If you would, let's open our
Bibles together to the book of 2 Timothy. 2 Timothy chapter
1. It's your turn. Let me thank
all of you for your hard work and putting on the conference. This past weekend was just a
very special time. I thank you for all your work
in that. Jonathan Tate this morning is
preaching in Danville, Kentucky. We want to remember him. Lord
willing, on Tuesday, Ed Sparks is going to have a surgery on
his throat. He has developed an issue to
swallowing, and they figured out the problem, going to be
able to correct it so he can eat and enjoy more. Dad's good
at home cooking. And also, their daughter, Novi,
they have determined that they need to put her on the kidney
transplant list, and they've begun that process to put her
on on that list. Novi is happy about it. She's
looking forward to this to make her feel better, but we want
to remember her and that family in prayer. All right. Second
Timothy chapter one, we'll begin our reading in verse 13. Hold fast the form of sound words,
which thou have heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ
Jesus. that good thing which was committed
unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwells in us. This thou
knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from
me, of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. The Lord give mercy
unto the house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me. He was
not ashamed of my chain, but when he was in Rome, he sought
me out very diligently and found me. The Lord grant unto him that
he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. And in how many
things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very
well. All right, let's stand together
as Sean leads us in singing our call to worship. Remember, Lord, the blood and
sweat of Him who more than paid my debt. Remember Christ upon
the tree, and now be merciful to me. Remember how that Jesus
bled in this poor guilty sinner's stead. He bore your wrath and
curse for me in His own body on the tree. A perfect righteousness He wrought,
And by His blood my pardon bought, So that His righteousness might
be By grace imputed now to me. I plead the merits of the blood
of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The sinner's substitute is He,
a mighty substitute for me. Okay, if you would now, please
turn to song number 228, My Faith Has Found a Resting Place. My faith has found a resting
place Not in device nor creature I trust the Ever-Living One,
His wounds for me shall bleed. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that He died for me. Enough for me that Jesus saves,
this ends my fear and doubt. A sinful soul, I come to Him,
He'll never cast me out. I need no other argument, I need
no other help. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that He died for me. My heart is leaning on the Word,
the written Word of God. Salvation by my Savior's name,
salvation through His blood. I need no other argument, I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me. My great Physician heals the
sick, the lost He came to save. For me His precious blood He
shed, for me His life He gave. It is enough that Jesus died,
and that He died for me. Let's open our Bibles to Acts
chapter 16. We can read it in verse 25 of
Acts 16. And at midnight, Paul and Silas
prayed, and sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard
them. And suddenly there was a great
earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and
immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bands
were loosed. And the keeper of the prison,
awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors open,
he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing
that the prisoners had been fled. But Paul cried with a loud voice,
saying, do thyself no harm, for we are all here. Then he called
for a light and sprang in and came trembling and fell down
before Paul and Silas. and brought them out and said,
sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house. And they spake unto him the word
of the Lord and all that were in his house. And he took them
that same hour of the night and washed their stripes and was
baptized. he and all his straight way. And when he had brought them
into his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced, believing
in God with all his house." We'll end our reading there. Let's
pray. Our God and Father in heaven,
Lord, Thank you for this day. We thank you for this opportunity
to once again gather the people. Lord, we pray you bless us with
your presence here this morning. Lord, we pray that you bless
our pastor as he stands in this place, Lord, to declare that
which you've given him to study and prepare, that which you've
laid upon his heart, Lord, bless him in declaring the truth of
thy word. And Lord, bless each of us in
hearing. Lord, give us ears to hear and
a heart to receive thy word. Lord, grant us faith. Lord, bless
us, each one gathered here. Bless us to know the Lord Jesus
Christ. Lord, for those of our number
who in a time of trouble and difficulty. Lord, we pray you'd
be with your people. Lord, be with those who are sick
and hurting. Lord, we pray for Ed and Novi. Lord, that you would be with
them. Lord, we think of our brother
Aaron. Lord, that you would continue
to strengthen him, be with him and Michelle in days to come. for Barb and, Lord, for, again,
so many who are in a time of trouble and difficulty. Lord,
we know that thou art the great physician. Lord, there's no case
too hard for thee. Lord, be with your people again.
And Lord, as we pray for your presence here, Lord, and in all
places where thy people have gathered together, Lord, to worship. Lord, we pray you bless with
your presence. You've said in your word where two or three
are gathered in your name. Lord, that you'll be right there
in the midst of them, in their presence. Lord, we pray for our brother
Jonathan as he traveled to Danville, Lord, that you would bless him. Lord, bless him in preaching. And Lord, we pray for that congregation. or that you would be with them. Continue to bless that work,
Lord, if you'd be pleased to do so. Now again, we thank you for this
day. We thank you for your many, many
blessings. Lord, forgive us for when we
fail to praise thee and give thee thanks for thy many blessings. Lord, thankful for the many young
ones, these little ones you've given us. Lord, pray that you
would Protect and keep them, Lord, in this world. Lord, chiefly
and above all things, that you would be merciful to their souls. Lord, that you would cause them
to fall at your feet. That you'd bless them to know
the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, we thank you for the day.
