Fellowship

All right, if you would turn in your Bibles to the book of Philemon. In the Philemon chapter, there's only one chapter. And there's a couple of books in the Bible that only have one chapter. When that happens, the way you refer to a text is you just simply say the book and the verse. So you don't usually say the chapter. But I sometimes just say both out of habit.

I've entitled today's message fellowship and I hope that you are able to join with me in the delightful truth of this as we look at this together. Forgive me, I went to reach for my Bible for the Bible reading and I realized I didn't have it. So I'm gonna use my phone. to look at the scripture with you. Don't worry about it. If you follow along in Philemon, the fourth verse, I wanna read through verse seven. I thank my God, the apostle talking about Philemon, he says to him, I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers. He thanks God for Philemon and he's praying for Philemon.

He says in verse five, hearing of thy love and faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints. So love and faith, these are the common fruits of the spirit of God. And both are toward the Lord Jesus, both love and faith, and love toward all the saints. So our faith in Christ is going to cause us to love Christ, and it will cause us to love all of his people. These are the two commandments that God gives in 1 John 3, verse 23, where he says this is his commandment that you believe. on His Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another. And so these two things, faith and love, are always joined together in Scripture as the evidence of the work of God in us.

In verse 6, he says 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." So Paul is telling Philemon that all of the Lord's people that he has come in contact with are comforted and refreshed, meaning they are put at rest in peace and joy through Philemon. And this is a result of what he's done in verse 6, that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you.

So that's what I want to talk about, because when I read that text of Scripture, I did read it last week, but I didn't explain it very much, and just as an honest confession to you. When I read these scriptures, I'm learning them week by week to a high degree with you all. And so that's both a deficiency and an advantage. It's a deficiency because I always feel like I never really understand. But it's also an advantage because when I do get some insight into what the Lord means by these things, it becomes fresh to me, which makes it possible to be fresh to you also.

So here in verse six of Philemon, he says that the communication of thy faith. So what is this word communication? The communication of thy faith. Does he mean simply talking about his own faith? That's the way that a lot of what you hear in churches is share your faith.

And there's a way in which we cannot share our faith. First of all, I would say this in a negative way. To share your faith, how can you share your faith in Christ? I can't share my faith with you. I can't make you believe. And it's a good thing I can't, because I would fail. But I can't cause you to believe in the way that I believe.

Each of us are given a measure of faith, it says in Romans 15. So this is something God has to give to us, is this faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can't share that. But there is something that we do share, and that is what he's talking about here, the communication of thy faith.

Now, this word, and I don't do this often, the word behind this is a word you've probably heard before, which is why I'm going to mention it here, is the word that's translated communication in the King James Version. comes from a Greek word called koinonia, koinonia. And you've probably heard it, and that's why when I mention it, I don't expect it'll be entirely new to you.

Koinonia is really the word behind it. And what does koinonia mean? Because that's what he says here, that the koinonia, or the communication as it's written here, of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. That's why I've entitled today's message Fellowship, because koinonia is a word that means fellowship.

But what does that mean in scripture? What does scripture mean by that word? And this is something that I hope that you realize that we're not at liberty to take a word and its definition to give you the meaning of a doctrine. The truth behind what is written in scripture comes from scripture itself, not from just the bare definition of a word, although that definition certainly is part of it. So we take those words and we understand the definition and that helps, but the immediate context and the entirety of scripture really is how we are to understand the truth of whatever is being said. And I just say that as a guide to all of us that we want to ask the Lord to help us understand what did he mean by these words.

The koinonia or the communication, what does this mean to us? It means fellowship. But what does that mean from scripture? Well, fellowship is a word that really means a common thing shared, something commonly held. In Jude chapter 1 and verse 3, it calls our salvation the common salvation. So you probably heard people take the word fellowship, as it is in the English language, and try to explain it as fellows on the same ship. That's not so far from the truth, if you think about it, because men who are on the same ship share the same experiences on the ship.

The ship is their entire safety net between them and the sea. They eat the same food. They experience the same storms. They depend on the same God to keep them safe. They go through the same trials. All these things are common to those on the ship. And because of that, there's a bond between them. And so that bond will be greater or less, depending upon how closely they share the same things. They hold those things in common.

