Well, there she is. I thought we had moved off to
California or something. Alright, I read you. I'll go sing today. You know, I haven't
had these girls sing together in a long time. So. Good morning. Let's all stand
together and sing hymn number 485. 485. We praise thee, O God,
for the son of thy love, for Jesus is now gone above. Alleluia, Thine the glory, Alleluia,
Amen. Alleluia, Thine the glory, revive
us again. We praise Thee, O God, for Thy
Spirit of light, who has shown us our Savior and scattered our
night. Alleluia, Thine the glory! Alleluia, Amen! Alleluia, thine the glory, revive
us again. All glory and praise to the Lamb
that was slain. who has borne all our sins and
has cleansed every stain. Alleluia, thine the glory. Alleluia, amen. Alleluia, thine the glory. Revive us again. Revive us again, fill each heart
with thy love. May each soul be rekindled with
fire from above. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number 206. 206. Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater
than all my sin. How shall my tongue describe
it? Where shall this grace begin? Taking away my burden Setting
my spirit free For the wonderful grace of Jesus Preaching Wonderful the matchless grace
of Jesus, Deeper than the mighty rolling sea, Higher than the
mountain, Sparkling like a fountain, All sufficient grace for even
me. broader than the scope of my
transgressions, greater far than all my sin and shame. O magnify the precious name of
Jesus, praise His name. Wonderful grace of Jesus, reaching
to all the lost. By it I have been pardoned, saved
to the uttermost. Chains have been torn asunder
Giving me liberty For the wonderful grace of Jesus Reaches me Wonderful the matchless grace
of Jesus, Deeper than the mighty rolling sea, Higher than the
mountain, sparkling like a fountain, All sufficient grace for even
we. broader than the scope of my
transgressions, greater far than all my sin and shame. O magnify the precious name of
Jesus Christ! Wonderful grace of Jesus Reaching
the most defiled By its transforming power Making him God's dear child
Purchasing peace and heaven for all eternity. And the wonderful grace of Jesus
reaches me. Wonderful the matchless grace
of Jesus, Deeper than the mighty rolling sea, Higher than the
mountains, sparkling like a fountain, All-sufficient grace for even
me. broader than the scope of my
transgression, greater far than all my sin and shame. O magnify the precious name of
Jesus, praise his name. Just a quick announcement. Many of you know Steve Reese
has been in West Tennessee for the better part of several months,
taking care of his in-laws. His father-in-law passed away
last night. He called me about 9 o'clock last night and asked
to remember them in our prayers. It has been a very trying time,
and it still is yet. Both of his in-laws have been
very ill. Longs to be here. Tells me that
he loves everyone and misses everyone. Every time I talk to
him, he wants me to tell everybody, and I always fail to mention
it. He himself had eye surgery last Friday. He was here in town
last weekend, was just unable to be here. His eyes, but he
is doing better. But he did ask me to ask for
prayer for them. The book of Philemon, it's the one
little chapter right before the book of Hebrews. If you opened
up to the book of Hebrews, you'd see Philemon. By there, we'll read the whole
chapter. It's not that big. The whole epistle. Paul, a prisoner
of Jesus Christ, and Timothy, our brother, and to Philemon,
our dearly beloved and fellow laborer, and to our beloved Apphia
and Archipolis, 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 Christ and toward
all saints, that the communication or the sharing or the communication
of thy faith may become effectual. by the acknowledging of every
good thing which is in you, which is in Christ Jesus. That's exactly
what faith does. It acknowledges everything that's
in us was done by the Lord Jesus Christ. For we have great joy
and consolation in thy love because the bowels of the saints or the
hearts of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. 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, in my own
bowels, 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 I would do nothing, that thy benefit should not be
as it were of necessity, but willingly. For perhaps he therefore
departed for a season, that thou shouldst receive him forever,
not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother, beloved,
specially to me, and how much more unto thee, both in the flesh
and in the Lord. If thou count me therefore a
partner, receive him as myself. If he hath wrong thee, or o'er
thee ought, put that on mine account. I, Paul, have written
it with my own hand. I will repay it. Howbeit, I do
not say to thee how thou owest me, unto me even thine own self
besides. Yea, brother, let me have joy
of thee in the Lord, refresh my vows in the Lord. Having confidence
in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt
also do more than I say. But withal, prepare me also lodging,
for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto
you. Therefore, salute Epiphas, my
fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas,
my fellow labor. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with your spirit. Amen. Our great, glorious, and blessed
God of heaven and earth, We understand from your word that the thrones
is your heaven, that the heavens is your throne, and the earth
is your footstool. Oh, Lord Jesus, we bless you
and praise you that you came so willingly, so graciously,
so lovingly, and so sacrificially to save us from our sin. And our God, we bless you that
you're Sovereign, almighty, with all power vested in you in heaven
and earth, and that without you we have nothing. Without you
we can do nothing. Without you we can know nothing.
