A Prisoner

We turn this morning to the epistle of Paul to Philemon, this short letter which we read, in which Paul writes to his brother Philemon concerning Onesimus, who has been saved under the preaching of the gospel. And Paul writes to Philemon to receive him as a brother in Christ. But Paul opens the letter in this way.

Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ and Timothy our brother unto Philemon our dearly beloved and fellow labourer. And to our beloved, Ophir 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. Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ. A prisoner.

Paul knew what it was to be a prisoner. He knew what it was most of all in times gone by to be a prisoner, a captive to sin. He was bound as all men are by sin which chained him and slew him and held him captive in bonds from which he could not escape. though he was religious, though he grew up in religion, though he thought he saw God, though he thought he served God, though he thought he knew God, he knew nothing and in his sin he hated God and when Christ came and he heard of the gospel and he heard of those that worshipped and followed Christ. He persecuted them, he hated them. Such was his enmity towards God and the truth. He was a prisoner, a slave to sin.

Just like you and just like me, we're all the same. Prisoners by nature, captives, in need of deliverance, in need of freedom. in need of being delivered from our sin, washed clean from the filthy rags of our own righteousness, set free. We need Christ and we need his salvation. Well Saul, who became named Paul, met with Christ in the midst of his rebellion, in the midst of his captivity, hating the gospel, hating Christ and those that followed him, Christ met him on the way to Damascus and cried out unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And as Christ preached unto Saul, The chains fell off. The captivity was taken away. And Christ led him into freedom. He was washed of his sins, made anew in Christ, and he knew deliverance. He knew liberty, freedom, This weekend, the United States of America has celebrated their liberty, their freedom, in remembering 250 years of freedom for which its people are thankful.

But freedom always comes at a price. Every nation that's brought to peace pays a price. There are battles fought and blood shed Freedom always comes at a cost. And Paul's freedom came at a price, a great price. The one who saved him, the one who delivered him, the one who set him free, gave his all. Gave himself. to set Paul free. Paul knew freedom in Christ and he preached Christ and he preached that gospel and he preached deliverance through the blood of Christ. He preached the one that set the captives free.

But that freedom cost Christ everything. When the Jews came unto Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, when they came to arrest Him and take Him to trial and ultimately to crucify Him, to slay Him upon the cross, they approached unto Him and He said unto them, if you seek Me, let these go. Take Me and let these go. And for his people to be set free, for Christ's people to be delivered, he was taken captive, bound, a prisoner.

He was put in bonds that that people should be set free, that Paul should be delivered. And ultimately, he died that Paul should live. Did he die that you should live? Did he pay that price of his own blood for your freedom, for your deliverance? Did Christ give all for you.

Well he did for Paul and Paul knew it and he preached him and he preached that salvation, he preached that deliverance, he preached that freedom that he knew in Christ. From his prison cells, in bonds, he preached to Onesimus of Christ and his salvation. of freedom from sin, of freedom from condemnation through the blood of Christ. And Onesimus was given faith to hear and to believe and the chains of his captivity fell away, he was set free. Onesimus, a sinner like Paul, who'd wronged Philemon, who'd robbed Philemon, one who could not be trusted, was washed clean in the blood of Christ and set free. Yes, in Bonds, Paul continued to preach Christ. He knew the freedom there was through the blood of Jesus Christ, he knew the deliverance from sin.

And yet, he knew the price that Christ had to pay to set him free. And in a very personal way, Paul was made to experience the same price, the same captivity, that brings liberty unto others. In preaching of Christ and his gospel, in preaching deliverance from sin, Paul paid for it by being taken like Christ was and incarcerated. How often he was put in jail, how often he was put in bonds for Christ's sake. for the sake of preaching the gospel, for the sake of others, in order that others should believe, in order that others should be led to Christ and freedom in Christ, Paul suffered greatly, put in jail, taken to Rome to be tried, to be executed, beaten, bruised, hated, mocked, What a price Paul paid to preach the freedom that is in Christ.

