I invite your attention for the
next message to the book of Philemon. And Walter, if you don't know
where that's at, it's after Titus and before Hebrews. Philemon. Look with me at verse one. Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,
and Timothy, our brother, unto Philemon, our dearly beloved
and fellow laborer, and to our beloved Aphia and Archippus,
our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house, grace to
you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. The
book of Philemon is a letter. It's a letter that Paul wrote
to his dearly beloved brother in Christ, Philemon. Now, this
letter is a sweet, precious letter of love and forgiveness. This letter is full of the gospel,
and like the book of Jonah, it's full of Christ. And as a sinner
against God, this blessed little letter gives me great hope. Now
Paul wrote this letter while he was in Rome in prison for
preaching the gospel. And it never ceases to amaze
me that Paul and other men were persecuted so much for simply
Preaching the Word of God. It's amazing, isn't it? Really
makes me consider how easy we have it in our day, honestly.
Such a privilege that we have. No matter how much we complain,
I know I do a lot, but this is all that matters. We're able
to meet, worship our God freely. What a blessing. Now, Paul used
the salutation here in verse three similar to the salutation
he used in every book he wrote. Every time he wrote to his brethren,
he said, grace to you. I love that. I say the same thing. God's grace to you, peace to
you. If we're going to have grace
and peace, it's got to come from God. We should be gracious and
peaceful to each other and amongst one another, but grace and peace
comes from God and it's in our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the
greeting. I pray we always greet one another
this way. It's special. Look at verse four
here, he went on to say, I thank my God, making mention of thee
always in my prayers, and we'd be wise to do the same for one
another. He said in verse five, hearing of thy love and faith,
which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints.
He didn't say some saints, all saints. That the communication
of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every
good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. Verse seven, for
we have great joy and consolation in thy love because the bowels
of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. He said, Philemon,
I want you to know I thank God for you. That's a sweet book. It's like
when he said in 2 Thessalonians 2, he said, Brethren, we're bound
to give thanks to God always for you. Why? Because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation. Through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, he said, he called you
by our gospel. Thank God for you. I say the
same thing. You know, we travel here and
there, but even if we're just here, you know, Walter, Paul,
you thank God for one another, don't you? Thank God. It's special,
and it's everything, what God's been pleased to do for us. It's
everything. Here, Paul is acknowledging and
commending Philemon's love and faith. And I thought about that. If somebody could have one thing
to say about me, it's that. If it could be said of me and
of you, he or she that loves the Lord Jesus Christ and all
saints, they have faith in Christ and faith in one another. It's
a great commendation for sure. And that's God's command, to
believe on Christ, to love him. It says if we don't love him,
we're gonna be accursed, cursed when Christ comes. Love him and
love one another. That's the commandment. And will
Paul love Philemon? And he spoke very highly of him.
And again, there's a lot we can learn from this. Speak highly
of one another. Considerate of one another. He
said, Philemon, you give me great joy. He said, the bowels of the
saints are refreshed by you. Oh, what a blessing. I pray that
could be said of us. And you know, that's what Christ
in us will do. Just like it produces love and
humility produces these things, great joy in Christ, joy amongst
ourselves. In verse 8, he said, wherefore,
he said, I've said all that to say this, getting into the heart
of the message here, 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 in one as Paul the Aged,
and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He just got done commending
Philemon's love and faith, and now he tells him, all right Philemon,
I've got something to ask you. I could enforce what I'm gonna
ask. As God's apostle, I could enforce this. This is truly right
and good in the Lord what I'm going to ask of you. But he said,
I'm not going to command this of you. I'm not going to whip
you into doing this. He said, I'm going to ask you
this. I'm going to beseech you on this for love's sake. And I love that. He had learned
as an aged apostle to deal with his brethren and everybody in
love. Why? Because that's how God had
dealt with him. Oh my, hmm. May God help us to do the same,
to deal with one another, especially our brethren. He called his brother
dearly beloved. May we deal with one another
in love, for love's sake, for Christ's sake. That's what he's
saying, for Christ's sake. Verse 10, I beseech thee for my son
of Nessunus. whom I have begotten in my bonds,
which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable
to thee and to me." Paul's writing to his brother on behalf of this
man, this particular man, Onesimus. Who was he? Kind of an odd name,
isn't it? Onesimus. Who was this man? He was Philemon's servant, slave,
property. He belonged to him, and he ran
away from him. Now we don't know, we're not
told exactly what happened, but we know this. Paul said, he was
unprofitable to you. I looked up the word unprofitable,
The word itself is mentioned several times in the scriptures,
but this particular instance is only used one time in all
the Bible. And it means this, inefficient,
detrimental, useless. He commended Philemon. There's
nothing commendable about this man in his flesh, Onesimus. And
he represents us. Inefficient. What are our works
going to accomplish? Nothing. Detrimental means he
does more harm than good. Detrimental to the cause. He's
a servant? Well, he ain't no good. He's useless. Absolutely
useless. That's what we are in this flesh,
in God's sight. Utterly useless. Useless. Like Onesimus, we have left our
Master, God Almighty, the Lord Jesus Christ, we've left Him.