Thank you for your many blessings. Thank you for this, the privilege
of gathering together as a people to worship. Pray you'd set aside
the thoughts and cares of this world, or let us see Christ. Let us know more of our Savior,
which in His name we pray and give thee thanks. Amen. If you would, sing with me on
the chorus. When peace like a river attendeth
my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, Thou hast taught me to say, it
is well, it is well with my soul, it is well. with my soul it is well it is
well with my soul though satan should buff it though try should
come let this blessed assurance control that Christ hath regarded
my helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my soul with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. My sin, oh the bliss of this
glorious thought. My sin not in part, but the whole,
is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord,
praise the Lord, O my soul, it is well. with my soul it is well it is
well with my soul and lord haste the day when my faith shall be
sight the clouds be rolled back as a scroll the trump shall resound
and the lord shall descend even so it is well with my soul it
is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. Thank you Brady for letting everybody
join in on that chorus. It reminded me of a conversation
I had with Betty Gruver this week, and I asked her, how are
you? How are you? And with a tear
in her voice, she said, well, well. She said, God's done well. He's done well. He's done good.
Even if I don't feel it, if I don't see it, even if I don't understand
it, God's done well. It's well. All right, if you
would, open your Bibles with me again to the book of 2 Timothy.
I've titled the lesson this morning, Good Works and Mercy. That sounds
like an odd mix, doesn't it? Good works and mercy. But you
know, both are part of the believer's life, important part of the believer's
life. But now where do they meet? What's the mix in these two things?
But first I want us to look at good works. Hold your place there.
Look at Ephesians chapter two. Good works, like I said, are
an important part of the believer's life. The believer is created. God created us to do good works.
Look at Ephesians two verse eight. For by grace are you saved through
faith. It's not of works. By grace are
you saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It's the gift
of God, not of works. lest any man should boast. For
we're his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,
which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Believers are created to do good works, we're commanded to do
good works. And as I've told you so often,
this is the definition God's word gives us of good works.
A good work is a work done in faith on the body of Christ. It's a work that you do to help,
to relieve, to be a help and a blessing to another believer
in the body of Christ. And the way I want us to consider
good works this morning is by looking at a word that Paul uses
in verse 16 in our text. It's the word refreshed. In verse
16, 2 Timothy 1, Paul says, the Lord give mercy under the house
of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me and was not ashamed of my
chain. I looked at this word refresh
and I found five ways in God's word that we do this good work
of refreshing one another. And the first one is here in
this first 16 is by standing. We refresh one another by standing
with those who are in trouble. The word refresh that Paul uses
here means to recover from the effects of heat. It's just like
you've been out working in the yard, or you've been out running,
exercising, whatever, you're hot and sweaty, and you take
a big drink of cold water, and you're refreshed. That's what
this word means. Now at this time, and when Paul
was writing this letter, and often throughout his ministry,
the apostle felt the heat. He was feeling the heat. He was
in the heat of battle. Now he never shied away from
it, but he felt the heat of it. And when that heat got turned
up, the hatred of the world, the hatred of Paul's doctrine,
the hatred of the Jews, people would often desert Paul. I mean,
you know, he got into crosshairs and people got away from him.
They didn't want to be in the crosshairs too. They just deserted him. They left him and when that wasn't
good enough, they had to go lie on him. They would lie on him.
They turned to another doctrine. They started preaching another
doctrine get some sort of gain for themselves, some sort of
glory for the flesh. You know, like, oh, they're so
much smarter than the apostle Paul. They have this doctrine
and nobody else does. And those things happen. And
we know that was in the will of God. But those things hurt
Paul. He still felt the heat of them.
He experiences several times in his ministry. Look at verse
15. He says, this thou knowest, that
all they which are in age, Not some, all they which are in Asia
be turned away from me. Of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. Now Phygelus and Hermogenes must
have been leaders of some sort. And they just turned their back
on Paul. And all in Asia, he said, deserted. Maybe these two
men, Phygelus and Hermogenes, maybe they led them away. I don't
know. But it hurt. Look in chapter
two, second Timothy, verse 16. But shun profane and vain babblings
for they'll increase under more ungodliness and their word will
eat as doth the canker of whom is Hymenas and Philetus who concerning
the truth have erred saying that the resurrection has passed already
and overthrow the faith of some. Now, Hymenus and Philetus, they
separated with Paul over a doctrinal issue, and they're heretics.
And they're saying the resurrection has passed already. If there's
no resurrection of the dead, Christ is not raised, and we're
yet in our sins. We're all men most miserable.