Fellowship means that it's something we hold in common, something we share because it's common to us. And so what Paul is saying to Philemon here, the communication of that faith, your faith, because it is given to you, may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. Effectual means that it accomplishes the effect God intends by it. And so the underlying thing that God is going to use to accomplish his intent or his work here is the faith that he has given to Philemon. And what is that? Well, first of all, and this is primary, this is foundational, and this is what we need to understand.

It's not Philemon's own subjective faith in Christ, but it is the truth that he believes. It's the truth of the one he believes. So in this sense, thy faith means the truth or the gospel. and the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. But that gospel means nothing to us until God gives us that in our own experience as something we are persuaded of. He enlightens us by that gospel, and then the objective truth of the gospel, which is the faith of God's elect, becomes our dependence. It becomes what gives us confidence and peace and joy before God.

So if we understand that, then what the Apostle is saying here to Philemon, I want the gospel that you believe the gospel of Christ that you share commonly with all believers, I want that gospel in your believing and the expressing of the truth of it to become effective by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. So here now he's pointing now to Philemon to not only the truth, but the way in which that truth becomes shared by us personally and by all of God's people, and that is the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. And so this is something that helps us to understand what this fellowship is and how significant it is, is that that fellowship we have, that common salvation, whatever we share as believers, which is the truth of the gospel, and is given to us by grace to believe it, that that is ours because of our union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that amplifies the entire matter to an entirely different level, doesn't it? All of it's high, but there's something about the way this is communicated to us from God is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because it is in Christ that we then receive everything from God. And that receiving from God is the way that God is dispensing to us the blessings of our communion with him. Okay, so I just wanted you to get that as an overview before we jump into this, because if you see this, then we will appreciate how richly the Lord is speaking here when he speaks of this, that the communication of the koinonia, the common truth believed, the common salvation, the common faith granted. All of it is ours because of our union, our God-made union with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that's very important. So this word koinonia then means sharing. It means something common, something we mutually take part of as a benefit. It means also a participation in it. So I say participation because as Brad was just reading from Philippians chapter three, he says that I may be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Jesus Christ. the righteousness which is of God by faith. And he goes on to say, and the fellowship of his suffering. There's that word, fellowship, fellowship of his suffering. There's a mutual partaking. Because of our union with Christ, there is a partaking of, a participation in all that Christ is and has done for us. And that boggles the mind, doesn't it?

Doesn't that boggle our mind that God would reveal to us that all that is in Christ, All that he accomplished, all that is given to him, all that he is as our surety, the one who guarantees us to God by his work, offering himself to God. in judgment, and bringing to us from God the mercy in that judgment that the Lord has received us for His sake.

All those things are ours in Christ. Everything God has for His people, He has given to them in the Lord Jesus Christ. And everything God requires of us, He has provided for them in the Lord Jesus Christ. So our righteousness, as Philippians 3 verse 9 says, our righteousness is His obedience. Our cleansing from sin is His blood. Our standing before God, we're justified in Christ, and all these things are ours. That is a participation, you see, so that the life of Christ is our life. not only by his spirit, but also the life he lived is the life God sees us living. He's our representative.

What he did, we did in him. And so this is taught in Adam, this is taught in Melchizedek, this is taught in Levi's relationship to Abraham in Hebrews 7. Whatever Abraham did in paying tithes to Melchizedek, Levi did because he was in his loins. Whatever Adam did in eating from that forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, all of humanity, all in Adam did. And whatever Christ did in his redeeming work as our surety, our mediator, the Savior, whatever he did in his life, all of God's people in participation of this fellowship did in him.

And Paul is saying to Philemon, I want that, that truth, the fellowship of that through Christ because of your union with Christ to so come effectually upon you that your faith in him would result in recognizing that, that this would be communicated also to the saints and specifically to Onesimus, specifically to Onesimus.

Okay, so now I'm saying all this sort of in a preview of what's to follow here. I wanna open these things up in these two heads, these two points, the foundation of our fellowship with God and with his son. And on that basis, our fellowship with one another.

