Open your Bibles, if you would,
to the book of Philemon. Last week we started a study
in this wonderful little book. It's one chapter long, 25 verses
long. As I mentioned last week, Colossus
was a city. one of three at the foot of a
mountain, the other two being Laodicea and Ephesus. So it was one of three cities
at the base of a mountain in a river valley. And this letter
is penned by the Apostle Paul while he is in house arrest in
Rome. And he pens it to Philemon, who
is a member of the church in Colossae. And we'll continue our study
in this book tonight. The name of the message is Words
of Grace. Last week, we looked at the first
four verses of this wonderful book, which Robert Hawker calls,
this letter, which Robert Hawker calls a literary masterpiece,
a literary masterpiece. And Paul wrote this personal
letter to his dear brother Philemon, He's writing in hope that Philemon
would receive Onesimus, who's a runaway slave of Philemon's,
who had wronged Philemon and fled to Rome. And by God's sovereign
almighty power and purpose, he had heard Paul preach the gospel
at Rome, and the Holy Spirit made it effectual and regenerated
Onesimus, under the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And Onesimus is a very clear
picture of a lost sheep of God. We've fallen in Adam. We fled
from our Master's presence in our natural state. We fled from
our Master's presence in our natural state, but God's sovereign
purpose and His sovereign grace arrested us at the appointed
time, arrested us at the appointed time, stopped us in our tracks,
stopped us in our tracks, and His mercy and grace was given
to us in the salvation of our souls in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. who is our substitute and our
surety, which we'll see next week in the concluding message,
that that is bought out so clearly, so clearly that he's our substitute
and our surety. And it's bought forth when Paul
says, put that on my account. Let's read the whole epistle
right now. Or we'll actually read to, we'll read to verse
22. Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,
and Timothy, our brother unto Philemon, our dearly beloved
and fellow laborer, and to Epaphra and Archippus, our fellow soldier,
and to the church in thy house. Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God, making
mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love
and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all
saints, that the communication of thy faith may become effectual
by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in
Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation
in thy love because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by
thee, brother. Wherefore, though I might be
much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,
or fitting. Yet for love's sake I rather
beseech thee, being such and 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 times 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 steed he might
have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. But without
thy mind would I do nothing, that thy benefits should be as
it were of necessity, but willingly. For perhaps he therefore departed
for a season, that thou shouldest receive him forever. Not now
as a servant, but above a servant, a brother, beloved, especially
to me. But how much more unto thee,
both in the flesh and in the Lord. If thou count me therefore
a partner, receive him as myself. Look at this in verse 18. If
he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on mine
account." What a picture of Christ's surety for His people. He's saying,
if He wrongs you, put it on my account. Put it on my account.
I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it.
Elebate, I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine
own self beside. 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. But wherewithal, prepare me also
a lodging, for I trust that through your prayers, I shall be given
unto you. Let's go back and read verses
4 to 16. That's what we'll be looking
at tonight. Again, Onesimus is a picture
of a lost sheep of God having fled the presence of his master. And we were arrested in our tracks,
beloved. We really were. Verses 4 to 16. I thank my God,
making mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy
love, faith, which thou has toward the Lord Jesus and toward all
saints, that the communication of thy faith may become effectual
by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you, in
Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation
in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by
thee, 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 an 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 times past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable
to thee and me. Whom I have sent again, thou
therefore receive him, that is mine own bows. whom I would have
retained with me, that in thy stead, in thy place, he might
have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. But without
thy mind would I do nothing, that thy benefit should not be
as it were of necessity, but willingly. For perhaps he therefore
departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him forever,
not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved,
especially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh
and in the Lord. Now, Paul, we know from his epistles
that Paul was a very thankful man. He was a very thankful man. And this is often brought forth
in his writings. He's always thanking God for
believers. He thanks God for the grace and
the mercy that he's received. He was a very thankful man. And
we see in verse four that Paul writes to his dear brother. And
remember, he's writing to to a dear, dear brother in Christ,
someone he's really close to. And that's evident in the letter,
that's evident in the style that he's writing in. So clear how
this is a personal letter to a dear brother in Christ. And
he's telling them, he tells him in verse four. That he's thankful
for and that he prays for him, often. And we're thankful for
the brethren, aren't we? And we pray for them. And look
what he says. He says, I thank my God, making
mention of thee always in my prayers. And note in verse four,
note in verse four, who Paul is thankful to, who he's thankful to. And I ask,
is it not the same for all of God's people? Paul's thanks are
directed right to God. Right to God. Right to God who is the Father
of all mercies and who is the God of all comfort. I thank my
God, he says, making mention of thee always in my prayers.