And as we just read, we acknowledge in our faith that everything
in us is by the Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father. We have nothing
we can claim of our own but our sin. But, Lord, we bless you
that you put it away by the sacrifice of yourself once and for all. And, Lord, we pray for the service
today. Please, please, please, O God,
for Christ's sake, come among us. Come and visit this vine. Visit this plantation. Visit
this people with life, with the gospel, with light, with understanding. Dispel the darkness. bring the
glorious light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And Lord, we
pray for those among us who are frail and sick in their bodies
that can't be with us for that reason. Lord, you know who they
are. We know who they are. And we
pray and we thank you that we have this opportunity to preach
to them through other means. So bless the gospel to those
who hear, those who listen, Lord Jesus, forgive us of everything
that's unlike you and have mercy, oh God, for Christ's sake, have
mercy upon our lost sons and daughters, husbands and wives,
children and grandchildren. Lord, we can do nothing other
than just bring them to you and trust you to do what you will
for your glory and their good, for Christ's sake, amen. Stand together as we sing the
hymn of the day in the bulletin. By mercy my God is the theme
of my song The joy of my heart, the boast of my tongue, Thy free
grace alone From the first to the last, hath warned my affliction,
and bowed my heart fast. ? For unworthy sinners ? ? My Lord
bowed his head ? ? For unworthy sinners ? ? He suffered and bled
? ? My spirit ? rejoices the work it is done. My soul is redeemed and salvation
is won. Great God of mercies, thy goodness
I own, and accounted of love of thy glory. to the Savior, whose blood so
divine, still pardon and mercy and righteousness mine. Great God of glory, how rich
is thy grace! What wonderful love is revealed
in thy face. Lord Jesus beloved, we're washed
in thy blood. With hope we shall stand at the
throne of our God. What wondrous love is this, O
my soul, O my soul? What wondrous love is this, O
my soul? What wondrous love is this that
calls the Lord of bliss To bear the dreadful curse for my soul,
for my soul. To bear the dreadful curse for
my soul. What wondrous love is this, O
my soul, O my soul. What wondrous love is this, O
my soul? What wondrous love is this that
calls the Lord of Bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul,
for my soul? to bear the dreadful curse for
my soul. When I was sinking down, sinking
down, sinking down. When I was sinking down, sinking
down. When I was sinking down, And beneath God's righteous crown,
Christ laid aside his crown for my soul, for my soul. Christ laid aside his crown for
my soul. To God and to the Lamb, I will
sing, I will sing. To God and to the Lamb, I will
sing. To God and to the Lamb, who is
the great I am, While millions join the theme, I will sing,
I will sing. While millions join the theme,
I will sing. And when from death I'm free,
I'll sing on, I'll sing on. And when from death I'm free,
I'll sing on. And when from death I'm free,
I'll sing and joyful be. And through eternity, I'll sing
on, I'll sing on. and through eternity I'll sing
on. What wondrous love is this, O
my soul, O my soul. What wondrous love is this, O
my soul, What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of
Bliss to bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul, to
bear the dreadful curse for my soul. What wondrous love. What wondrous
love. Back to Philemon for me, if you
will. I want to talk about forgiveness.