So here he writes to Philemon in bonds, describing himself as a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He'd been delivered from his sins, no longer a prisoner of sin and death. free and alive in Christ, yet in this world brought to suffer for Christ's sake. He was bound to Christ. To him it mattered not. The liberty he had in Christ The love, the grace, the freedom he had in Christ, the mercy he knew was worth every price he must pay in this earth. To be bound for a moment in a jail on earth and have eternal liberty ahead of him. What a price to pay, that was nothing for what he had in Christ. Oh how he loved his Saviour and the grace of the Gospel.

And here from prison he writes of that grace. He writes this letter to Philemon, this wonderful picture of God's grace in salvation, this wonderful picture of the Gospel, this wonderful picture of Christ and his substitutionary death for sinners. This wonderful picture of the love and the mercy of God unto the most wretched sinners, he writes from prison under Philemon and says, receive Onesimus as me.

Receive him as though he's me, on my behalf. He's been brought to faith in Christ. Yes, here, in this book, in this letter, Paul, as it were, is set forth as a type of Christ. He's a prisoner in a prison, saying unto his people, unto the church, unto Philemon, he's one I've set free, receive him. Through my bonds he's delivered, set free, receive him. Be gracious unto him as I've been gracious, as God's been gracious.

Receive him in love. He commends Onesimus to Philemon, to ask him to welcome him into the fold, into the church, into his fellowship. Yes Philemon, Onesimus has wronged you. Yes he's robbed you in days gone by. Yes by nature you cannot trust him. But see the change he's been brought to faith in Christ. Receive him as Christ, receive him as one of his people. God has set his love upon him. I've given myself for him. receive him.

Naturally speaking, this must have been hard for Philemon, knowing what Onesimus had done. And Paul knew how hard it would be. Like Onesimus, Paul himself, before he was saved, had greatly wronged God's people. He'd hated them. He hated Christ and his people. He'd gone about thinking he served God, persecuting the church, hounding believers, gathering them up to be put to death. He stood by as Stephen was stoned to death. He hated them.

And God's people would rightly have been wary of Saul of Paul, this man that put many to death. And yet there came a day, when Christ having appeared unto Saul on the Damascus road, when Saul having been delivered from his sins, having heard the gospel and brought to faith in Christ alone, There came a day when he was sent to the church and how they were brought to receive him. Oh the grace they were given to receive this one that once hated them.

So Paul writes to Philemon, receive Onesimus. We're all sinners, Philemon. We've all wronged each other. Be merciful. Receive him in Christ. Saul had persecuted the church, yet God loved him. God saved him. Christ gave himself for him and sent him to the church, to his people, to preach Christ unto them. What a preacher! Would we receive such a one today? Oh, how wary we would be! Oh, how cautious we would be. Do you know what that man did?

And yet the change that Christ made in him. Grace. Yes, Paul was chosen as the 12th apostle in the place of Judas. Judas, one of the 12 who betrayed Christ. and gave him up to the Jews, gave him up to the chief priests, to the scribes, the Pharisees, for pieces of silver. He gave him up, he betrayed him. And God chose Saul. in his place. A man who was no better than Judas. He too was a hater of Christ, a persecutor of the church.

And yet, chosen by God, chosen by grace, and sent to the church in Judas' place. The apostles themselves had gathered and had done what they thought was right, they'd drawn lots to choose another in Judas's place. But Paul was God's choice. By nature unqualified, a persecutor of the church, a hater of the gospel, and yet this wretched religious sinner who elsewhere describes himself as the chief of sinners, was the very one that God chose as his twelfth apostle, chosen by grace, washed in the blood of the Lamb, loved from all eternity, chosen by the Father, given unto the Son, who gave himself. for Paul and sent him to his people as a prisoner who preached the gospel.

Paul a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Paul refers to himself like that in various places. Ephesians 3 verse 1 he says for this cause I pour the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you would how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery as I wrote to four in a few words whereby when you read you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ Chapter 4 of Ephesians, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.

