel who hated the
law of God and holiness, hated it and loved sin, Christ, God,
loved holiness, loved sin. I delight to do Thy will, O Father.
Here's the rebel over here. I hate this. Here's the son.
I love this. Here's the rebel over here. We
will not have God. Here's Christ. I will do Your
will. Here's the rebel spitting God's
face. Here's the son. Accepted. Approved. Loved God. Loved the law. Kept the law perfectly. Holy. Pure. Just. Sinless. Without spot. Without
blemish. Altogether lovely. Sinless. Holy. Son. The only one of the
Most High God. What do you have over here? A
rotten, no-good rebel that ain't fit for hanging. But God. And then God says, switch places. God laid on the son, he who knew
no sin, took this rabbi, and it's a mystery. I'm doing the best I can, but
this is what God Almighty put on his son. My father used to
always use this illustration, weight, sin. Over here, without sin, God Almighty put all of the iniquity
of his people on his son, all of it. and then took his perfection,
his holiness, put it on him. So now here we have the sinless
one made sin. And God looked on him and took
him to the cross and said, you deserve to die. And God killed him. God killed
him. And here's this rebel. No sin. Spotless. Pure. Substitution. God laid on him. And God, Paul
says, has committed unto us, Paul preached, he hath committed
unto me as his apostle this ministry of reconciliation. And everyone who hears that,
every rebel whom God Almighty elects, they hear that message
of substitution and it breaks their hard heart. God gives them
a new heart. They wouldn't hear it if he didn't.
He gives them life. They were dead. He gives them
life. And breaks their hard heart over their rebellion and points
them to Christ crucified, their substitute. And they say, he
did that for me? That's right. Why'd he do that? He just did. But why did he choose
me? He just did. But I didn't do
anything. That's right. He did all that
for me? All. You mean God accepted me
for nothing? There's nothing I did? Him? All I did? That's right. You
sinned? He didn't. You're accepted in
the blood. Do you believe that? I want to
believe. And God Almighty grants that
faith. And he says, Paul went on to
preach, he said, Be ye reconciled. Now, Brother Scott used to always
say, stack your guns. Who are you fighting? Young rebel,
who do you think you're fighting? God? He won't win. Where are
you running? Who are you running from? You
think you can run from God? You're running to Him. I'm going
to Rome. I'm getting as far away as I
can. You're getting closer. That's God. That's our sovereign
God. He is able to save. He really
is. People say that. They don't believe
it. We believe it. He's not only able to save the
uttermost, He does. God sent that young runaway rebel. as far away from home as he could
get, to hear the gospel, to send him back home again, to stay. Stack your guns, and Paul is
preaching to Onesimus, and now he knows it. Onesimus, again,
he's hiding, and now he's He's talking to me. Onesimus
thought, I'm the only one in this room. You rebel, you run away, you
sinner, stack your guns, be reconciled, submit, bow, come. Christ said, come unto me, that
you might have come. And Onesimus did. He did. He believed right then
and there by the mercy of God. Oh my. And God broke his hard
heart, gave him a new heart, granted him repentance, faith,
love for the truth, for the gospel, for Christ, love for God's people. You see, he was once a crony
and a He was once a companion of those that hated God. Now
he's a companion of them that love him. And now he's in every service.
Yes, he is. Now nobody has to ask him to
go. It's where he wants to go. And he's there. And he's a right-hand
man of the Apostle Paul. God turned this runaway rebel
and slave into a young profitable helper to the apostle Paul. Can God make an out-and-out thief
and a rebel into a preacher of the gospel? That's who you're
listening to right now. And now he's a son of the Most
High God. And I'm certain he confessed
Christ in baptism. Confessed. You know he did. That's
the command, isn't it? He that believeth in his Baptist.