Seven elements of forgiveness, or seven elements of the gospel.
In these verses, of course, there's so many things you could say
about it. But you talk about forgiveness. What a blessed,
blessed thing it is to have for God, God. Forgiveness and the gospel is
essential if we're to have a clear conscience, a clear conscience. And only the blood of Christ
can cleanse our conscience and purify our conscience. Now we
need forgiveness. We need forgiveness. We need
the gospel. And we have to extend forgiveness
in our everyday lives. We have to extend forgiveness
in our everyday lives. You know, in fact, forgiveness
is required. It's not optional. It's not something
that God gives us option to. You keep on leaving, and look
with me in Mark chapter 11. With me in Mark chapter 11. Down in verse 25. You know, God doesn't give us
an option in this business of forgiveness. We need it. We have to give it in our everyday
lives. What our master said here in
Mark chapter 11, verse 25, and when you stand praying, forgive. If you have ought against any,
that your Father also, which is in heaven, may forgive you
your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither
will your Father, which is in heaven, forgive your trespasses." Our Lord Jesus Christ talked
about forgiving sins in so many places. But when a man has been
forgiven of his sins by God Almighty, by God Almighty, doesn't find
it hard to forgive others. Our Lord Jesus, or the Apostle
Paul, and of course it's God's Word, said, you know, be kind,
tenderhearted to one another, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, hath forgiven us. And here in Philemon,
we have seven, seven things concerning forgiveness, or seven elements
of the gospel. And the first one, found in verse
11, verse 11, which in time past was to thee unprofitable, unprofitable. The first element of the gospel,
the first element of forgiveness is guilt. If you never have any
guilt, if you never had any sin, then you don't need to be forgiven. Onesimus was unprofitable Philemon. You know why? He was a runaway
slave. He wasn't faithful to his master. He ran away from his master.
And you know what prophet is any man to God Almighty? You
know, when you talk about guilt, people say, I don't feel guilty.
Well, a lot of times I don't feel guilty, but I know I'm guilty
of sin. I know I'm guilty. of doing so
many things that's not right, that God doesn't approve of.
And when we talk about guilt, whether you feel it or not, God
says the whole world is guilty. God himself says the whole world
is guilty. What are you guilty of? How in
the world can you count the ways? Guilty of bad thoughts, guilty
of an evil imagination, guilty of words, guilty of actions,
guilty of Imaginations, guilty of unforgiving, guilty of being
harsh, guilty of being angry for without a cause. So many
things to be guilty for. But let me show you something
over. You know, man thinks that he has some profit. You know,
churches tell people all the time, said, boy, I'll tell you
what, if we could get that fella in the church, we would really
have something. Look in Job chapter 22 with me.
Job chapter 22. You know, they say, boy, if I
could just get that fella there, he would really, really add to
the church. Oh my, if we could just get him,
he's a smart fella, he's a genius, he's got lots of money, he's
popular, and folks will really think something, you know, we
can really profit from him. Well, you reckon, you know, a
man can profit? You know, people think, well,
God will be profitable if he gets me. Church will be lucky
to have me. Church would be, they couldn't
spell church without you. Well, you can't spell useless
without you either. You can't spell unnecessary without. And you know when it comes down
to it, we're absolutely unnecessary to God Almighty. We have not
absolutely added nothing to him. We've added nothing to him. And
look what he said here in Job 22 in the first three verses.
Then Eliaphas, the Temanite, answered and said, Can a man
be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable
unto himself? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty
that thou art righteous? Or is it gain to him that thou
makest thy ways perfect? What would it matter when he
talks about God here? What profit are we to God? What
do we add to God's sovereignty? What do we add to God's power?