wanted nothing to do with him. This whole world wants nothing
to do with him. Most of them aren't ashamed to say it. But
all of us are that way. We've turned everyone to our
own way. All like sheep gone astray. And every single one of us on
our own is just like Onesimus, unprofitable. But according to
God's word, all of us all together are just that, unprofitable. I heard somebody say zero plus
zero is zero. And you know, anything times
zero is gonna be zero or undefined, whatever they call it. Onesimus
is us. He was an unworthy rebel, but
I rejoice to tell you, according to God's word, he was a vessel
of God's mercy. Paul said, I have begotten. in
my bonds." You know what that means? God sent Paul to prison
in Rome. I'm sure there were multiple
purposes for that, but one purpose for that was because in God's
providence this man Onesimus was going to run away a thousand
miles from Colossae where he lived, and he was going to wind
up at Paul's feet in the prison or hired house where he was,
and he was going to hear the gospel. Wasn't in Paul's good providence.
Wasn't in Onesimus' good providence. Wasn't in his plan. This was
according to God's will and purpose. God led him to Paul. Philemon and Paul obviously had
known each other. I'm sure they had worshiped together.
And I believe Onesimus was right there with them. Though it didn't
appear that he had any interest to be there, he ran away, kind
of like Jonah, took off running. But God got him. God led him
to Paul, who by the Spirit of God led him to Christ. And now
Paul is writing for him. I thought about the verse we
quote so often, Romans 8.28. Going through this life, we get
discouraged and things happen and we just get so upset about
it, but we know this. Paul said, we know. We know. I could see Paul telling Philemon
about what happened here and saying, well, guess who I found?
Guess who ran into me? Guess what God did, Philemon?
We know all things work together for good, don't we? To them that
love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
We know this. And I'm so thankful that God
has revealed that to us. I love what Paul said here. He
said, he was in time past unprofitable to you. But he said, but now
he's profitable. It means useful, meat for the
master's use. He's profitable to you and to
me. I can't wait to send him back to you. You're going to
be so happy. He's going to give you great joy. He's going to
return the favor. By God's grace, he's profitable
now. And I'm telling you this. This
is a glorious picture of our Lord Jesus Christ interceding
for us. We're Onesimus. Paul represents
Christ. Philemon represents God the Father.
And he's gonna intercede for us right here. Look at verse
10 again. 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, 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 or
thy goodness should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. Paul's urging Philemon, for love's
sake, I'm gonna send him back to you. You receive him. You
receive him like God received you. He pleads for him as his
own bowels. The object of his love and affection. And you know that's exactly how
Christ pleads for us. As his own bowels. The one whom
he loves. Us unprofitable servants. Unworthy. Rebels. Calls us his own. Said they're mine, says I bought
them. Paul tells Philemon, he said, I would have been thrilled
to keep him here with me. I'd have kept him with me. But
he doesn't belong to me. He belongs to you. He ran away
from you. You're the one he wronged. You're
the one he sinned against. I've got to send him back to
you without your mind, without your purpose and your will, your judgment. I can't keep him here. I got
to send him back. He needs to be reconciled to
you. Christ said, be ye reconciled
to God. That's what God said in his word.
And we must. Peace must be established between
us and the God we've sinned against. Reconciliation, you know, it's
so sweet when we've been separated from somebody, especially a brother,
and then in God's good providence, he brings us back. Brings us
back to the place of love and joy and fellowship. This is so
sweet when that happens. It really is. If there's a situation
you're in, like Philemon and Onesimus are in, whether we're
Philemon or Onesimus, and I'm telling you, we're always Onesimus.