In the first case, we realize that in the gospel, God has joined us to his son. And He has revealed to us, therefore, what Christ is to us from God, and what He is to God for us. That He is our life, and life because of His righteousness, and righteousness in His blood, and therefore the cleansing of our sin, and our clothing as God clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of the animal that He killed. And so this is all wrapped up in God's revelation to us of our relationship to God the Father and God the Son in the communion of this, in the communion of this, and that's called fellowship. So I want to look at that with you at the first level of our fellowship with God the Father and with his Son.

And then at the second level, our fellowship with one another and how that second level flows out of and is grounded on this foundation. Okay, so the word is fellowship. And it's a beautiful, beautiful thing here, what the Lord has done. I wanna give you an example. Sometimes preachers give examples. I wanna give you a couple of examples from scripture to help you understand this.

First of all, before we do that, let's go to 1 John 1. In 1 John, the book of 1 John, this is the epistle that the apostle John was given to write. He speaks of Christ in the very first verses of it. He says in chapter one, verse one, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life.

What's he talking about? Well, he's talking about the word of life. But what is the word of life? The Word is the Lord Jesus Christ. He himself is the Word of God. And we know this is what he's talking about, because he says next, for the life was manifested. Literally, it means uncovered. The life was there, but it was uncovered. It was manifested by God, and we have seen and bear witness and show to you that eternal life. which was with the Father and was manifested to us. God made known eternal life. And that eternal life is called the word of life.

And he goes on, that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that you also may have fellowship, same word, with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And I write these things We write these things to you that your joy may be full. So the result of this fellowship is an experience of joy, full joy. And so we see then that the foundation of our joy is this communion that we have, this common sharing with the Father and with the Son. And what is that? What is that common sharing? Well, to put it simply, it is the mind of God unfolded to us in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus warned his disciples, he says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of Herod. Now, he was not talking about physical bread, they thought he was. And they reasoned amongst themselves, they said, what does he mean? I don't know what he means, the bread of the Pharisees and of Herod. And he explained to them, he wasn't talking about physical bread, but he was talking about their doctrine, their teaching. Because as a little leaven spreads throughout the whole lump of dough and leavens and permeates the entire loaf, so the doctrine of the Pharisees and Herod would permeate everything that it touches.

So he says, beware of that. Now I say that in contrast because in the gospel, in God's word, in scripture, there's a leaven and that leaven is Christ the bread of life. Everything in Scripture is leavened by that which fills Scripture, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. So the truth of God, the mind of God, the will of God, the work of God, the glory of God, they're all revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the bread of life and it's his doctrine, it's his teaching, it's the gospel of Christ that is meant here. When we have fellowship with God the Father and with the Son, it is in the teaching, the doctrine, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ from God's word.

So that what we're doing when the gospel is delivered to us and God, the Holy Spirit, uncovers it, he makes it known to us, which he talks about here. It was manifested to us, first of all to the apostles and then to us through their ministry. Then when God does that, we've heard it. And faith is produced by the hearing of the word of God when the Holy Spirit applies it to us. We've seen it, we've understood and perceived it. And now we have this common understanding of God in his truth, which we can never have and didn't have until the Lord made it known to us through the gospel.

And this truth is the truth of his son. In 1 John chapter 5, he says this in verse 1, whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. So what he's saying there is that if we believe that Jesus is the Christ, and all that that means when it says that, it means that he's the Christ, he's God's anointed, and we'll see in a moment here how that includes many things.

But in believing that, it's the evidence that God the Holy Spirit has birthed us. has raised us from spiritual death to life and has implanted in us what was never there before, which is the truth of the gospel believed in our heart. That when he does that, then we have this fellowship. We are partaking in our minds and in our affections and all that we are by faith, we are partaking of the same thing that delights God. that is the revelation of His own mind and will and work and glory. And so then, that having this common sharing of the wonders and the glory of Christ, we have fellowship with God the Father and with His Son. And this is evidenced by faith in Christ. And the substance of it is that we believe the same things that God has said in His Word, by the Gospel.

That just as God finds Christ to be precious to Him above all things, so we find Christ to be precious to us. And just as the fellows on the ship partake of the same salvation, so we also as plagued in heart sinners, those who have been ruined by sin and have no remedy, and under the guilt and the condemnation of God for our sins and the curse of his law and certain death, and without hope, having no strength to do anything about it, and we're utterly dependent upon God to save us from our sins. And then the light of the glorious gospel of Christ shines to us. And what is the result of that?