What do we add to God's glory? What do we add to God's sovereignty? What do we add to God? What do
we add to him, actually add to him? Does he profit anything
from us? I tell you, everything we got,
we profit from Him. Everything we got, we got from
Him. We haven't never given Him nothing. We praise Him and we
bless Him and we thank Him. And that's just, that's just
natural for us to do. But does God get any profit out
of us? You know, He said, when you've
done everything you know to do and done everything, you know
what He said? You're still an unprofitable servant. And I'll tell you something,
folks. Thanks, buddy. I don't know how in the world they'd get by
without me. I'll tell you one thing. God don't need anybody. He does it. And I'm grateful. Oh, listen to me. I'm grateful
that God Almighty and His sovereign mercy came. And oh, what profit
is any man to God? Does our lives contribute to
God's being at all? We, like sheep, have all gone
astray. And you know, there's four nones
in the scriptures. There's none righteous, no, not
one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that doeth good. There's none, none that understands. And I'll tell you, that's the
way we are. We're just a bunch of nones, zeros, zeros. And I'll tell you, Onesimus,
this name means profitable, but he became unprofitable. That's
the first thing that a person has to do. He has to have some
guilt. And I'll tell you, you know,
you go through the scriptures, and how many times do you find,
you know, Isaiah saw the Lord and he cried, woe is me. John
saw the Lord Jesus Christ and fell as a dead man. Paul, when
God put him down on the Damascus road, he said, oh Lord, what
would you have me to do? And so I'll tell you what, when
a man has this guilt, there's only one place he can turn to.
There's only one thing that God can do for him. And I'll tell
you what, and look what else it says here now in Philemon.
Let me give you another one here. The second element in the gospel
of forgiveness is love. Love. Look down in verse 9. Yet
for love's sake I rather beseech thee. For love's sake. God is love. God is love. There's no forgiveness without
God being love. I wrote an article here recently,
I guess it's been a while back. You know, everybody talks about,
there's a new congregation out close to where we live, and they
got a, on their sign, it comes up all the time, said, we love
you, we love you, we love you. People have heard so much about
how much God loves them that the love of God means nothing
to nobody anymore. I mean, the love of God, you
think about the love of God. You know, God loving someone
that's so unlovable. And yet here he said, God is
love. You know, people say, I've heard
people say all the time, said, my God is a God of love. That's
not what it says. God is love. And not only that
God is light, that first thing it means is that God is holy,
He's righteous, in Him there is no darkness at all. He dwells
in a light that no man can approach unto, and God is love. Every good and perfect gift cometh
down from the Father of lights, in whom is no variableness or
shadow of turning. And this is one thing about love.
Love must be expressed. If you have love, it has to be
expressed. Well, how did God express His
love? How did God express His love? And this was manifested,
the love of God toward us, in that He sent His Son to be the
propitiation or be the sacrifice, the atonement for our sins. And another one is, and this
is, he said, God so, God so loved, loved the world that he gave
the only son that he ever had, the son of his love, the begotten
son of God, that we might have everlasting life. And when he
talked about the world, he's not talking about everybody in
the world. And I can prove that from the
scriptures. People use that all times that
God means everybody. No, he does not. The scripture
said over in first John five, it says the whole world lies
in wickedness. No, you're not. I've saved you
out of the world. I've delivered you from this
present evil world. So when he says God so loved
the world, who's he talking about? He's talking about every type,
class, person that's in this world, every kind of character,
every kind of race, every kind of tongue. That's what he means.
Before salvation was other Jews. Now salvation is for people no
matter where they are, who they are, whether how smart they are,
how dumb they are, how rich they are, how poor they are, that
don't enter into it. The fact is that when God loves
you, he said he loved you with an everlasting love, and when
he loves his people, mark it down, he's going to get you.
Shirley and I was talking about that on the way of service this
morning. You know, I can well, well, well remember the very
first time I had the right thought about God Almighty. I was about
21 years old, about 20 years old. And every thought I had
about God before that was bad. I mean, it was bad. Oh my, especially
when I was in Vietnam, I had the awfulest thoughts. But here's
the thing about it. The first time I ever had a right
thought about God was over the fact that my son was taken out
of my arms and put in a children's hospital when he was six weeks
old. And that's the first time I said,
Oh God, would you please have mercy? I'm helpless here. I can't do anything here. That
was the first time I had a right thought about God. Because I
love somebody else. It had nothing to do with God.