He's thankful to God because he knows He knows that God is
the source of all mercy and of all grace. He knows that. He knows that he's tasted that
the Lord is gracious, hasn't he? Just like Peter wrote, he's
tasted that. He's he's tasted that the Lord
is gracious and all his sins are forgiven, are forgiven. In Christ, Jesus, our Lord, and
he knows He knows that it's only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That all his sins are washed
away, he knows that. And he's thankful to God. And
he knows, he knows that Philemon is only his brother by the grace
of God. And that he is only, he's Philemon's
brother only by the grace of God. And so he's thankful to
God. He's thankful to the one who
is the source again of all grace and of all mercy. And we've read
in the epistles, we've seen it multiple times in messages where
Paul, that portion of scripture where Paul says, I obtained mercy. I obtained mercy. We saw it in
one of our readings on the weekend. I obtained mercy. And every believer
can say that. I've obtained mercy. I didn't
seek it. I didn't seek it at all. But I've obtained it. It's been shown to me in Christ
Jesus our Lord. So he knows that the same grace
that he's received is the same grace that all those in Christ
have received, have received. And he therefore gives thanks
to the one who has shown God's elect grace, and that's the Father. He says, I thank my God, Jehovah. The Father, he thanks the Father.
And we know faith is a gift of God, we know that. It's a gift
of God. It's a result of his grace to
us. And the fruit of the Spirit is
also from God, isn't it? It's God the Holy Spirit who
produces the fruit of the Spirit in us. And therefore, I ask you, can
we thank God enough? Can it ever be said, well, that
fellow or that guy or that lady, they thank God too much. No,
we're contiguously thankful, aren't we? And we're not thankful,
we're thankful because of the wonderful things He's done for
us. Therefore, we thank God, not only Not just for our brethren,
our brothers and sisters in Christ, but for the grace and mercy we've
received too. And that's evident here. Paul
says, he says very clearly, I thank my God, making mention of Thee
always in my prayers. He's thankful to God. So we see
here then that believers in Christ are a thankful people. We're
a thankful people. And we're a prayerful people,
too. We see that here, too, a prayerful people. Now, some folks think
that you have to go in and in your closet and you have to you
pray for hours when you're going through the day, just thank the
Lord for the wonderful things he's done for you. You can you
can you can pray to the Lord anywhere you are. You can pray in a crowded room.
Silently to our king. Or you can go in your room and
close the door and pray, but don't make it a spectacle. Because the minute you do that,
then my oh my, no. Just quietly offer a prayer.
What did the, I love the prayer of the publican. God be merciful
to me a sinner. It's wonderful. And you know
what? Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace. We looked at that on the weekend
too. That's a promise. What? That we may obtain grace
to help in time of need. Nothing is too small to take
to the one who controls all things. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing's too big for him either.
Nothing. And God's people were thankful
and we're thankful people and we're prayerful people. Why?
Because we want to give God all the glory. We want to give him
all the glory because he alone is worthy, isn't he? No one else
is worthy of our praise. We're not worthy of anybody's
praise. But God is worthy of all our
praise. And so we praise Him in prayer,
we praise Him in song like we just did. When we're singing
them hymns, don't let it just become commonplace. Sing praises
to our God. There's a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners plunged beneath that
flood. I love that song. I love how
we sing that with joy in our hearts. Lose all their guilty
sins, all because of his precious blood. It's wondrous. It's wondrous,
oh, it's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And as
a result of even singing that song, does it not make us thankful
for what the Lord's done for us? And then we read in the scriptures
that Christ is our surety, he's our redeemer, he's, and it just
makes you even more thankful. Each time the gospel's preached,
It makes the believer thankful, because it points us to our utter
inability to save ourselves, and it points to the all-sufficient
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. All that a sinner needs is found
in Him, nowhere else. So, we are thankful to a source
entirely outside ourselves, and that's God. We're thankful
to Him. We're thankful to the giver of
all grace. And that's who our God is. The
scripture says He's the God of all comfort. He's the giver of
the grace that we've received. Again, therefore, He alone is
worthy of all our praise. Let's read verses 5 to 7, and
we see that Paul tells Philemon what he's grateful for. that
which is manifested in Philemon, and we know this is all by the
power of the Holy Spirit of God, the fact that Philemon has shown
love and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ and toward all the
saints is a manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit. And
love and faith are expressed as graces, but the result, they're
a result of God's grace, which is given to us, which is given
to us the gift of faith. And as a result of the gift of
faith given to us, love and faith are expressed. Truth is established. And Paul
speaks of the communication of Philemon's faith in verse six,
and that's a result. Of a work of the Holy Spirit
of God. Let's read verses 5 to 7, hearing of thy love and faith,
which thou has toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints,
that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by
the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ
Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation
in my love because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by
the brother. Now note what is brought forth
here in verses six and seven. The fact that the source of every
good thing that is in you or me as believers is all because
we're in Christ. All because we're in Christ.