This was a doctrinal issue, and it was a serious one. They're
heretics. But in doing so, they overthrew
the faith of some. They led some away from Christ.
Now, I know that they weren't those that Christ loved and died
for and kept in his hand, but they led him away. That hurt
Paul. Look at chapter four, second
Timothy, verse nine. Do thy diligence to come shortly
unto me, for Demas hath forsaken me. There's an article in our
bulletin. Don't be like Demas. For Demas hath forsaken me, having
loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica,
Crescens to Glacia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Only Luke is with him.
He's the only one left with me. Take Mark and bring him with
thee. He's profitable to me for the ministry. Now Demas forsook
Paul. He got turned up. He forsook
Paul. He loved this world more, more than Christ, more than the
gospel. And he forsook Paul. It looks to me like Crescens
and Titus, they left to go preach. It wasn't that they deserted
Paul or turned their back on him. Lord sent him somewhere
to preach. I think that's what that means,
but be that as it may, Paul was left alone. He and Luke were
the only ones there, and that, it hurt Paul. I mean, I know
Demas loved this present world more than Christ, and if he stayed
in that state, I know he didn't belong to the Lord, but for a
while, he and Paul were friends, and it hurt. He felt the heat
of that. Look in verse 14 of, yeah, chapter four, verse 14. Alexander the coppersmith did
me much evil. The Lord reward him according
to his works, of whom be thou aware also, for he hath greatly
withstood our words. And Paul said, this man, Alexander
the coppersmith, you beware him, you just avoid him, beware of
him. He's a, don't do business with him. If you need coppersmith
work done, find it somewhere else. Just stay away from this
fellow, avoid him. And you especially beware of
his doctrine. Because what he's doing, this
evil that he's done to Paul is greatly withstanding the preaching
of Christ. He's wrapped it in religion.
He's not wrapped it in the world. He's wrapping this thing in religion.
He's taking scripture and twisting it and done much evil. Paul says
he comes in where you're preaching. As we understand it, Timothy
was the pastor somewhere. He comes in there and starts
talking religion. He said, you beware him. You beware him. He's there to cause trouble.
He greatly withstood. It's evil. Back in 1 Timothy
1, Paul said, Alexander made shipwreck of the faith of some.
Don't let him shipwreck folks that you love now. You beware
of him. And it hurt Paul. I mean, this happened. He said,
beware of me. Now this hurt him. Look at verse
16. At my first answer, no man stood
with me, but all men forsook me. I pray God that it may not
be laid to their charge. Notwithstanding, the Lord stood
with me and strengthened me. that by me the preaching might
be fully known, and that all Gentiles might hear, and I was
delivered out of the mouth of the lion. Now Paul was delivered
out of the mouth of the lion, and the Lord stood with him.
He'd a whole lot rather have the Lord stand with him than any man,
wouldn't he? But all men forsook him. They would not stand shoulder
to shoulder with Paul. They're not gonna put their life
at risk in this thing, and Paul felt the heat of that. Now all
this happened to Paul in his ministry. The Lord told him all
these things that await him, He went headlong into it. He
would not have changed his message. One iota to stop any of this
suffering from happening, but it's still hurt. Paul was a,
was a hardened soldier or willing. We'll, we'll look at this next
week where Paul tells Timothy endure hardness as a good soldier
of Jesus Christ. Paul was a hardened soldier who
would not shy away from the hottest battle. He, matter of fact, he
sought it out. Go to where the battle was the
hottest. but the heat of it still bothered
him. People would hear Paul preach,
and yeah, they hated him, they hated him, and that hurt, but
you know what hurt him worse? They heard him preach and didn't
believe Christ. It's so sad. He felt the heat of that. And
then they attacked Paul personally, and like I said, it's not the
most important thing, but it hurt him to have that, just people
slandering him and saying all these things about him. Even
the strongest servant of God Just a man. And he feels this
heat. But I tell you what, it also
felt good to Paul when somebody came and stood by him. Years
and years ago, I was a young man, wet behind the ears, didn't
know a thing. But I went with John Chapman to service in one
place. And after he got done preaching,
John came under attack. I mean, he got under attack.