I love somebody else. I love my son. I love my child.
And I wanted God to do something for my child. Now I understand
the love of God, and I want God's love to do something for me,
and you, and everybody else. And if He loves you, He loves
you with an everlasting love. Oh, love must be expressed. Then
when this apostle calls on Philemon to receive Onesimus back, and
for God to receive us and have anything to do with us is based
on the love of God. The motive was the love of God,
and the cause of receiving this runaway slave back and having
complete forgiveness was the love of God. A dear preacher
told me this week, he was talking, he said, I've been dealing with
God's love so much, with God's love so much. And you know, the love of God, how rich and
pure, how marvelous and strong, shall
forever be the saints' and angels' song. How could God love someone like
me? How could he do that? How could he do that? How could he do that? Does the
love of God have anything to do with our salvation? Does the
love of God have anything to do with God saving us? Having
loved his own, which were in the world, you know how love
he loved? He loved them to the end. Love to the end. Here's another
one. Here's another one. Substitution. Here's the third
one. I said there's seven. Here's the third one. Substitution. Look down verse 18. Now, like
I say, Onesimus run away. He run away from his master. Philemon was his master. Paul
and Philemon was fellow laborers. They loved one another. But look
what he says in verse 18. He said, if Onesimus If he hath
the wrong thee and o'erthee ought, put that on my account. Put that on my account. Everything that he's ever done
against you, put that on my account. If he owes you anything, put
it on my account. Oh, my. Oh, bless the Lord's name. Someone
has to pay a debt. Oh, our sin debt, our sin debt. How great is our sin debt? How
great is it? How great? You know, just one man's sin,
just one man's sin. From the day he's born, he's
born with Adam's sin. He's born with the sinful nature.
And he begins to sin from his mother's womb. And he goes right
on sinning. You tell a child no, and he throws
a fit. You know, you tell somebody not
to do something, they're going to do it. That's our nature.
That's our nature. But oh my, our nature was against
God. And someone has to pay the debt.
And God has been wronged by our sins. I'll try to say something
about this. Listen. Sin, sin, sin. How awful is sin? What a dead
sin has. It renders. And here's what people
think. They think that if I start living
right now, if I quit living right now, I'll join the church and
I'll start living right from this day to the day I die. I'll
read the Bible and I'll pray and I'll cry and I'll be faithful
to the church and all that. If you started when you was 15
years old and said, now I'm going to live the rest of my life just
right, who's going to pay for those sins till you was 15? Huh? Who's going to pay for the sins
you committed yesterday? Who's going to pay for the sins
we'll commit today? And this is what's so wonderful
about God himself. This is the gospel. God himself. He said, if our Lord said, if
he owes you aught, if these people owe you aught, if they owe you
anything, he said, Lord, put it on my account. Charge me with
their sin. Charge me with their debt. Charge
me with their guilt. Charge me with their rebellion.
Charge me with their hatred. Charge me with their meanness.
Charge me with their evil. Charge me. Put it on my account. Oh, he was, oh, God did. He said, I wound you. I'll wound you. What for, Lord? For their transgressions. I'll chastise you. Who for? For their peace. I'll make your soul an offering
for sin. For who? For those. Your seed. God made him. God made him. to be sin, and he knew no sin,
he did no sin, and he never had sin. But God took our sin, the
sins of his people, and put them on Christ to count. And when
Christ was made to be sin, and that, I can't get my head around
that. I cannot, for the life of me,
grasp what it was for Christ to be made sin. I can't get that. I can't explain
it. I can't articulate it. I don't
have the ability. But I don't understand how God
could take his son, who knew no sin, who did no sin, who never
thought sin, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from
sinners, how God could turn around and make that sinless Son of
God, the Son of His love, make Him to be sin. And then turn around and make Christ, who was made
to be sin, make His righteousness and the righteousness of God
to become ours. That fills me with such wonder
and awe. And I'll tell you, I don't know how anybody can gloss over
that. And our Lord Jesus had our sin put on his account. And
by his blood, by his death, we have forgiveness of sins and
justly so. David said, blessed is the man
to whom thou imputeth not iniquity. Blessed is the man whose sins
are forgiven. And Jehovah said, little children,
I write unto you that you sin not. But he put this in there. But
if you do, if you do, we've got our best lawyer in heaven. We've got the greatest advocate
that's ever been. We have a lawyer, Jesus Christ
the righteous. And when we come to Jesus Christ
the righteous, That's the one, that's the one. Little children, he said this,
your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake, for his name's
sake. Oh my, if Lord thou shouldest
mark iniquities, if you was to begin to mark what we've done,
what we've said, where we've been, how we've acted, if you
was to mark them, Lord, who in the world would be able to stand?