We need to own it. I pray God would help us to be
reconciled to one another. And if we've been reconciled
to God, then I believe we will be. We should be. He told Philemon,
Philemon, I'm sending him back and I want you to receive him.
But he said, not of necessity. He said, don't receive him because
you need to. God doesn't need us. Don't receive him because you
have to. Don't receive him because he's going to bring great value
to you. We add nothing to God. Receive
him, notice what he said here, willingly. Willingly. Of your own will would you receive
him. For love's sake, Philemon. That's the only way God's gonna
receive us. He's sovereign. He doesn't owe us anything. If
he owes us anything, it's to send us to hell. All of us. On our best day. So receive him willingly, freely.
Verse 15, he said, for perhaps he therefore departed for a season.
that thou shouldest receive him forever. Oh my. If there's one verse in this
whole text that I want to apply to me, that is it. Departed far
removed from hope in heaven, long the distance that I fell.
Oh my. Departed for a season. And if
it was up to Onesimus, he'd have stayed there. He'd have stayed
departed. He got a long ways off from you,
Philemon. He ran away as far as he could
go. Honestly, I'd love to know how he even got there. He said, but God saved him. I'm
sending him back. He departed for a season. You
receive this man, and you receive him forever. He meant what he
meant for evil, Philemon. He really did, it's obvious.
But God meant it for good. God meant it for good. Verse
16, he said, receive him forever, not now as a servant, but above
a servant, a brother beloved, especially to me, but how much
more to thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. Don't you receive him as a servant?
I know the world would say, he's a changed man. Well, by God's
grace, he really was. He was a new man. He was a new
creature in Christ Jesus. You receive him above a servant. He's your brother now. Don't
you receive him in anger, ready to show him a thing or two for
what he did to you. Not at all. You receive him in
love. Paul called him his son. You
receive him as your son. Receive him that way. Receive
him like the prodigal son's father received him. Does that bless
your heart when you read about that? That son was worthless. I can't think of a more wretched,
fleshly thing to do than, Dad, give me what's mine. First of
all, nothing's ours. And inheritance has nothing to
do with us. We may inherit debt. And really
we have, right? Sin. He said, you give me what's
mine, I'm out of here. I don't want you. I want nothing
to do with you. I'm gonna go out my own way. What'd he do?
He wasted it. All of it. God may let us have
what we want, but I pray it's just for a season. I pray it's
not forever. I pray that we'll depart for
a season that He might receive us forever. Receive us in Christ. That prodigal son's father, he
saw that son coming back. What did he say? He said, I'm
going to go back to my father. He remembered his father. He
said, I'm going to go back and I'd be tickled to death just
to be one of his hired servants. Did the father receive him like
that? Did he put that boy to work? Would he have been right
to? He saw that boy afar off, and
he took off running. received him like nothing had
ever happened. Paul's saying, Philemon, you
receive him like that. Receive him like that. Verse
17, he said, if thou count me therefore a partner, receive
him as myself. That's strong language. Literally, receive him Exactly
like you would receive me receive him as one vitally joined to
me What he's saying is we're inseparable Even though they
hadn't been physically reconciled yet in Christ. They were already
inseparable We're one in him truly Christ said so and that's
the only way we're gonna be received before God is we must be received
as Christ himself and We're not gonna get to heaven on our own
right, on our own worth. We're gonna be there on the right
of another. I love in Romans 8, we're told
that we're heirs of God. Join heirs with Christ. One with
Him. And there's another verse that
says, as He is, so are we, right now, in this world. Amazing. Well, how could this be? you
know, fleshly speaking, we can kind of see, well, because Philemon
loves Paul, he'll take him back. You ever do that? You forgive
somebody, you know, because, well, I guess. He's not saying
to receive him like that. He is saying, receive him as
me. You love me? Don't receive him
reluctantly. Receive him because you love
him. You love me? How our Lord prayed for us in
John 17, Oh my, that... How one He says we really are
in Him. That God has loved us with the
same love wherewith He loves Him, His only begotten Son. How He said, the glory you've
given Me, I've given them. Do you see how strong this is? This reconciliation, this union,
it couldn't be stronger. I want to show you a couple of
things. Look over just a couple of pages. Hebrews chapter 7. It's not an easy thing for us
to be received as Christ. Something great had to take place
in order for that to happen. Like I said a minute ago, God's
not just going to look over our sin. It's got to be dealt with.