2 Timothy 1.8 Paul says, Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, who have saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who have abolished death and have brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles." Often he refers to himself as the Lord's prisoner, because he served Christ, he was bound to Christ, he gave everything for this Gospel. but literally in preaching it.

In numerous places he was taken and captured and put in cells. How men hate the gospel, how they love to silence it, how they try to avoid to hear it, and how they try to prevent God's preachers from preaching it. And how often when Paul and the other apostles went about preaching Christ did others rise up in opposition and hatred and take them and put them into cells to try to prevent them. But they could not prevent it.

The gospel cannot be bound, it cannot be silenced. Numerous places in the book of Acts we read of Paul in prison. We read of him in Philippi, and the Philippian jailer, who in prison heard Paul, heard his praise, heard his praise, heard the gospel, and was brought to faith in Christ. The gospel cannot be quenched, it cannot be silenced.

Indeed, By the works of men and their desperate attempts to silence it, God uses these things to broadcast the gospel throughout all the earth. In chapter 28 of Acts, Paul writes that, Yet I was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. He was taken captive and brought to Rome. where the gospel was preached to the Romans. As Paul describes himself as a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

And in type and figure, he is a picture, as it were, of Christia, who speaks under his people of those for whom he's given himself. Christ as it were himself says, this is my son begotten in the gospel, begotten through my bonds, who in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me. Receive him. He says unto his people, receive this sinner who I've washed in my blood, receive him. But it cost Christ to save such a one. He writes out of bondage. He writes out of prison. And this situation of Paul's is a picture of Christ, who when he was taken and arrested and tried, was ultimately brought to take the place of another. Pilate sought to release him. Pilate sought to find a way to deliver him. But the people would not listen.

In Matthew 27 we read of Barabbas, whose place ultimately Christ took. That prisoner who was held, who deserved to die, Christ took his place. In Matthew 27 verse 15 we read, Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner called Barabbas. Therefore, when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. When he was sat down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man? For I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.

But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus. The governor answered and said unto them, Whoever of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas. Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified. and the governor said, why, what evil have he done?

But they cried out the more, saying, let him be crucified. When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. See ye to it. Then answered all the people and said, his blood be on us and on our children. Then released he, barabbas unto them. And when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the common hall and gathered unto him the whole band of soldiers, and they stripped him and put on him a scarlet robe.

Yes, Christ took Barabbas' place. He became the prisoner and Barabbas was set free. He was the substitute in the place of the sinner. Barabbas was one man, but he was a picture of every prisoner, every captive sinner for whom Christ died. Barabbas was a picture of Paul. Barabbas, if you know Christ, was a picture of you.

Were you that guilty sinner that deserved to die? Were you in the prison cell condemned, convicted because of your sin, your unbelief. Are you that Barabbas? And did Christ become the prisoner in your stead? He became the prisoner in the place of others.

He was bound to set the captives free. to set those bound by sin, condemned by sin, condemned to death. He was bound to set them free. Isaiah wrote, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek, he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. Christ came to the prison where sinners like you and I dwelt, where we were bound fast by our sin, and he swung open the door. And he came in with his gospel and proclaimed liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.

And he said, let my people go. Let them go free. And they took Christ in their place. Barabbas went out free. Paul went out free, though guilty of death. Believer, did you go out free? If you did, Christ took your place, bound as the prisoner and led out to be crucified, nailed to the tree. slain in the place of sinners. Oh the love and the grace of God, seen in this gospel.

By nature we are all captives, all prisoners. bound fast by our sin and we can't escape. We can't deliver ourselves. We can't set ourselves free. We can't improve ourselves. We can say we'll seek God. We'll try to live right but there's nothing we can do. It's a downward sinking path. We're unable to blot out our past sins. and we're unable to stop our future sins. No matter what we do, we keep on sinning. We're so chained by it, we're so bound by it. It's in our very nature, we are sin. We're lost and unable to deliver ourselves, we're drowning and we need to be delivered from the drowning waters of God's judgment.