But the next line says, but there is forgiveness with thee that
thou mayest be feared. And I tell you, this is the kicker. Not only are our sins forgiven,
but God says there's sins and iniquities will I remember no
more. Wouldn't you love for God never
to remember your sins? Put him away in such a war, and
he said, Lord, Satan goes up there and says, Lord, he sinned.
I don't remember him doing that. All right, let me give you the
fourth one. Oh, boy. Here's the fourth one. Look in
verse 10. Here's intercession. He intercedes for him. He intercedes
for him down here in verse 10. Yet for love's sake, I rather
beseech thee, excuse me, I beseech thee, in verse 10, I beseech
thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds. And look what I'm saying is,
I beseech thee for my son. He said, I begot, he's my son
in the faith. God used me to preach the gospel
to him and God saved him and he's one of my spiritual sons.
Now, and he said, I beseech you for my son. Oh, we beseech God for his son. We beseech him. All of John chapter
17 is God or Christ our Lord interceding for us. John 17 is
nothing but a prayer for all of his people. He said, the first
thing he said, I thank thee, O God of heaven and earth. that
thou hast heard me, and always hear me. And he says, I thank
you that you've given me power over all flesh, now listen to
this, that I may give eternal life to as many as thou hast
given me. I pray not for the world, I pray
for them that thou gavest me out of the world. I pray for
them whom you have, that will believe on me through their words.
And he said, Lord, he said, Father, and I pray that you save them
from the evil one. Keep them from temptation. Keep
them from the power of sin. Keep them, keep them, keep them. And oh my, our Savior praying
for us. He said, if you count me a partner,
receive him as myself. Now you're, look over at Hebrews
chapter two. Oh my. Intercession. Oh, we need
intercession. Look what our Master said here. Chapter 7, verse 23. You know, there were lots of
priests. Under the law, they truly were many priests. And
the reason they couldn't continue is because they died. They died. But this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, he continues ever. He's not going to die and hath
an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, he is able to save
them to the uttermost. And that word uttermost means
evermore. That come unto God by him, listen
to this, see he ever liveth to make intercession for us. Oh my. And he says, oh my, you
know. He says, you know, I beseech
thee receive him for my sake. Receive Onesimus for my sake. For my sake, for my sake. Oh, I begot him in my bonds.