Here in Hebrews chapter 7, look at verse 25. says, wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to
God by him, that's Christ, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them, like Paul's interceding for oneness, Miss Christ, ever
lives to intercede for us. Now look here, verse 26. For
such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sinners, For this he, I'm sorry, made higher than
the heavens. Who needeth not daily as those
priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, then
for the people's. For this he did once when he
offered up himself. How can we be received as Christ
himself? Well, he became us. He offered
up himself. He didn't have any sins of his
own. He offered up himself for the sins of his people. And as
a result of that, He became us, we became Him. That's substitution. He took our place, He was made
sin, we've been made righteous. The righteousness of God in Him.
I'll show you another one back a page or two, Hebrews chapter
two. Hebrews two verse 17 says, wherefore in all things it behooved
Him to be made like unto His brethren. that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
now look at this, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. From both these texts, don't
you see the importance of something being done about our sins? They've
got to be dealt with. They've got to be put away. Otherwise,
we can't be received as Christ himself. But because of what
he did by himself, we will be received before God as Christ
himself. Just like him, one with him.
I look back at our text, Philemon, verse 18. Paul said, if he hath
wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account. Have we wronged God? Ain't no
if about it. All we do is wrong God. It's all we do. It's all I know
how to do in this flesh. But Paul said, whatever he's
done to you, Philemon, however he's wronged you, whatever he
owes you, you put that on my account. I'll answer for him. Don't go to him. Don't go to
him for an answer. Don't hold him to pay you back. I'm surety for him. I'll pay
it. I'll pay it. If any man sin,
again, the if. When any man sin, what's it say? We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. I heard somebody mention that,
talking about him being a lawyer who's never lost one case. His intercession is effectual.
He pleads our case. What's he plead? Well, he really
didn't mean what he did, Philemon. Oh, he meant it. Well, they really weren't that
bad. Let's accept them. They turned over a new leaf.
Not at all. He had to condescend to become
us. He emptied Himself of everything. The Son of God in human flesh,
hanging on a cross, letting wicked men stick nails in His hands
and feet, and a crown of thorns on His head and a spear in His
side, mocking Him. That's what He did for us to
be saved. Praise God we have an advocate.
Praise God. Paul, he intercedes here for
Onesimus with a strong intercession, but Christ did what Paul couldn't
do. Paul said, I'll pay whatever you owe, but spiritually speaking,
that was impossible. It's a picture. It's a picture. Christ actually bore our sins
in his body, and he suffered and died because of them, and
he put them away. And right now, truly, we are accepted in Him.
Verse 19 here, Paul said, I, Paul, have written it with mine
own hand. I will repay it. Our Lord, it
says, because He could swear by no greater. What did He do? He swore by Himself. He said,
I'll go. I'll take care of this. I love reading in Isaiah 42.
Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect and whom my soul delighteth.
What's he gonna do? He's gonna bring forth judgment
unto the Gentiles. The idols are gonna wait for
his law and he ain't gonna fail. He shall not fail. He's not even
gonna be discouraged. He set his face like a flint. He must be about his father's
business. His hour was come and he opened not his mouth. He finished
the work the Father gave Him to do, and He did it all by Himself. We didn't add to it, and we can't
take from it. Paul interceded for this man
on Nesmus by himself. Christ saved us by Himself. He
intercedes for us by Himself. And God said, their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more. They're gone. All taken
away. Verse 19, I, Paul, have written
it with mine own hand, I will repay it. Albeit I do not say
to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.
God had apparently used Paul to preach the gospel to Philemon,
by which God saved Philemon. Hence their special relationship. And here he's concluding this
letter, reminding him, Philemon, let me remind you how much you've
been forgiven. it's going to make you want to forgive Onesimus.
And it does, doesn't it? God's people are the most forgiving
people on this earth, because we've been forgiving everything.
We've been forgiving ourselves. Everything that we are, everything
we think, everything we do, God has forgiven us, for Christ's
sake. And I pray when spats and spits arise, God will help us,
as our brother mentioned it before the service, to forgive one another
and love one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven us. May God help us. Verse 20, yea, brother, let me
have joy of thee in the Lord, refresh my bowels in the Lord,
having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing that
thou wilt also do more than I say. He's saying, receive him, I know
you're going to, and when you do, it's gonna make me so happy,
I'm gonna be overjoyed just knowing you two have been reconciled.