We hear it, we believe it, and now we also have entered into the fellowship, that communion with God the Father and God the Son concerning the things of Christ, the things of His own heart. And so Jesus told Peter, James, and John at the Mount of Transfiguration, this is my beloved Son, hear ye Him. And hearing Him, believing Him, we have fellowship with the Father and with His Son.

I want to go to the Gospel of John and look at a couple of verses there. Look at the Gospel of John and see this in John chapter 17. In John 17, Jesus is praying to the Father concerning his people. In the immediate time, it was concerning the apostles, but by extension, it was to all of his people throughout time. So he speaks of them in the same way. He says in verse 6 of John 17, notice these words, and think about this in the context of fellowship. and how we come by this fellowship with God the Father and God the Son through our union with Christ, through the Spirit of God given to us to unfold the things of Christ to us and give us this faith in Him. He says in verse 6, Jesus is praying to His Father, I have manifested, unfolded, uncovered thy name to the men which thou gavest me out of the world.

Thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word. Look at verse eight. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me. See the common communion between the Father, the Son, the Gospel. And they have received them. and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. This is the operation of God in the disciples, the apostles, to convince them of the truth of Christ, and Jesus is saying he knows them. The word given to them, they received it, and they knew this was the truth.

And so they are having this fellowship, this communion, with God the Father and God the Son, and he's praying for them this way. And he says the same thing in other places in the Gospel of John. Look at John chapter eight. Look at verse 42. Jesus said to them, now this is significant.

He said to them, if God were your Father, you would love me. All right, so that helps us, doesn't it? If you're born of God, you love Christ. If God were your father, you would love me for, notice, I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but he sent me. So you can see that God the father is giving his son. And receiving the son, he gave his disciples his word, they received them. In receiving his words, they received Christ and they received the one who sent him, they received the father.

And he says here, something that's beyond our understanding, I believe, I proceeded forth and came from God. What does that mean? Well, it means he's the son of God. And what does it mean to be the Son of God in this sense? In this sense, it means that He is uniquely in relationship to God the Father as a Son.

So that all that the Father is, He is as His Son. There's no difference. As the Father is eternal, as He has been in an eternal relationship with His Son, so the Son is eternal, and He's been in an eternal relationship as the Son to the Father. There's nothing about the father that's not also true of the son.

And as a father in life, in our own relationship, when we have a son, we want people to notice the qualities of our son. Oh, have you considered my son? his whatever it might be, his attributes in some way. Maybe it's his athletic ability or it's his knowledge or something like that, his musical skills. There's any number of ways we can think about that. Or maybe it's just his appearance. Have you considered my son? Good looking, fine young man. Because a father recognizes that in his son is himself.

And so God the Father is telling us, The Lord Jesus said, I proceeded forth from the Father. All that my Father is, in all of His power and wisdom and will and work and glory, I am. Just as Moses asked, what is your name? He said, I am, that I am. That's Christ. Christ is the great I am. Just as the Father, so the Son, and so the Holy Spirit. I am. And so, in this text of scripture, he's saying, I, the one who is equal with the Father. in every way now has proceeded forth from the Father.

You see, this is much, much, much bigger than we realize. And he's saying, if you don't love me, and therefore you don't love the Father. In 1 John 5, the apostle said, 1 John 5, around verse 12 or 13, if you have the Son, then you have life, you have eternal life. But if you don't have the Son, you don't have life, you see. So everything is wrapped up in the son.

He proceeded forth from the father. He is God, very God, a very God, the eternal word, the uncreated creator of all things. He's the Lord. He's Christ. And so that's what he says. And he sent me. That's what it means here that he is the Christ. But look at verse forty five of John eight. He says, because I tell you the truth, You believe me not. Now this is the litmus test. You know, you dip those little papers in the solution and it comes out, oh, it's an acid or it's a base or it's something else. You know by what it produces.

