Thank you, Sally. Thank you, John. Doing what you do so willingly, so well. Philemon, little book of Philemon. Wonderful story. God's amazing saving grace to a rebel, a young man who wasn't looking to be saved, didn't want to be saved. This is my story. There's another story similar in the Bible of the prodigal son. You know it well. That's my story.

A young man who was treated so well and had it so good and people that loved him cared for him and he rebelled against them and wanted out and the Lord let him go. But God had mercy upon him. He had mercy on me. A short, sweet letter from Paul apostle to a friend named Philemon, a man who the Lord saved and made a real servant or blessing to so many people.

But this is more than that. This is God's word, a letter, as it were, from our Lord Jesus Christ to his Heavenly Father. It's much like John 17, those of you who know that, where he's interceding for his people. This story is Paul writing to this man Onesimus. who was the master of this young man named Onesimus.

And he's, he's pleading with him on behalf of Onesimus who stole some money from him or something and ran off. And Paul is interceding for Onesimus. Onesimus is not asking. He's not saying anything. But he has someone interceding for him. He has an intercessor who's pleading for restoration, to restore him, to bring him back, reconciliation, restitution. I know those are big words, but he said in a few words, whatever he owes you, I will pay it, I will repay it. What a gospel story this is of our Lord Jesus Christ. who did everything for his people. And we weren't asking at the time, but he was. And God always hears his prayer. That's it in a nutshell.

So we have, first of all, a rich man named Philemon. He writes to Philemon. Philemon is evidently a man with many assets. He's a landowner, he has servants, one of which was this Onesimus. And the Lord saved this rich man, which is remarkable in itself. Because the Lord Jesus Christ said this, he said, how hardly shall they that have riches enter the kingdom of heaven. He said, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. You think about that. What does he say? You know, it's impossible for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

The straight and narrow little, you can't, it's impossible. And salvation with man is impossible. We don't plead with men and women to do things. We don't plead with them. We plead with the Lord to do something for men. Because if he doesn't do it, nobody's going to come to Christ. Nobody's going to ask for mercy.

Nobody's gonna be saved left up to us It's not by man's will it's by God's will so we plead with the Lord Lord Would you please and this is what Paul is doing? pleading with this man named Philemon on behalf of this Onesimus and Our Lord Jesus Christ is the intercessor of for sinners, the one who prays for his people.

This rich man, the Lord saved this man. How did he save this man? Look at verse 19. Paul says, I've written unto you of my own hand, I will repay it, albeit I do not say to thee, I don't need to remind you how you owe me even your own self. You owe me this. The Lord used Paul, his preaching, to save this rich man named Philemon. He heard Paul preach him. This is how the Lord saves people. It's not sitting on a hillside. It's not them doing this or doing that or quitting this or quitting that or deciding this or deciding that. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation.

And every single person in scripture you'll find, the Lord spoke to them through a preacher preaching God's word, preaching the gospel of crying. So this man evidently heard Paul preach and the Lord saved him. He heard him preach cry in the gospel. And we believe that he had a, he loved the Lord and it says that in verse five. He says, hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saint. Verse two, he says, greet the church in your house. This is in Colossae. This is where he lives now. We don't know if the church at Colossae had been actually established yet in a place where everybody was, but it started here. And Colossae is about 1,200 miles from Rome, okay?

All right, this man named Philemon, began to have people in his home, his family and other people. And there's a man named Archippus, who was a preacher. Maybe he was the first one to preach that. He began to preach apparently in this rich man's home or a building on his property, okay? This man heard the gospel and he loved the Lord and loved the gospel and wanted there to be a church. Does this sound familiar? Wanted there to be a church there in his town of Colossae and they began to meet and this man Archippus would preach to them, okay?

Well, Onesimus, or Philemon, the rich man, Philemon, just insisted that all of his people, all of his servants, his wife, his children, if he had any, and all of his servants, be under the sound of that gospel. He wanted them all to hear and believe the gospel that he heard and believed and loved, and loved the Lord that he loved and loved. Well, there sat a young boy named Onesimus. He was a servant. We think of him as a slave.