You know, there's joy in heaven when that happens. when God's
people are brought to a knowledge and love of Jesus Christ, joy
in heaven. Verse 22, but with all, prepare
me also a lodging, for I trust that through your prayers I shall
be given unto you. He said, if the Lord is willing, I want to
come see you. I want to be a part of this when
he comes back to you. I want us to sit down and fellowship
together. I just can't wait to worship
our Lord together, all three of us. Verse 23, he said, They
are Saluthi, Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, Marcus,
Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers. He said, You
send my love. Tell them hello. Verse 25, The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. He ends it the way he started
it, grace to you. I hope we can talk to each other
without offending one another, that we can start and end the
conversation with grace to you. We're easily offended, aren't
we? It's shameful. This is a sweet book, ain't it?
Sweet, sweet book. Now, some of you've heard this
before. But if you haven't, notice if your Bible has this, below
verse 25, there's a little footnote. And if you have it, look at it
with me. It says, written from Rome to Philemon by Onesimus,
a certain. Onesimus wrote this, as Paul
told him what's right. And when God's word, when we realize
it doesn't just say, man's totally depraved, but it says, Cody,
you're totally depraved. Cody, you're a worthless servant.
You've sinned against God. You've left your master. You
forsook him. You crucified him. That's when it becomes mine. It becomes my gospel. Paul was telling him all these
things that he had to tell to the master that he had wronged,
and Onesimus had to own up to it. I know I wronged you. I know
I stole from you. I know I have hated you. That's what it comes down to,
he hated you. Wanted nothing to do with you. And I know I'm
not worthy to be received back by you. And here Paul makes him
write this, puts it in an envelope or whatever they had, sends him
back. I didn't even think about that,
how to get back to this, it's a long journey. I couldn't hop
in a plane. But that's a long journey for
that man to have to travel. to hand deliver this letter to
the one he had wronged. In this life we live, it's a
long journey in one way, another way, it's very brief. But every
day we live, we have to live with ourselves. We have to live
acknowledging and knowing and by God's grace being ashamed
of what we are. But praise God, Christ intercedes
for us. I can just see, in my mind, Philemon,
I hear a knock on the door. Whether he answered the door
or whoever opened the door, when they saw Ole Miss, can you imagine? Honestly, I can't. But I like
to think, if someone yelled, Philemon! Come here! Old friend's here to see ya. I imagine there were some tears.
I imagine there were some hugs and some kisses of brotherly
love. When Paul wrote the things that
he did interceding for this man, can you imagine the joy that
it gave him? When he said, Philemon, he's your brother. He was just
that unprofitable servant. He's profitable now. To me and
to you, he's here ministering to me in prison. He's my son. That's what he called Timothy.
Son. That's what he called Onesimus.
He said, well, I know he's wronged you, but whatever he's done,
I'll do it. I'll handle it. I'll deal with it. I'll pay it. Oh, I pray we can identify with
him. Really. The fact that God would be merciful
to any of us, that He would be so kind to send His only begotten
Son to save any of us, is amazing. That's amazing grace, and it's
a sweet, sweet sound. Now, I'll show you one more thing
here, we'll be done. Look with me here, Colossians
chapter 4. This is the only other time Onesimus is mentioned in
the Word of God. Colossians 4 verse 7. It's a letter Paul wrote to the
brethren at Colossae. He said, all my state shall Tychicus
declare unto you who is a beloved brother and a faithful minister
and fellow servant in the Lord whom I have sent unto you for
the same purpose that he might know your state and comfort your
hearts with Onesimus. A faithful and beloved brother. who is one of you. There's a footnote at the end
of this too, says, written from Rome to the Colossians by Tychicus
and Onesimus. Paul's telling them, he's saying,
Philemon and all you brethren, this man Onesimus, he's one of
you, by God's grace. That wretched, no good sinner,
that unprofitable servant, He's a faithful brother in Christ.
Christ died for him. He saved him just like he saved
you. Just like he saved me. He's one
of you. I can't think of, now that I've
seen this, there's few verses that give me greater joy. He's
one of you. Praise God, he's one of you.
By grace alone, by the intercession of Jesus Christ alone, by the
life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ alone, He's
one of you. Thank God for Jesus Christ. Thank
God for the intercession of Christ for sinners. I pray that we can
refer to ourselves as Onesimus, that we can find ourselves like
him, as one of God's people, one of God's dearly beloved people,
for Christ's sake. Amen. It's been good to be with
you. Pray, Lord, bless His word.