Well, he did. And he became a regular in attendance
there, a fast friend of Paul. And now Paul writes a letter. You see, that's what happened. And Paul was writing this letter
back to his friend Philemon. And he writes this in verse 10. Now see if you don't know what
he's saying here. In verse 10 he says, I beseech
thee for my son Onesimus. This is the first Philemon's
heard of him in years. Onesimus. Yes, he's my son. He's been born again. While I
was in prison, that's what he means by that, begotten in my
bond. Paul was the one whom God used
to preach the gospel to this young man. He quite often used
that. He said, you have many teachers and all that, but you
have one Father, that is, one whom the Lord used to preach
the gospel to you. Give new birth, and he said in
verse 11 to Philemon, he said, O Nesmus, now he was in time
past to be unprofitable. He left the no-good rebel, didn't
he? But now, Philemon, now he's profitable. He left the no-good. Now he's
a good man. Oh yeah, that's what God says
about his people. That's what Paul said about Philemon,
didn't he? A good man in Christ. We'll add
that, won't we? In Christ. Old Philemon, old
Onesimus was once worthless, now he's worthy, of whom the
world is not worthy in Christ. Onesimus, old Philemon, young
Philemon that is, once was useless, now he's of some service, finally
he's worth something in Christ. Once a companion of thieves,
now he's my companion. and a companion of the same.
Once far from God, but blessed God, God brought him a thousand
miles to bring him to himself. Now he's drawn nigh unto God
by the blood of Jesus Christ Christ. And he says in verse
12, Philemon, I'm sending him home. I'm sending him back. Why does anybody come to Christ?
Because God sent God, the Holy Spirit sent them. Paul says,
I'm sending you. Philemon, Onesimus probably thought,
I'd love to go back home. I'd love to see my master. I'd
love that, but I feel so ashamed. Huh? You know he did. I feel
so ashamed. But what if he won't have me?
Paul says, I just can't believe he'll have you. I tell you what,
I'll write a letter. You know who's taking this down?
You know who's taking this letter down? You know who's writing
it? Onesimus. Look at the end of
it. It says, written from Rome to
Philemon by Onesimus. He's writing this down, his own
pardon. I hope you're getting that. Our
Lord sends us home, but you know what? After this letter is over,
Old Nessimus wants to go home. He's going home willing. Why
is he going? He's been sent. Why is he going?
He wants to go. He's been made willing. And here's what the letter reads.
He says, I've sent him again. Receive him. There is my own
bowels. This young man is me, Paul says. He's my son. He's my beloved. He's my brother. He's me. He's
my own bowels. I've begotten Him. Are you thinking
of this as what Christ says concerning His people? To the Father? Because that's what this is all
about. The covenant between God the
Father and God the Son. And all this can be said of Christ
speaking to the Father to the praise of the glory of God's
grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the blood. See, Paul
is writing back to Philemon and says, this young man now is me. You receive him as you would
me. I'm sending him home. But he's coming willingly. He
wants to come home. He wants to come home. If you'll
have him, and I know you will. I know you. I know you will.
And you know Christ said, come unto me, didn't He? Because He said, I know all that
the Father giveth me shall come unto me. And whoever comes, and
no wise guy's doubt. What's Philemon need with this
runaway slave? Nothing, except to the praise
of the glory of His grace. If he receives this no-good rebel,
they'll esteem him as being a gracious man, won't they? So it is with our God. We can
add nothing to Him, but it'll all be to the praise of the glory
of His sovereign, far-reaching grace. Well, Paul says in verse
15, and we've looked at every single verse together before,
but time is going by. Verse 15, he says this to Philemon
in the letter, "...perhaps Onesimus therefore departed for a season."
He departed temporarily. "...that thou shouldest receive
him forever." Perhaps he left for a season.
He's gone for a season. You didn't see him. Gone astray.
Oh, we like sheep. Gone astray, but just for a season. And in God's good purpose and
time, he sends them home to stay. Never leave again. Oh, my. Verse 16, he says, now,
what is he? As a servant? Oh, he's more than
that. He departed a slave. He's coming home a son. He's departed worthless. He's
coming home. He's going to be of some value
to you now. You got nothing out of him before. Now you're going
to get something. Praise. A brother, beloved to
me and to you also. Didn't Christ say, all mine are
thine and thine are mine? If you'll just on your own go
back and read John 17, you'll think it's Philemon, the book
of Philemon. It is. Same story. Same story. And I look at this blessed verse.