Through faith, which is again the gift of God, comes hearing. And hearing by the word of God,
which the Holy Spirit has to illuminate. And it's God, the
Holy Spirit, regenerates us, we're born again, and gives us
faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, he gets
all the glory. Now think of this in contrast
to the unbeliever or the reprobate. They refuse to acknowledge God. Turn, if you would, to Romans.
Romans chapter 1. They refuse to acknowledge God.
Romans chapter 1. The unbeliever and the reprobate,
they refused. And the only way we acknowledge
God is by God giving faith, beloved, which is a gift from God. We
know as believers if God had left us where we were, we never
would have known Him. Look at this. In verses 21 and
then 28. Because that when they knew, When they knew God, they glorified
Him not as God. Neither were thankful, but became
vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. And then look at verse 28. And
even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which
are not convenient. They're giving over to themselves,
beloved. Praise God, that alone should
make us thankful that God didn't leave us where we were, that
he didn't give us over to ourselves. My. And for the born again believer,
they know that the wisdom and the revelation that they have
been given of Christ, it's not to exalt us. It's not for us
to say, look what I know. It's not for that. It's not to
begin a process whereby one becomes more holy by doing things or
makes a better version of themselves by doing things, no. No, we've been given these things
for the acknowledgement of God. Of who He is. It's God who gave them to us. It's God who gave us all knowledge
that we have. Any wisdom we have comes from
Him. Any knowledge of Christ that
we have, it must be revealed. It's all by grace. And we, when the Lord reveals
himself to us, we know that our God is the God
of all mercy. We know that we're only forgiven
by the grace of God. We know that we're only saved
by the grace of God. We know we're only redeemed by
the grace of God. We know that. And we're given this understanding
that we might acknowledge that it was God who was gracious to
us. It's not to exalt us. It's not
to get us puffed up. It's for us to acknowledge our
utter inability to save ourselves. And that if God hadn't saved
us, we'd still be dead in trespasses and sins. A result of that, we're thankful,
aren't we? We praise Him. God had mercy
on me, yeah, because it pleased Him to do so. That's what the
believer says, on me, but the scripture says, because it pleased
Him to do so. It's wondrous. Now, in the religious world,
they often talk about love and faith, and even It's even praised
and applauded when some, oh, that person, they must really
love the Lord. Well, how can you see in their
heart? How can you see in their heart?
My. And the reason that I'm bringing
that up is because in religion, it's preached and taught as if
Love and faith are generated by man's works, which we know
it's not. Ask yourself, did you love the
brethren before the Lord saved you? You know, you may have known
a few of them and you may have had relationships, but I'm talking
about, I'm talking about, did you love Christ? Did you love
the gospel? Didn't want to have nothing to
do with it. I knew a few Christians. I didn't
want to have anything to do with them. But now everything's turned upside
down. The only people I want to be around is the Lord's people. It's amazing. So in the religious
world, they often talk about love and faith being something
that you can muster up. And you know, I know from experience
in the religious world that you come away feeling like you fail
so much. You never measure up. And it's natural, you don't have
to, even though it's commanded in the scriptures for us to love
the brethren, we love them naturally as believers. We don't have to muster up the
love that we have for the gospel. We don't have to muster up the
love that we have for God's people. It's already there. It's shed
abroad in our hearts, beloved. And in the religious world's
form of love and faith is often helpful and comforting to the
recipient of it, but it does not acknowledge God. Because it does not acknowledge
God as its absolute source. That's what I meant to say. It
doesn't acknowledge God as the absolute source. No, there's
always something that man has to do. But you know what that
shows us? When people mix anything like
that in, it unmasks what is the high end
of man's depravity. a carnal, fleshy endeavor to
bring recognition to oneself in comfort in a refuge of lies. That's exactly what it does.