He gave these men his words and they did not believe him. That proved they were not of God. He says, I tell you the truth, you believe me not because I tell you the truth. And then in verse 47 of John 8, he that is of God, heareth God's words and you therefore hear them not because you are not of God.

So the fellowship we have with the father and with his son, therefore, is in the words that Christ has given to us. the words that speak of him as proceeding forth from the father, being sent of God as both God and Christ. All right. So this fellowship is the same mind, a common participation with Christ in his work and in his sufferings. Look at Philippians chapter three again that Brad read for us in Philippians chapter three in verse 10, he says, The Apostle Paul, I'll read verse nine as well. He says, oh, that I might be found in him.

Considering all that Paul labored in his life to do, he says, and to just help you remember this, he says, concerning zeal, I was persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which is of the law blameless. So the Apostle Paul strove in his life to be blameless before God's law. And yet, yet, when he learned of Christ, he said, that is so repugnant, it's nauseating, it's the most revolting thing that I would have any confidence in my flesh, in what I could do in order to put myself in a relationship before God as blameless. He was boasting in what he was and what he did as a Hebrew and all these things he mentions here in his zeal and his works under the law. And he says, it was horrible, horrible. It was like 1 Samuel 2, the Lord says he lifts the beggar from the dunghill. That's where Paul was. He was on the pile of poo, his own doing. That's what it was.

It was revolting before God and now he found it revolting because the light of the gospel. God can't accept anything from me. How dare I even think that God's holiness could possibly accept something from me. And then the light of the gospel showed him as a ruined wretch, a heart-plagued sinner, foul and unable to do one thing to make himself acceptable before God, that God had done it all in his son, sending his son, and he was being rescued now from this plague of his heart.

And he was now put in agreement with God that it was the righteousness of Christ and not his own righteousness, and that alone Christ's righteousness that enabled him to stand before God, even brought into his presence. And now he was fellowshipping with God. He was fellowshipping with him.

And so he says in verse 9, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. You see, not my works. Not my works at all, but looking to Christ, finding everything in him. Verse 10, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. And notice these words, the fellowship of his sufferings. Turn that heater down. The fellowship of his sufferings, that common participation in the sufferings of Christ. How can we have possibly had anything to do with that?

Well, because God says He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement, the beating for our peace came upon Him. So see how the Lord is teaching us. This is what Paul wanted now. He wanted to know Christ in these things, the power of his resurrection, that when Christ was raised, that same power put forth by God was put forth by Christ in raising his people from the dead with him because of his righteousness. Paul wanted to know that, but he also wanted this same suffering, this attitude, the experience of sufferings that Christ experienced to be in him because through the sufferings of his body, each individual member of the church, Christ's sufferings would be finished up. because they would be fulfilled and at the end of time all the body of Christ would be delivered from all sufferings and There would be no sufferings anymore because in Christ they had this fellowship in his sufferings all right now Another verse of scripture about this, look at 1 Corinthians 10.

So notice in these that we've been reading here that this fellowship comes to us from God. God unfolds and covers to us the mystery of Christ and of his gospel. And he implants this in us to produce this faith in us so that we see it and we're enjoying it now with this great peace. And he says in these texts of scripture that by our union with Christ, we are now partaking of him. This common glorious truth that God the Father has given to us, his son who proceeded forth from God and came to us, he sent him. Now we're partaking of him.

He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, notice verse 16. 1 Corinthians 10, 16, he says, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not, here's the word, communion of the blood of Christ? Sharing, common, taking hold, participating in the same belief, the same truth. We are like hungry beggars eating the bread from heaven and finding all of our life and sustenance in Christ and Him crucified. And this communion that we have in this as needy beggars, helpless in our sins and needing someone to save us and finding that Christ alone could and did and laying hold upon Him by God-given faith.

And now we're taking part of Him. We're taking of Him into ourself by faith as our life. And we're coming to God this way. We come to God through the way, the truth, the life, to the Father. And this coming to God is this fellowship with God the Father and with His Son.

We are occupied with and interested in and leaning upon and finding delight in and glorying, boasting in the same thing that God finds delightful. which is Jesus Christ and him crucified for his people. The blood of Christ represents all the work Christ did in the sacrifice of himself.