And you know what the first thing our Lord said when he was on
the cross, the first words that he said off the cross, when our
Lord was on the cross? He said, Father, forgive them. They have no idea of what they've
done. They don't know what they did
when they took me. crucified me. They don't know
what they did. And oh, our Father, forgive them. And fathers, receive them. Father,
forgive them. Simon Peter told our Lord Jesus
Christ, I'll never leave you. I'll never. I'll go to death
with you. I'll go to jail with you. And our Lord Jesus, you
know, he said, Satan sought to sit you, even as we did. Listen to this, I prayed for
you, I interceded for you, that your faith not fail. And how
many times has Christ interceded for us so our faith would not
fail? How many times would it have
failed without Him? And then look here, here's the
fifth one being restored in verse 15. For perhaps he departed therefore
for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever. Oh, he
departed for a season. And we were out in sin for a
season. But when it's God's time, and
oh my, and look what he says. That thou shouldest receive him
for how long? Forever. Receive him forever. You know, he says, you receive
him forever. Oh, when he was on the Damascus
road, when our Lord put him down, you know what he said? He said,
oh, when it pleased God. who separated me from my mother's
womb. He lived in sin for a season,
but when it pleased God who separated me from my mother's womb and
called me by His grace, what for? To reveal His Son in me. He restored me. He revealed Christ
in me. Oh, my. And when he talks about,
you know, you receive Him forever, you know what God gives us? When
he says, you give us eternal life, folks think, you know,
that's something that you just have here. But I'll tell you
what, eternal life, when Christ gives us eternal life, and he
said, I give them eternal life forever, that means that you
have life forever. Eternal life forever. This is, you know, this body's
dying. There's no doubt about that.
It's dying. You just heard about Steve Reeve's father-in-law dying. We've lost a lot of people. I've watched so many people die.
But I tell you what, every soul that was saved by the grace of
God, that Christ gave them eternal life, and it's a gift that somebody
has to give you. When he gives you eternal life,
you don't enter eternal life when you leave this world. You
leave this world, you had eternal life before you ever left this
world, and the life that you have just continues on. And I
tell you, somebody else that has life, and it's gonna last
for eternity too. People in hell, their life goes
on for eternity too. You think about someone that
went to hell 5,000 years ago. He's got life, he's still living,
He's still got a mind, he's still got his nature, he's still got
who he is. And when he gets there, he's
going to live as long as eternity goes on. But his eternity is
hell. Our eternity is to be with Christ.
That's life. That's why I called him one life,
eternal life, and the other is called eternal death. And I tell you, When Christ says,
I give them eternal life, that means you got it. You're not
going to get it. You got it. You got it. And all Paul brought him back,
brought him back to Onesimus. And I tell you what, it brought
Onesimus back to Philemon. And you know, the Holy Spirit
has to bring us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And now you reckon, you
reckon Onesimus wanted to run, said, I'm going to run away again
and go back to Rome. You reckon he wanted to leave?
No. No, when he received him back, look what he said. He said, not now, as you know,
he departed for a season that he could come back. You know,
he don't want to be a fugitive again. I've heard, I don't know
how many preachers I've talked to over the years, and there's
a lot of people that believe you can lose, lose your salvation. When you get it, you can lose
it. There's two things wrong with that. First of all, they're
lies. It's a lie that you can lose something that God gave
you. You know, when God gives you the new birth, that's something,
did you have anything to do with it? Can you undo your birth? Well, you can't undo the birth
that God gave you. It's a new creature, your newborn
child of God. That's a birth. You can't undo
a birth. And why would Christ say it's
eternal if you could lose it again? Oh, I feel sorry for folks who
think they can lose it again. And I tell you, you know, preachers
say, well, you can put your, you know, you're in Christ's
hand, but you can get out. You know, you can lose your salvation.
If you sin, you can lose your salvation. If I could lose it
over something I've done, I'd have lost it 10,000 times. But when it says, Christ hath
forgiven you, he forgave us of our past, our present, and our
future sins. When sin was put away on Calvary's
cross, it was done once and for all. You reckon he wants to run
away again? Huh? And then let me give you
the sixth thing here. I know I'm taking probably too
long. I'm sorry. But I, you know, I can't help
it. I just got to deal with what's here. Look what it says in verse
eight. you know, free. What he gets,
he gets free. Wherefore, though I might be
much bold in Christ to enjoin thee or command you, to command
you that which is not convenient, I could command you to take Philemon
back. Or Philemon, I could command
you to take Onesimus back. And according to law, Philemon
could have executed or had Onesimus executed. Nothing about Onesimus was right.