So we see here in the text that Paul brings forth that God is
the source, in verse 4, of all grace and mercy for the believer. And it's manifested, the work
of God is manifested in the fact of Philemon's faith
and love. And Paul hits on that because
he knows the origin of that faith and love that Philemon has. He
knows it only comes from God. It only comes from God. Look
what he says, that the communication Verse 5, hearing of thy love
and faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all
saints, that the communication of thy faith may become effectual
by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in
Christ Jesus. There he hits the key, right
there. For we have great joy and consolation
in thy love because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by
thee, brother. So again, Paul acknowledges the
source of Philemon's love and faith. In verse 4, he knows its origin. And note the great joy that Paul
feels knowing that it is God who has done this work in Philemon. It's God who's done this work
in Philemon. Because again, grace and love has been manifested
to him and the brethren by Philemon as a result of the work of the
Holy Spirit of God. Look at verse five again. Hearing
of thy love and faith, which thou has toward the Lord Jesus,
that's, he's first and foremost, but, and toward all saints. It
doesn't say just the ones that get along with. It says all saints. All saints. All of them. And so Paul feels great joy in
the Lord that this has been manifested by the Holy Spirit of God, because
it's the fruit of the Spirit in Philemon, it's his work, it's
the Spirit's work. And the inward man, the new man
in Paul, is refreshed by the graciousness of Philemon. He's
refreshed by it. And think upon this, we know
that he's pleading for Onesimus, but his words are for every believer
here, aren't they? His words are for every believer,
and stand is a given truth to the effect of your love and kindness
toward the brethren. Where there's no love for the
brethren, we've clearly seen in our studies in 1 John and
2 John and 3 John, where there's no love for the brethren, there's
no life. There's no life. Doesn't matter
what a person professes. There's no work of the Holy Spirit
of God, because we know that this is a manifestation of God's
work. Let's read verse seven one more
time, and we see a wonderful, refreshing word here. Look at
this. For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because
the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. See
the word refresh there in verse seven. It means to cease from
labor. To pause and regroup, to rest
in Christ, to cause or permit one to cease from any movement
or labor in order to recover and collect his strength, to
repose. Our great God is acknowledged
as the source of Philemon's love in love, therefore we can conclude
that the believer in Christ is what he is and knows what he
is, acknowledging that we are what we are by the grace of God. By the grace of God. We're saved, redeemed people
by the grace of God, by the mercy of God. It's wonderful. Again,
he gets all the glory. And Paul, he's refreshed. He takes comfort in the fact
of Philemon's faith and love. It comforts him because he knows
that the same faith and love that he has, that he's received,
is the same faith and love that Philemon's received. in the same
faith and love that every believer has received. Let's read verses 8 to 14 now.
Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin
thee that which is convenient, yet for love's sake I beseech
thee, being such in 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 times 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 boughs. Whom I would
have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered
unto me in the bonds of the gospel. But without thy mind would I
do nothing, that thy benefit should not be as or of necessity,
but willingly. Now we know that Paul is writing
to Philemon about his runaway slave, Onesimus. And here begins
his request to Philemon to receive Onesimus as a brother beloved
in Christ. The first mention of Onesimus
is in this portion, which is in verse 10. The first mention
of Onesimus is found in verse 10. I beseech thee for my son
Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds. And Paul, in verse
8, brings forth that he could, look at verse eight, he brings
forth that he could as an apostle of Christ and a minister of the
gospel uses authority and command fatherly men to receive on this
and to forgive him and to be reconciled to him. We believers
are commanded to love one another and that's what he's bringing
forth here too. We're commanded to be reconciled to one another
and to forgive those who sin against us. He says, wherefore, though I
might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is
convenient. So upon this foundation, the
apostle could have commanded Philemon to do what was right,
but we see him bring forth that which is the true and proper
motivation for all good works. Look at verse 9. Yet for love's
sake. Yet for love's sake. I beseech
thee. Yet for love's sake. I beseech
thee. So ponder this wonderful truth.