You know I wasn't going to pass this up. In verse 17, he says, If you
count me a partner, receive him as myself. If I'm your equal,
and I am, And didn't Philippians say, who
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation, a servant, a prisoner, Christ, for his? Why? Why did Christ become a
prisoner? That we might be set free, sent
home. And he said in verse 17, Receive
him as you would me. Thine amen? Well, next time this
is coming home, I'm sending it. I want you to receive Him as
if it were me walking in the door. As He is, more than a doctrine,
as He is, so are we, not just sons on a book, sons of God in
God's heart. He said, I have loved thee. Who? You. If you're in Christ. If you've come by faith in Christ. Yes! Oh, that's what Christ said. As the Father hath loved me,
he loves you. He receives you as me. Why? Because
I'm in you. And you in me. Accepted. Loved. Highly esteemed. Oh, but I'm
worth nothing. Don't you call unclean what God
has left. And he said in verse 18, if he
hath wronged thee, oh my, what all did Onesimus do to Philemon? Ungrateful, wretched, thief, robbed him, ungrateful
as we say it. Whatever he hath done that wrong
thee, or if he owes you anything, whatever debt he owes you, Paul
says, put that on my account. Charge it to me. And in verse
18 he says, I have written this and I will repay it. And isn't that the gospel? We have sinned and come short
of the glory of God, and God Almighty laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. Christ. We wronged God, and Christ
put it right. We owe unto Him a debt we couldn't
pay. The Lord Jesus paid it off. Laid
on Him. That's what, it's putting on
my account, that's the big word, imputation. Charged to. And Christ said, I will repay
it. And He did. He did. Paid it off. And he said in verse
19, You owe me your own self. And he says, Now I know, brother,
that you will let me have joy of thee. Refresh my bowels in
the Lord. I have this confidence in your
obedience, your willingness. I wrote unto you knowing that
you will do. And our Lord prayed there at
Lazarus' tomb. You remember when he prayed?
I know you hear me. But I said this for their sake. who hear me. Are you listening,
Onesimus? That was my opening comments
18 years ago when I first preached this message. My opening comments
were, I don't know who this is for, but I'm hoping there's an
Onesimus out there. That's who it's for. If you're
not, the message is just another sovereign grace message. Put
to a sinner? This is good news. I mean, this is salvation. And Paul said, Philemon, I know
you'll do more than I ask. Do you think Onesimus went back
to being a servant and a slave? No, he sent back a free man. I bet he ate up in the big house
all the time. At the table as a son. You reckon like old Mephibosheth? And as I pointed out to you,
and this blessed me soul, Onesimus is writing all this down. As Paul is saying this to Philemon,
he's writing it all down. I bet he has to stop and wait.
You reckon? Hold on here. Hold on here. You reckon? This is his freedom! It all depends on this letter! Do you hear this word? It all
depends on this word! So he's taking this letter back
to somebody he's offended. He doesn't know if he's going
to be accepted or not. But he's got this promise, this
hope, John. And he's writing it now. Oh,
I like that. Say that again. Did you really
say that? that you want him to receive
me as you. Oh, I like that. I'll underline
that. Make sure he sees it. I'll highlight
it. And he's going to take this letter
to Philemon and say, this is my hope. He's going back to shame, that's
it. No good. He left no good. He
still feels no good. And he comes back. Here's a letter. Before you say anything, would
you read this? Are you getting this? Bless God,
John. Philemon opens it up. And he's
smiling the whole time. And Onesimus is getting some
confidence. He said, what do you think? Philemon
says, welcome home, O blessed one. Come, you blessed one. Come on in. I've been waiting
on you. Kill the fatted calf. You reckon? You reckon if I kill the fatted
calf, we're going to have a party. May I say that? A feast! Kill
the fatted calf. Onesimus, rebel, runaway, has
come home to stay. And there's just joy, and the
whole house erupted. Yes, they did. That's what happened.
And you know, they started singing and eating. You know who the
happiest one there was? Singing the loudest, who do you
reckon, huh? Onesis. Home to stay. All right. Brother Gabe, you
come lead us. Let's turn to Hill Number 485.
Paul Mahan
About Paul Mahan
Paul Mahan has been pastor of Central Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia since 1989; preaching the Gospel of God's Sovereign Grace.
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