He ran away from his master. But look what he says. He didn't
have to command him to take him back. He freely took him back. He was freely forgiven, freely
brought back to Christ, freely brought back, and brought back
forever. And everything we have is free. Everything we have from God Almighty
is free. Free grace, free forgiveness,
justified freely, loved freely, freely giving us all things in
Christ, freely. We don't owe God anything at
all. God, what he's done for us, he done for us freely, freely. And you know, we owe him. Well,
I shouldn't say we don't owe him anything. We love him because
he first loved us, and we ought to praise him. We owe him praise
and worship and blessedness. But as far as paying for anything
that he ever give us, in my hands, no price I bring. No price I
bring. Then the last one is a relationship.
Look at the relationship down in verse 16. He says, not now as a servant. You know, he departed that you
receive him forever. Not now as a servant. But listen,
it's above a servant. A brother. A brother you belove. You love this brother. He's beloved
especially to me. And how much more unto thee,
both in your flesh and also in the Lord. You know, he left a
servant, he left a slave, and he come back what? A brother. We were slaves to sin, and Christ
brought us back, and he brought us back, and we're no longer
servants. We're sons, a brother, one with
the same. You know, he left as a servant,
he left as a slave, and he come back as a brother, a member of
the family, one with you, a member of the family. And oh, let me
show you this in Hebrews 2.11, and I'll wind this thing up. Look what our Master says here.
You know, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts where
we cry, Abba, Father, Abba, Father. Look what our Master said here
in Hebrews 2.11. For both he that sanctifies and
they that are sanctified are all of one. That means Christ
who does the sanctifying and us who are sanctified, we're
one with him. Now listen to this. for which
cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren." Brethren. Oh, brother. Oh, my brethren. And then look what he said. He
said, you know, said, I'm going to declare thy name unto my brethren. Christ comes and said, I'm going
to declare the name of God Almighty. I'm going to declare the name
of my father. I'm going to declare the name
of God, the sovereign God, the living God, the powerful God,
the saving God, the God of grace, the God of mercy. I'm going to
declare thy name unto my brethren. I'm going to tell it in the midst
of the church. And everybody's going to sing
praise unto you, unto you. Oh, he left. A slave, a fugitive,
come back and a member of the family, come back as a brother.
And what happened between that time he left and the time he
got back? Crossed the preacher's path. And I tell you what, I've told
you all time and time again, I bless God for the day. Oh, I bless God for the day.
A preacher crossed paths with me and I crossed paths with a
preacher. that knew something about God, knew something about
grace, and told me about Christ. Told me about Christ. Our Father, in the blessed, blessed
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, how thankful we are, how thankful
we are. Our hearts praise you, our lips
Praise you, our hearts are lifted up to you. Lord, we've been so
blessed. You've been so gracious, so kind,
so tender, so loving, so forgiving, so receiving, and all for Christ's
sake. Oh, every blessing we have, everything
we have, you've given it to us, Lord, and we're so thankful for
it. And oh, God, may this gospel run well here today. May it bring
forth fruit to your glory. May it be caused to be a blessing
to the heart and the minds of those that are here, and do it
for Christ's sake, for his sake. Amen. Amen. Turn your eyes upon
Jesus. Pull in his wonderful face, and
the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of
his glory and grace. See it and I, God will it. Get it all. Yeah. Yeah, you got a little bit of
a shot of this? I don't mind a little discussion.
I'm here. I don't mind a little discussion. I'm here. I don't
mind a little discussion. I'm here. I don't mind a little discussion. I'm here. I don't mind a little
discussion. I'm here. I don't mind a little discussion.
I'm here. I don't mind a little discussion. I'm here. I don't mind a little discussion.
I'm here. I don't mind a little discussion. I'm here. I don't
mind a little discussion. I'm here. I don't mind a little
discussion. I'm here. I don't mind a little discussion. I'm here. I don't mind a little discussion.
I'm here. I don't mind a little discussion. I'm here. I don't mind a little discussion.
I'm here. I don't mind a little discussion. I'm here. I don't
mind a little discussion. I'm here. I don't mind a little discussion. I'm here. I don't mind a little
discussion. Oh, then we have a real one that
we have right away. Oh, yeah.