God has forgiven us of all our sins for whose sake? For Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. Because of
his great love. For those he gave to Christ and
that love was manifested in the fact that he chose us in Christ.
And that he sent his son to die in Calvary's cross for us. And
we are purchased and redeemed by his precious shed blood. And
then we're called by the Holy Spirit of God with an effectual
calling. So Paul brings forth here for
love's sake, I beseech thee. For the sake of the love of Paul,
who that he had for Philemon and that Philemon had for Paul,
not only for the the fact of the love of God towards us, but
for the fact of the love that they had for one another. And
for the sake of Philemon, the love Philemon had for Onesimus,
who was now a true believer in Christ. And note in verse nine, Paul
mentions his age and brings forth that he is now a prisoner for
the gospel's sake. He says, yet for love's sake,
I rather beseech thee, being such in one is Paul the aged. And now also a prisoner of Jesus
Christ. Again, he brings forth for love's
sake, I rather beseech thee. This is this advice to receive
on this. And this not only comes from
him as an apostle. Not only comes to Philemon from
Paul as an elder. But also comes to Philemon from
Paul is a dearly beloved brother. a dearly beloved brother, one
who's beloved of the Father. And we know one of considerable
wisdom and experience. And one, this
interceding for Onesimus comes from one who has proved his devotion
to Christ. He's proved his devotion to Christ.
He's suffered for Christ, hasn't he? And note in verse 10, Paul brings
forth, for the first time again, Onesimus. He says, I beseech
thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds.
Paul calls Onesimus his son, not only out of true Christian
love for him, because Paul was his spiritual father. Onesimus
had been saved under the preaching of Paul. Though Paul was bound
in the house which he was in, and he was under Roman guard.
Think of this. Paul was bound in the house.
He couldn't leave the house. He was under house arrest. So
he's bound to stay in that house. But the word of God was not bound,
was it? It was not bound. It's not bound, beloved. No one
cages up the word of God. People may slice it and take
it out of context and make lies out of it, which a natural man
does. But all the word of God goes forth with power, doesn't
it? All when the gospel is preached, it goes forth with power. So the word of God was not bound.
And this, Remember, Paul could receive last week. We looked
at how Paul could he could receive visitors when he was there. In
this house. And so the word of God was not
bound, and I'll miss miss was again by the word of God preached
by Paul in prison. Regenerated by the power of the
Holy Spirit of God, he made that word effectual. And as a result of that, Onesimus
was a very dear brother to him. A very dear brother. Now, before we read verse 11,
let us consider the name Onesimus. Onesimus. And what it means. In the Greek, Onesimus is defined
as... This is incredible. In the Greek,
Onesimus is defined as profitable or useful. Profitable or useful. With that in mind, let's read
verse 11. Which in times past was to thee unprofitable, but
now profitable to thee and to me. In the past, Onesimus had
been an unprofitable servant. He had been a bad example to
other servants. He was a rebel in heart like
all natural men and women. And he had wronged Philemon and
he had fled to Rome. Let's turn again to Romans chapter
3. Romans chapter 3. Think upon this. All natural
men and women born into this world are by nature unprofitable
to God. Good for nothing, one commentator
said. And this is actually what the
Word of God proclaims. Now, natural man hates to hear
that. Oh, it just grates on the pride
of man. Listen to these words that Paul
wrote by inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God. These are not
my words. This is the Word of God. Listen to what it says here. Look at what it says here. Romans
chapter three. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one. Romans chapter three, verse 10. As it is written, there is none
righteous, no not one. That verse means what it says. In our natural state, there's
none righteous. There is, look at verse 11, there's
none that understand it. There's no way for us to come
to a knowledge of who God is on our own. There's no one, no
natural man or woman understands who God is. They do not acknowledge
who God is. Because our minds are darkened.
Look, it says very clearly. There's none that understand,
there's none that seeketh after God. None. There's the truth
of the psalm that says, thy people shall be made willing in the
day of thy power. Unless we're made willing, we'll
never seek God. That's what that scripture says. They are all together gone out
of the way. Every man and woman does that
which they think is right in their mind, natural men and women.