And back then, slavery wasn't like toward the black people. They weren't indentured. They weren't laid hold of in their country and brought there. Quite often it was because they were in debt. You've heard of debtor's prison. Well, sometimes they could work that off. Or if a family lost everything, then a man could sell his children as servants to a rich man who would, they owned them and they would work for them, okay? Which is all a picture of us. We're in great, deep debt to our God. We can't pay it. Well, here sat this young fellow named Onesimus. Look at verse 10. Paul writes to Philemon and said, I beseech thee for my son, Onesimus. Now Paul was not married, never had children.

And yet the Lord gave him many children. He called them that, people whom the Lord saved under his preaching. Salvations of the Lord were born of God, not man. Man doesn't save anybody. He's not. But he's saying in a figure that the Lord used my preaching of the gospel of Christ to, for this young man to be born of God, born again by the word of God, by the gospel.

And this happened while Paul was in prison. Paul was in prison in Rome. And he was there for two years. two years, and God in His mercy and grace and providence had the people in Rome, the authorities in Rome, put Paul in a house, now listen to this, if you don't think the Lord is sovereign over all things, here this man is, he's a prisoner, and everybody wants him dead, why? Because he preached the truth. And yet the Lord gave him favor in the sight of his captors, and they gave him a house to live in for two years, and anybody that wanted to could come there, and Paul would preach to them. Two years. Two years. Man is not sovereign over anything. The devil is not sovereign over anything. God alone is sovereign.

Scripture says he works all things after the counsel of his own will. All things, good, evil. The Lord said that. I kill, God said this, Deuteronomy 32, 39. I make alive. He said, I wound, anybody get sick, wounded. My brother was killed by a bomb in Vietnam. Who did that? The Vietnamese, the Viet Cong? No. God did. He said, I wound, I make alive.

Job knew that. When the Sabaeans, the enemies, the Chaldeans came, destroyed all his cattle, stole all his cattle, all his goods, killed all, a storm collapsed the roof of the house on which 10 of his children were in that house. He didn't blame that on the storm. He didn't blame it on the Sabaeans or the Chaldeans. He said the Lord did this.

There is no peace. There is no comfort. There are no answers anywhere else. We don't blame anybody for anything except ourselves. But God is God. And the sooner we acknowledge that and fear the Lord and call on Him and thank him for all that he's done for us which we do not deserve. And yet all these years he's shown us more mercy and grace than he has judgment.

Has he not? This young man named Onesimus was in this house treated so kindly, so well. Philemon was a godly man, a good man, a loving man. Paul said that. Scripture said that. And he gave and he was generous and he just wanted people to hear the gospel. And this young Onesimus was treated so well and so kindly and loved and food to eat and clothes to wear and a place to live and people that loved him.

But like me, He was an ungrateful, unthankful, unworthy rebel. And all he wanted was to get out. Out from under this authority. Buddy, man can't rule himself. Oh, no. This is a true story. It's an old story, a reoccurring story. This has happened from the beginning.

The first man and woman, Adam and Eve, had it so good. And God, in his absolute authority over them, said, there's one tree, just one. Don't eat it. What did the man and the woman do? You have everything. I have all the trees in the garden I must freely eat. But not that one. Just a symbol of his authority.

What'd they do? What do we do? What did I do? Hmm. This is a recurring story. A young boy, a young man, a young girl. It could have been a girl in a home under rule, under authority of a father and a mother. Yet waiting, wanting, plotting their escape. I can't wait to get out and be my own man. Oh my.

If not for the grace of God, we will destroy ourselves. We will. If left to ourselves, we will destroy ourselves. what the Lord is doing, what you're seeing in our society today. Look around you, look at it all. It's God lifting his hand off of this world. He's about done with it. I pray, I ask, I plead with the Lord that he not be done with us, with you, with your children. And if he's not, what he's gonna use is what I'm doing right now, to arrest us, to rein us in, to bring us back to our God and to His grace. But this is a recurring story, a constant story, young man, young girl, waiting, wanting, plotting their escape, get out. Later, by grace, this young man didn't want out, he wanted in. You understand?