And yet Christ came unto sinners, captive sinners in the prison cells to break open the prison doors and to lead them out to freedom, to break the chains of sin, the chains of death. He was bound, He was jailed, He became the prisoner to set His people free. He gave Himself that his people should live forever. Oh the grace of God. He gave himself for the chief of sinners, Paul. That wretched sinner, that wretched religious sinner, that sought to put Christ to death, that sought to put his people to death, that hated the gospel, Christ loved him and gave himself for him.

And here Paul, the prisoner, says under Philemon, Receive Onesimus, who's been set free by this gospel. Though I'm in bonds, he's been set free from his sin. Receive him. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds, which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me, whom I have sent again. Thou therefore receive him, that is mine own bowels, whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. But without thy mind would I do nothing, that thy benefit should not be as it were of necessity, but willingly. Receive him. Receive him. He's been brought to faith like you, Philemon. He's been washed in the blood of Christ like you, Philemon. Receive him. Just like you received me. just like you received me.

Once I persecuted the church, once I did all manner of evil against the church, thinking I serve God. But Christ died for me, and appeared unto me, and caused me to hear, and gave me faith, and I lived. And he sent me to the church, the chief of sinners, And he said unto them, receive him, receive him. And you did Philemon, you received me and you received Christ. You received the gospel because God received you in Christ and opened your eyes. He opened your eyes to see him. And knowing Him, you received me. Then receive Onesimus. Receive him in the same grace that you've received me. Because this is the gospel, Philemon.

It's grace to wretched, blind, evil sinners like you and I, who've done nothing to deserve salvation. All we've done is persecute the church. All we've done is hate Christ. All we've done is wrong others. And all the time Christ loved us. He was bound for us. He became the prisoner for us that we should be set free. All the time He said His love, His mercy, His grace upon us. Then love others as you have been loved. Forgive others as you yourself have been forgiven. Be gracious as you yourself have received grace.

For grace. receives sinners. The religious, the Jews, said of Christ, in condemnation, this man receiveth sinners. He eats and drinks with sinners. He mixes with sinners. And they cast him out because of it. Yet because this man receives sinners, he can receive sinners like you and I. Wretched, undeserving sinners. Sinners that men wouldn't touch. Sinners like Saul, who the church would be wary of. Sinners like Onesimus, who Philemon would not trust by nature. Christ receiveth sinners. who hate him, who wrong him, and yet whom he loves, and washed clean in his blood, and gave all for.

Has he received you? This man receiveth sinners. Are you a sinner? Has he received you? Have you been received by grace? Has God welcomed you into the fold of His people? Has a lost sheep welcomed into the fold? Has He washed you in the blood of the Lamb? Has He set His love upon you in spite of all you've done to set yourself at a distance? In spite of all you continue to do in the flesh to set yourself at a distance? Has He received you? Does He receive you? Does He forgive you every single day of the way? This man receiveth sinners. Have you been received by grace? Do you receive others the way he received you?

As sinners, just as evil as you are. As sinners, wretched sinners, saved by grace. Do you look on others and see what's on the outside? and point a finger and say, I'm not sure, would you receive them as wretched sinners like yourself? Seeing Christ in them, looking upon them as you're looked upon in Christ, as nothing in themselves, but perfect in the sight of God, as washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Paul writes under his brother, if thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. If he have wronged thee, or oh if they ought, put that on mine account. Put that on mine account. And Christ says under his people, here's a sinner whom I saved. Here's a sinner whom I saved. If you love me, receive him. If this one has wronged you or owes you, put that on mine account. For I paid the price of all his sins, of all her sins, every one. I loved them and gave myself for them. just as I loved you and gave myself for you.

Are you a prisoner of Jesus Christ? Or are you a prisoner of sin? Are you still bound by your sin? Still loving your sin? Still trapped by your sin? Still blinded by your sin? Or has Christ come unto you in the way and said unto you, why persecutest thou me? I loved thee and gave myself for thee. I have loved you and I gave myself for you. Has he come into your prison cell and set you free? Oh, the grace of God that brings salvation. Amen.

A Prisoner

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