They're all gone out of the way. They are all together, look at
this, become what? Unprofitable that's what the scripture says
Unprofitable There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of Asp
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. In the way of peace they have
not knowing." No peace with God. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. They do not acknowledge who God
is because they have no clue who he is. And we were in that
state, weren't we? We may have attended the Sovereign
Grace Church at one time, but still not even knowing who God
is. That's the truth. All natural men and women by
our natural state. We do not. We do not believe
God. We do not seek God. That's what
that's what makes grace and mercy in Christ so amazing. The fact
that that is such a picture, a clear picture of man's natural
depravity, and yet the Lord had mercy on us. No wonder Paul said,
I thank God for your love and faith, Philemon. I thank God
for you who love the Lord. It's amazing. You're trophies
of God's grace, just like I am. We don't feel like that, do we,
all the time. No, in our natural state, we're
sinners. Well, not in our natural, but even after the Lord saves
us, we're sinners. We don't, we just see our sinfulness,
but we are trophies of God's grace. That's amazing. And to look to look at this,
that that portion in Romans three and to say that was me. And now
I'm born again of the Holy Spirit of God. Now I love the gospel. Now I love Christ. Now I love
his people. I love his word. This is amazing. And all we can do. Is thank God. All we can do is thank God. And that picture in Romans 3,
it's not pretty, is it? No, it's not pretty at all. And
you know what it does? It humbles the pride of man. It puts man in the dust, in the
dust! And it exalts our great sovereign
God. Because of the fact that He had
mercy on us when we were in that state. And in that state, In
that state, we are unprofitable. Romans 3, verse 12, they are
all gone out of the way, they all become unprofitable. There
is none that do it good, no, not one. So just like Onesimus, before
the Lord saved him, we were unprofitable servants. You see how Onesimus is such
a picture of us? We who have been saved by the
grace of God. Now, Onesimus, who's regenerated
and redeemed, an ex-slave, Paul writes, is now profitable not
only to Philemon, but to him. Because he's a dear brother in
Christ now. So he's profitable to Philemon
as a good servant and a helper in the gospel ministry. And profitable
to others as an example, a testimony to the grace of God. a testimony
to the grace of God, and a dear brother in the assembly of the
saints. Let's read verses 12 to 14 now. 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 should not be, as it were, of
necessity, but willingly." Paul asks Philemon to receive Onesimus
as a dear brother in Christ, even though he's wronged him.
Even though he's wronged him, receive him as a dear brother
in Christ. Don't receive him suspiciously, or as one on probation,
well, he might mess up again. No, don't receive him like that.
No. Paul pleads with Philemon to
actually receive him as he would receive Paul. Receive him as if you're receiving
me, Paul writes. How does God receive us? In Christ? Our surety? In our substitute? Oh my. And he brings forth in verse
13 that he would have kept Onesimus with him. He's a very profitable brother
to Paul. A dear brother in Christ, he
ministers to Paul as well as assists him. But he would not
do this. He would not keep Onesimus with
him without the blessing of Philemon. without the blessing of the Father,
whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might
have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. And then
verse 14, but without thy mind would I do nothing. That thy
benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. If Philemon were to send Onesimus
back to Paul, Paul didn't want to do it out of necessity. He
wanted him to do it willingly. Knowing that Onesimus is very
profitable to Paul in the ministry. And note the humility with which
Paul writes here. He writes his dear brother. Again, he had spiritual authority
to keep Onesimus with him if he wanted to. and to command
Philemon to abide by his decision, and yet he would not do that.
You know why? He didn't want to offend his
brother. How many conflicts and contentions
within the church, how many conflicts and contentions within the church
could be avoided if each of us, before we spoke or took actions
about things, would consider if our words or our actions would
offend our brother? So Paul's reason, he's reasoning
with Philemon on the basis of the gospel. That's what he's
reasoning with Philemon with. He's reasoning with him on the
basis of the gospel, beloved. Gospel distinctives. and how
they relate to his motivation for what he's doing and what
he's asking. Religious works are duty, aren't
they? They're duty. You gotta do this and you gotta
do that. Duty. Religion, they're always talking
about what you gotta do. But you know what the believer's
motivated by? Not duty. It's not hard to find religious
people. They'll keep telling you what you gotta do. You could spot them from a mile
away. The believer is motivated by
the grace and love of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not duty. We don't serve Christ out of
duty, do we? We serve him out of love. We serve him out of
grace. for what he's done for us. Because
the believers saved by grace, the grace of God, and the believers
kept by the grace of God. And the believers not obligated
to the law in any degree. Because as we saw a few weeks
back, Christ fulfilled the law for us in our place. Now we love
the law of God. It's holy. And it brings forth
the awesome attributes of our great God, who He is. God of
justice, God of wrath, God, He says, do this and live. But we can't do it, can we? But
Christ did it all for us. And so the believer therefore
then is motivated to do what we do for Christ, because of
the grace of God and the mercy of God, which has been shown
to us. And any gifts we have, they came
from him. Any gifts we have, they came
from him, therefore we glorify him, we seek to glorify him.