Like everybody rejected Noah's ark. That's a bunch of foolishness. God loves us all. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. He's angry. There's only salvation in that ark. Noah kept preaching that. Get in the ark, come to the ark, which represents Christ. We don't want that. We're fine out here in the world. We're fine. We'll see about that. And then God shuts the door, and then what's happening? Everybody in the world's knocking on that door, and God said, I'm not answering. Isn't that what he said? Hmm. Now that was me. I don't want in. I want out. But God, rich in mercy, for his great love, apparently, wherewith he loved me, because I heard the gospel. And he said, you want it out, and I'm bringing you in. Home to stay. Home to stay.

Unprofitable? Unworthy? A rebel? What's God need with rebels? False religion says God needs you. Why? Why does God need you? What can you do for God? What can I do? Nothing. But I tell you what, we need him. And we don't even know we need him until he brings us so low to show us, see what you've done to yourself. Now look to me. And our only salvation is not us turning over a new leaf, not us deciding to get better, not us trying to undo what we did, but it's in Jesus Christ doing all that on Calvary's trip.

As said, Onesimus, I mean, Philemon, forgive me if I get their names crossed, you try this. I wish their name was Joe and Bill. But Philemon, the master, was kind and generous and loving. And yet this young man, he said, I can't stand it. I want out. Ungrateful, unthankful. My, my. He runs away, steals some money. He steals some money. He doesn't want to be ruled. He wants to be his own man.

You know the scripture says, warn the unruly. 1 Thessalonians 5, all those exhortations. He says to everybody in the church, warn those that don't want to be ruled. Warn those that don't want to be under authority, whether it be of God or the preacher, the pastor in the church, or a mother and a father. Warn them.

If you will not be ruled, see God is all authorities of the Lord. If you will not be ruled under his authority, you're a rebel. And God deals with rebels. But for the broken, and the humble, and the contrite, and those who say, Lord, reign over me. I can't rule myself. Please, rule now. Reign over it.

That's the person he'll save. This young man apparently heard Paul preach the gospel. It says in verse 10, whom I've forgotten in my bonds, And the story, I'm quite sure, went something like this, because this is my story. Onesimus is in Colossae, over there where Turkey is right now. He's sitting under the gospel.

He has it so well, people that love him. and want nothing but good for it. People that are for him. They're not against him. They're for him. And yet he thinks, no, I want to be on my own, and I'm under this authority. I don't like it. I want out. He's against them that are for him. He thinks they're against him. No, nothing's against him. God rules. Man, by nature, is an enemy against God, he said.

So Onesimus steals some money and runs off. And I know what he's thinking. I'm going to go this little two-bit town of Colossae. I'm leaving this little two-bit town. I want to go where the big city lights are and where there's much great opportunity where I can get me a job and make me lots of money and buy me a real nice horse and chariot and just settle down, find me a girl. And I want out of this old place. I have to sit there and listen to this Bible stuff.

So he runs off, he thinks, Rome, that's the place I need to be. Rome, big city lights, that's where opportunity is. Big city of Rome. Like Lot. Lot saw the well-watered plains of Sodom. Yeah, that's where I want to go. I want to stay there with my Uncle Abe in the mountains, this little country, Rocky Mountain. Just listen to this Bible all the time. No, Sodom, that's where I want to go.

No, you don't, son. No, you don't. You don't realize. So he travels 1,200 miles. He ends up 1,200 miles away in Rome, of all places. Well, you know who's there? A preacher of the gospel is there, Paul the Apostle. Where is he? He's in prison. Now, when the Lord first put Paul in prison, I'm sure he, like any of us think, Why is this happening? I've been preaching the gospel, but he, Lord, you're sovereign and you put me here on purpose. I know that. So I'm going to be content here and see what you, I'm going to wait on the Lord and see what the Lord does. And while he was there, he had him write several books, several letters, and this is one of them. letters or epistles, the word of God, which God gives to the salvation of many souls by putting this one man in prison. What a picture that is of Jesus Christ. Made captive, willingly. Captive, come to this earth, made captive and made sin for his people. Go to the cross, put away their sin, release the captives.