And we're taking part of that. And then he says this in other places, too. We all have this common bond, don't we? This common salvation, as I mentioned from the book of Jude, where Jude says it this way in Jude 3. He says, Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write to you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints, that faith of the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. So seeing these things that The fellowship we have is because Christ has given to us His words, the words concerning Him, how He proceeded forth from the Father as very God of very God and came as Christ to fulfill all that was written of Him. And that is for our eternal salvation in His obedience, in His sufferings. in His righteousness and doing those things for us. That's amazing, isn't it? Now, I want to give you two examples from Scripture that help to reinforce this and see how it applies to us.

In the book of John, and you don't even really have to turn here because it's so familiar, but in the book of John, in chapter 20, Jesus had risen from the dead, and in verse 19, it says, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week when the doors were shut, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst and said to them, peace be unto you. And when he had said so, said he showed to them his hands and his side. And they, the disciples, were glad. It says, then were they, the disciples, glad when they saw the Lord. Okay. So they had joy. Why? They saw His nail prints. They saw His side. And they saw Him alive.

And the full impact of that doesn't come until later when it says in verse 21, then said Jesus to them, peace be unto you as my father has sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, receive ye the Holy Ghost. Now this shows us that the Spirit of God was given to his disciples because Christ rose from the dead. He accomplished our salvation. Whosoever sins you remit, they are remitted to them. Whoever sins you retain, they are retained.

But Thomas, one of the 12, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to Thomas, we have seen the Lord. But he said, except I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. And so after eight days again, the disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Then Jesus came, and the doors being shut, and he stood in the midst, and he said to them, peace be unto you. Then said he to Thomas, reach hither thy finger, And behold my hands, and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side, and be not faithless, but believing.

Now notice the communion that follows this. And Thomas answered and said unto him, my Lord and my God. That's communion, isn't it? That's communion in the deepest sense. Here Thomas sees the crucified risen Christ and in seeing him he sees the fulfillment of all God said in scripture that his son would be given as a servant. And as a servant, he would yield himself and sacrifice to God for our sins, would die, would rise again. And having risen from the dead, he would be justified and he would make known this gospel to those people he was sent to save. And so Thomas realizes this and he says, everything that the scriptures have said concerning Christ and his work is now fulfilled This is my Lord, this is my God. And I love the way it is in the Greek, too. I've heard it quoted, ho kurios, that means Lord, my Lord. Ho theos, the Lord of me, the God of me. But there's another place in scripture I want to look at as an example, too.

And this is this is one where a man who was an Ethiopian had gone up to Jerusalem for the Passover and was there. He was a eunuch, a man who was, he was devoted to the queen. He had a charge of all of her treasure, and he came to Jerusalem to worship.

This is in Acts chapter eight, and in verse 28, it says, when he was returning, and he's sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet. This is Acts eight, verse 29. Then the Spirit said to Philip, while the eunuch is sitting in his chariot, reading from Isaiah 53, the Spirit said to Philip, go near and join yourself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah.

And he said, understandest what thou readest? And he said, how can I? How can I except some man should guide me? And he desired, Philip, that he would come up and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb dumb before his hearers, so he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, his judgment was taken away. And who shall declare his generation, for his life is taken away from the earth?

And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this, of himself or of some other man? And Philip opened his mouth and began at the same scripture and preached to him, Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water and the eunuch said, see, Here's water.

What hinders me to be baptized? Perhaps he was nervous. Perhaps he was thinking there's got to be something between me and this identification with Christ, this communion with God. And Philip said, if you believe with all your heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still.

They went both down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and Philip baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more, and the eunuch went on his way rejoicing." You see that?

So how is it that by reading Isaiah 53 and explaining it, that the eunuch concluded that Jesus Christ is the son of God. Because it says in 1 John 5, verse 1, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And we saw that Thomas, when he saw the risen, the crucified Christ risen, he said, my Lord, my God. He recognized him as God. We have fellowship with the Father and with his Son, the eternal life, the eternal one through the gospel.

How is it? Well, it's because in the Old Testament scriptures, God says, for example, in Psalm chapter two, he says, why did the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ. Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from him. He that sits in the heaven shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision, and then he shall speak to them in his wrath and vex them in his sword of displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the Lord has said to me, thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee." The resurrection?