And it's evident. In the gospel, which Paul preached
the gospel of the complete finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
that this all comes to the believer through the mercy and grace of
God. Now we as believers have duties
and they're expressed in every command given to us in the New
Testament. And love and the brethren's not
an option. It's not something we can say,
well, I love all these brothers, but not this one. No, that's
not an option for us. That's not an option for the
believer. It's a commandment that's to
be obeyed, but we obey it, beloved, because of the grace and mercy
which has been shown to us, and because the love of God which
is shed abroad in our hearts. It's amazing grace. Just as being thankful is a command, And we're thankful, aren't we? And the reason we're thankful,
the reason we're obedient to that command, is because the love we have for
Christ, what he's done for us, and therefore
we gladly are thankful. we're gladly thankful. In religion, loving and having faith flows from a sense of a legal
duty that they have. And they feel that if they could
just muster up enough faith, that God will accept them on
that. God won't accept us in ourselves at all, we saw that.
In Romans chapter three, we're only accepted by God in Christ.
And I ask you, your love for Christ, your love for Christ,
your faith in Christ, does it come from a legal duty that you
have to do? Or does it come from the grace
of God in Christ? God's people love God's people.
God's people are thankful people. And turn to 1 John 3. We saw this in our study in 1
John. This was amazing. 1 John 3. Look at this. We know that, we as believers
know that love is more than just words. Love is more than just
words. It's deeds and truth, isn't it?
It's deeds and truth. And this is what the scripture
proclaims. 1 John 3, verse 18. My little children, let us not
love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and truth. So we
see then, that the grace of God was manifested in Philemon by
the fact that his love and faith were spoken of by the brethren.
It wasn't just word. No, they saw it in action. They
saw it in action. I ask you this, does the believer
in Christ love the brethren because it's required, or do we love
the brethren because we are loved by Christ Jesus our Lord? Well, we love the brethren because
we're loved by Christ, and therefore we love all who love Christ,
don't we? Look at verse 14 again. This
verse settles the matter of duty or love. Look at this. But without
thy mind would I do nothing, that thy benefits should not
be, as it were, of necessity, but willingly. Paul speaks to
Philemon's heart here, beloved. And we've seen that all through
this epistle. He's speaking to the heart of
Philemon. And he says that the receiving
of an isthmus must be a matter of a willing mind and a loving
soul, a willing mind and a loving soul.
Now, love can be commanded, but can only be true when its interest
is in the welfare of the loved one. This is true of believers, as
we esteem others better than ourselves. That's what we're
called to do. And that totally goes against
the nature of man, natural nature of man. Love Trump's duty every
time. Love Trump's duty. Duty's burdensome. Oh, it's burdensome. Come unto
me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. And I'll give you
rest, the Lord said. Rest from your labors. And a man or woman changed by
the gospel will have a thankful heart and will willingly serve
the Lord Will willingly serve the Lord Because it is he who
has bought us purchased us with his precious blood And the believer
says as a result of that glory to your name so thankful for
what you did Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your mercy
and grace, which is bestowed upon each one of us who believe,
each one of us who's been granted faith to believe on you, Lord
Jesus, by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit of God. We
glorify you. We thank you for the mercy that
you've had upon us. We thank you for the mercy that
you've had upon our brethren. Oh, Lord, we are so blessed to
call each other brothers and sisters in Christ. You have saved
us by thy grace and by thy mercy. Lord, may we consider the truth
that we've looked at tonight. And may we be graceful to people. Oh, may we show them grace and
mercy. We love you because you first
loved us in Jesus name.