At any rate, Paul's in Rome preaching And Onesimus is running around in Rome. How did he get to hear Paul pray? Well, somebody told him. Maybe a woman is going there. Maybe a woman is going there to the prison. She's got a Bible there. And she sees this young man on the street. Maybe he's gotten real down and out. I bet he has. I bet he has. I know where he's at because I was there.

And this woman saw this poor young fellow and felt sorry for him, you know, and said, Lord, what this young man needs is to hear the gospel. And she spoke to him, son, why don't you come with me to hear the preacher, hear the gospel. You need Christ is what you need, son. Come with me to hear the gospel. He said, where are you going? She said, going to the prison. There's a preacher down there in prison. What's his name? Paul. Paul? The apostle? Onesimus heard that name many times. Maybe Paul had already preached there. Paul? He's there?

Yeah, yeah. I'll go with you. You're not here by accident. You're not here because you decided to come here. You know that? The proverb says, the lot is cast into the lap. Meaning, here it is. What are you going to do? But it's not up to you. Aren't you glad? He says, the lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. I'm so glad.

If that were not so, I would not be standing here right now. If it is up to me, I don't want to be here. How was this man? I don't want to be there. I don't want that. I want out. But God, son, you don't know what you want. I do know what you need. And there's one thing needful, and it's Jesus Christ. And so this young man came, and he sat, and he heard this Paul.

Paul means little. God doesn't use big preachers. He uses little ones. Nothings, nobody's from nowhere. People you've never heard of. Wow, that God will get the glory, not man. Not gonna save you through some big highfalutin money. Hungry name. Hungry evangelist. A little old nobody from nowhere like Philip went out to that unit. Who's Philip? Anybody know Philip? He's a deacon.

But he heard Paul preach. Preach the gospel. Christ and him crucified. And a man named Jesus Christ was not just a man, but he was God manifested in flesh. That God Almighty came to this God-forsaken world, this God-hating world, this world full of rebels, not good people, every one of them bad, none good, no, not one. None righteous, no, not one. None that seek after God, not one. I didn't, you didn't, until, unless God says, seek me, you won't seek me. You won't even thank him. A world that blames everything on everyone else when in fact we're all guilty, we all need to lay it on our own selves.

It's me, I'm the problem. What's in me is the problem, not everybody else. And I've received of the Lord so much more than I deserve and the bad things so much less than I deserve. Is that right? Can you admit that? The Lord won't, the Lord saves people by mercy, not merit. That is, you don't, if you think there's anything you deserve, goodness from God, you deserve, he's not gonna save you.

Salvation's for those that think, I don't deserve to be saved. There are two people went into the temple one day, a Pharisee and a publican. Publicans were like the harlots on the street. Our Lord said the publicans and the harlots will enter heaven before these self-righteous, good, moral, upright people that think they're too good, there's no way they can't be saved. I have to be saved, I'm so moral. I'm so devoted to God, I'm so faithful. No, you're not either. You're just a worthless sinner like everybody is.

And this Pharisee went into the temple and said, God, look, here I am. Aren't you glad to see me? And look what all I've done for you. And this publican sat afar off on the back view, this publican, and all he could do was be on his chest because of this evil in his heart. And all he could say to God was, God be merciful to me, a sinner. All I am is a sinner. I'll tell you who the Lord saved. It's the man that beat on his chest. And he condemned that man who thought he was righteous. Sent him to hell. That's who goes to hell.

And he even said, our Lord said, the publicans and the harlots, if I don't save them, they'll still have more mercy than those Pharisees in hell itself. That's what the Lord Jesus Christ said. Salvation's for sinners. But Paul preached that God himself came to this earth to save a bunch of people that don't deserve to be saved. And salvation's not by chance. We don't deserve a chance to be saved. We deserve to be punished for our sin.