This is explained in Acts 13.33, the resurrection of Christ is the proof that he was the son of God.

And Philip explains to the Ethiopian, Isaiah 53 was not written about the prophet. It was not written about you. It was written about some other man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the one who is the servant of Jehovah, and as his servant he bore the sins of his people. He was crucified, he was beaten, our iniquities were laid upon him, and he was wounded because of our sins. He died for sinners.

The eunuch is hearing this. The substitute, the servant substituted is the son of God, the one who is the anointed, the Christ. And in Isaiah 53, where he speaks of this, Isaiah says it this way. He says, at the end, He says, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He put him to grief when he made his soul an offering for sin. He, now this is talking about afterward, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong his days, which of course means a resurrection and an eternal rule, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand as the king.

And so these things were preached and explained and in the receiving of these words from the Lord Jesus Christ through his apostles. Because the apostle John says, I want you to have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with God, the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ. So that what these men did when they understood that Jesus Christ, risen, who had been crucified, is the Son of God, the Christ of God, They bowed before him and they were so happy. They couldn't express their joy. He went on rejoicing. Thomas bows himself, my Lord, my God. And the Apostle Paul, everything is done except for what I have in him. You see, this is the fellowship.

This is taking part of Christ's broken body and his shed blood as a needy sinner and God delighted in that one. That one, that sinner who lays hold on Christ, Jesus said in John 6, 37, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me, notice the fellowship, I will in no wise cast out. Because Christ is the bread given for sinners. The Lord Jesus Christ, we have this communion in the body and in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's what what Paul is trying to communicate or is communicating to Philemon here.

In Philemon, he's saying that the fellowship, the communication of thy faith, what God has given you in Christ through the Spirit of God joining you to Christ in a And in eternal life, so that the Spirit of God giving you faith, you are partaking of the common salvation, the common truth, the mind and the will and the work and the glory of God the Father in His Son, who proceeded forth from the Father and who was given by the Father in order that you might live.

And in taking forth of this truth, what is it we have? We have the greatest peace. What greater peace could there be than to know that what Christ did, I did in him. And what God gave to him in that resurrection, in the eternal life, he gave to all of his people with him.

We're connected to him. We're part of the same body. Every member receives the same thing. And so in Romans 15, 7, he says, as receive one another, even as God, as Christ, has received us. I'll read that to you. He says, receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God. Remember when he was on earth? Who did Christ receive?

Harlots, publicans, sinners, those he came to save. Why did He have fellowship with them? Because that fellowship was in His blood and His body, shed for their salvation. And they were partaking of Him by faith. They saw Him, they heard Him, they saw Him, they perceived and they were laying hold upon Him. And this gave them great joy and peace in believing. All right, this is what Paul is telling Philemon.

The way Christ received you to the glory of God, you receive one another, and in particular, receive Onesimus. In fact, receive him as you would receive Christ himself. because you are one, one body, and every member, members in particular, what a great salvation. The same Lord, the same faith, the same salvation from the same horrible sin and dominion and guilt and condemnation and wrath. You see, when you've been delivered from the same thing, when you've suffered the same thing as somebody else, there's a camaraderie, there's a bond, isn't there?

If you believe the same thing, you have fellowship. If you believe what the apostles taught, you have fellowship with the apostles, and with his son, and with the father, you see. But if you don't, as Jesus told those in John 8, because I tell you the truth, you believe not, then we don't have any fellowship with God. No union, no participation, no communion. even though we may talk about it.

It's this knowledge of God, this eternal life in union with Christ, is given to us through the gospel. What a blessing this is. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ, who was given to us as the bread of life, who gave himself for us, for our sins, and rose again for our life because of his righteousness. The cleansing of our sins, everything has been taken care of in him.

And we come to you by Him. He's the way. He's the truth. He's the life. And we have found Him to be our way. The truth from God to us. The life from God for us. And our life is His life. We depend upon His life. We depend on His life that He lived. His life that He gives to us. We depend on His advocacy and His intercession. We depend on His rule as King. We want Him to rule over us in every way. And we say with Thomas, oh, my Lord, my God, you have done all this for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.

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