But God, rich in mercy, sent his son to this earth to save some people that didn't even want saving, didn't know they need saving, and he does it through the preaching of the gospel of the Holy Spirit, convicts them of their sin, shows them that Jesus Christ came down here to take the place of these... The only begotten, well-beloved Son of God came to save unsavable, unworthy, ungrateful rebels, didn't want him to come, and went to the cross to bear all their blame, to take all their sin, all their rebellion, all their hatred of God, all that they've ever done in their life, which is no good, take it in his body on the tree, and for God to hold him accountable, to make him pay for every one of their sins.

And this is what I heard when the Lord saved me. These words from a preacher. This is what I heard, I'll never forget it. That when Christ was hanging on the cross, like Paul pleading to Philemon, when Christ was hanging on the cross, he said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. That was like an arrow from the Lord. It pierced my heart. Father, forgive him. He doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know what he's done to God. He doesn't know what he's done to everybody else. He doesn't know what he's done to himself.

And my only hope was that God would hear that prayer by the Lord Jesus Christ, and grant him that prayer, and spare me, and show me mercy, and bring me to my knees, and show me what I've done to God, to others, and to myself. And see that God held Christ accountable for what I'd done. Broke my heart. Then I said, yes father forgive me please forgive me against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil right in plain sight no thought to you whatsoever all my life not give you any thanks no gratitude and if you kill me And everything I am and have, that's what I deserve. But please have mercy on me. That's the truth. And God answered Christ. Christ prayed that prayer in John 17 for his people. He didn't pray for everybody. If Christ prayed for everybody, everybody would be saved. But that prayer apparently was for me.

When he asked the Father to forgive me, he showed me I don't know what I've done. I do now. Look at our text here. So this young man heard that and the Lord broke his heart. And he confessed his sins. He told Paul what he'd done. We're not to confess our sins to one another, but I'm sure this Paul knew him and he told him, brother Paul, brother, he never thought of him as a brother before. Old Nesmus never wanted anything to do with a preacher before.

Now he's his best friend, isn't he? He thought he had a bunch of friends. They were leading him, or he leading them, they leading him down the road to destruction. But now the best friend he ever had was this preacher of the gospel, this little fellow named Paul. He said, Paul, I stole some money and some things from Philemon and his wife.

I ran off, and I'm so sorry. I don't know what to do. I'd like to make it up. I don't know what. I'm ashamed to go back there. Surely he won't have me, and I don't blame him if he would. Paul said, I'll write him a letter. I'll write him on this. You just leave it with me.

Are you getting the picture? Our Lord Jesus Christ is the intercessor for sin. And we call on the Father in His name. I find myself, do you not find yourself most of the time praying to Christ Himself? Lord, Lord Jesus, please. Well, they're one and the same. He knows. Would you plead with me? Would your blood be propitiation for me? Would you ask the Father for mercy on me?

Well, so Paul wrote Onesimus, or Philemon, he wrote this man, Philemon, this letter. That's what this letter's about. And look at verse 11. It says, and every verse is a message, but in verse 11 he says, in time past, he writes, I'm pleading for Onesimus, whom the Lord saved while I'm in prison, and verse 11, In time past, he was unprofitable.

But now, he's profitable. He's of some use to you, Philemon. If you have him back, he'll be of some use to you. He never was before, but he will be now. I know it, because God's done something in him and for him. It's God that works in us, what the will do. And here's what the scripture says about us who, just like Onesimus.

You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sin. In time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air. the devil that is, the spirit that now works in all the children of disobedience. Among whom also we had our conversation, we lived our lives in time past, lust of our flesh, this is all we thought about, lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind, were by nature the children of wrath, mad at everybody, mad at God, and we ought to be mad at ourselves. By nature, children of wrath, even as others, but God. whose rich in mercy, for his great love were with he loved us, that is, some of these rebels, even when we were dead and trespassing sin, quickened us, made us alive together with Christ, by Christ, by grace you say, raised us up together, made us sit together in heavenly places. Old Onesimus came back and he sat there where he began and he was so glad to be there. that in the ages to come, he's gonna show the exceeding riches of his grace, his kindness toward us. Oh, how kind and good and merciful our God is. The God that men don't want anything to do with.

Oh, my. My grace, you say. We're his workmanship. So he says, remember that you were at one time without Christ, having no hope without God in this world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you who sometime were far off, Old Nessum was a long way from home, are made nigh by the blood of Christ.

He's our peace. He's our peace. He says in verse 16, now he's a servant, he's a brother, a beloved brother, He's not a rebel anymore. He's an obedient servant. He's a brother. You're not an enemy, he's a brother. And Paul said in verse 17, receive him as myself. Receive him in my name. I'm asking you to do this, receive him for my sake. And this is what the Lord Jesus Christ said. For my sake, in my name, receive these sinners. We're accepted, where? In the beloved, in Christ. All that come unto God by him are accepted, are received. Verse 18, don't you love this?

It says, if he's wronged thee or owes you anything, put that on my account. Whatever he owes you. Whatever we owe to God, Christ Jesus paid it all. And the handwriting of ordinances that were against us, he blotted them out with his own blood. Paul said, I will repay it. And our Lord said in that letter, or that prayer to his God, our God, he said, I've finished the work. I've glorified you. He didn't. Paul didn't. Mike didn't do it. Karen didn't glorify you.

But Christ says, I did. And blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute iniquity. Blessed is the one whose sins are covered. Blessed is that person whom Christ went to the cross and died for to cover their sin. Who went to the cross to intercede and ever lives to make intercession for them. Because you're not saved by anything you do. You're saved by the blood of the Lamb. You're saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. You're saved by Him making intercession for you.

It's not you. It's Him. Do you understand that? Well, look at this. This is wonderful. I close. Look down at the very end. Little tiny letters. You see this? Very little tiny letter, says written from Rome. You see that? Can you see it? I see all of you putting your glasses on. Are they strong enough, Bonnie, to see this little?

Written from Rome, by Paul, that is, to Philemon, by Onesimus. Onesimus, Paul had bad eyesight, for many years he had bad eyesight, and most people wrote these letters for him. One letter, he said, I wrote by my own hand. You can see how large a letter, because he was hard, he had bad eyesight. And so many people wrote these letters for him. And Onesimus is sitting there writing this down. Paul said, write this down, Onesimus. Philemon Onesimus, he's unprofitable. But he's profitable now. He's wronged you, but I'll make it right. He owes you, but I will pay it. He's no good, but you owe me.

And he's writing this down, and he can't see for the tears in his eyes. Why would he do this for me? And so he takes this letter, which is his acceptance, his restoration, his reconciliation, He wants to go back home. He doesn't have anything. He's down and out. He wants to go back home where he had it so good to begin with. And he takes this letter. What do you think he thought of that letter? Eh? He hid it in his bosom. He didn't want anything to happen to it. This is his pardon!

What's this gospel mean to you? What's this book mean to you? Did you sell it? Did you give it away? This gospel is your pardon. And you lay hold of it. And this is what we take to God. This is what we take to Him and say, Lord, You said You'd have mercy for sinners like me through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please! And He came home. with his head hanging. Master Philemon, would you please have mercy on me on the basis of this intercession, this letter, that the one you know and love, whom you owe, has written to you on my behalf. Did he? Did he?

Paul said, I know you'll do it. And you'll do more than that. What do you reckon? Brother Kelly, what do you reckon? Philemon did it. I know what he did. Onesimus fell on his neck and kissed him. I've been waiting on you, son. I've been praying for you. I just knew God would bring you home. So God's so merciful. Answers prayer come on in son.

Well, let me just be a servant. I just wait on that. No, no bring the best robe Kill the fatted calf. Let's have a celebration he who was dead alive again He who rebelled rebelled against us who wanted out he's in Home to stay And Onesimus said, by the grace of God, I don't want to ever leave this place again. Is that you? That's me. That's my story. May the Lord do it for someone else. 249.