They literally backed John into a corner, literally. And I stand
back watching this thing. I mean, I had grown up in 13th
Street. I never saw anybody do that to
Brother Henry. I mean, I was just shocked, you
know? And I thought, well, I can't help John one bit. I can't answer
any of these questions they're throwing at him. But buddy, I'm
not standing out here on the outside. I'm going to go my way
in there and just stood in that corner shoulder to shoulder with
John. I mean, this man's my friend. And if we got fist fight our
way out of here, he and I are doing it together. This man's
my friend. Paul said, when somebody comes and stood shoulder to shoulder
with me, he's that refreshed me. He said, all the world was
hating me. People are saying all these awful
things about me. But Onesiphorus came and sought
Paul out and stood shoulder to shoulder with him. Look at verse
16. Paul says, Lord, give mercy unto
the house of Onesiphorus for he oft refreshed me. He was not
ashamed of my chain, but when he was in Rome, he sought me
out very diligently and he found me. Now, Onesiphorus went to
Rome. It had to be hard to find Paul
in this huge city. I mean, Rome's a huge city. They
didn't have any cell phones. They didn't have landlines. I
mean, we think landlines are outdated. They never even heard
of such a thing. He couldn't call anybody. He
couldn't sign on the internet and do a prison search or something
of prisoner databases. He just had to keep going around
that town asking folks where Paul was. And many people hated
Paul. He didn't know if he's asking
somebody where Paul was, just utterly hated the man. He didn't
know if he was exposing himself to danger, but he kept asking,
he kept searching all around that city until he found Paul.
I mean, it took persistence there. And that kind of persistence,
that refreshed Paul. Somebody really went to a lot
of trouble. to come stand by him. He was
in chains. He was chained up. I know he
was in his own hired house, but he was chained up now. He's a
prisoner. And somebody, Onesiphorus, went
to a lot of trouble to go stand by that prisoner. And Paul said
it refreshed him. He did it at Rome and he did
in Ephesus too. He says in verse 18, the Lord
grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day.
And how many things he ministered to me at Ephesus, Thou knowest
very well. Just wherever he was, he looked
for this opportunity. He's standing by this man, the
Apostle Paul. Maybe he heard the gospel from
him. I don't know. Maybe that's where he first heard
of Christ. I don't know. But for some reason,
something drew on Esiphorus to Paul. He went and it's standing
by him and it refreshed Paul. It refreshed his spirit in the
heat of the battle and encouraged him to go on. All it took was
a visit. That's all it took was a visit.
Ones Ephros couldn't do one thing to lose that chain from all.
But just his visit there refreshed him. And it's important for you
and me to remember this. Let's encourage one another.
Let's encourage one another. I appreciate when you all do
that for me. I appreciate your encouragement.
And I wanna do that for you. I'm not just up here being selfish,
saying you do that for me. I wanna do that for you too.
Let's encourage, let's look for ways. Let's go out of our way
and put some effort in this thing, like Onesiphorus did, to encourage
one another, to stand by one another, and refresh one another. All right, here's the second
thing. Look at Romans chapter 15. We refresh our brethren by praying
for them. Romans chapter 15 verse 30. Now I beseech you brethren for
the Lord Jesus Christ sake and for the love of the spirit that
you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me that
I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea
and in my service, which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted
to the saints. that I may come unto you with
joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. Now Paul
asked the brethren, pray for me. Pray for me that those who
do not believe don't get their hands on me and have their way
with me. Pray for me that the Lord give me the opportunity
to preach the gospel so that those who do not believe might
hear it and believe Christ. Pray that the Lord enable me
to preach the gospel, that his word would reach the hearts of
his people, to comfort them, to instruct them, to point them
to Christ. And he says, and pray for me
that I might be able to come see you in joy. He said, that
would refresh me. You and me both, he said, that
would refresh me. I hope we don't forget this, that the very best
thing that we can do for each other is pray for each other. This is why I ask you frequently.
It's the best thing you can do for me. Through the week, as
the Lord brings me to your mind, to pray for me. I just beg of
you that it's the best thing you can do. I begin my day in
the study, praying for you. I do, I pray for you. That's
the best thing we can do for each other. If the Lord brings
me to your mind, pray. I might, at that very moment,
be studying. and be just stuck. Just stuck. Can't see a thing.
Pray the Lord give me the message for the hour. And when the time
comes enable me to preach it. Enable you to hear it. We'll
both be refreshed. We'll both be refreshed if God
gives us the message and enables us to hear it. Pray. Pray for
each other. And our brethren who are in trial,
we've talked about several of them this morning, haven't we?
We should do everything we can to help them. Everything we can.
but let's never forget the best thing we can do for him is pray
for him, the best thing. We can't do anything to really
affect or to change the situation. Our brother Ed's gonna have surgery
on Tuesday, and I can't go into that operating room and do one
blessed thing for him, but I sure will pray for him, that the great
physician will heal him. Our God, we can't help Our God
came. He can heal and He can comfort
the heart. And I tell you, knowing somebody's
praying for you, that refreshes you. Just knowing somebody cares
enough to pray for you, that refreshes you. It helps you recover
from the heat of trial. And when God answers prayer,
we're refreshed, aren't we? Both the person that prayed and
the person somebody's praying for, both are refreshed. God
answers prayer. Let's pray for one another. All
right, here's the third thing, 1 Corinthians chapter 16. We
refresh our brothers simply by giving of ourselves. 1 Corinthians
16 and verse 15. We'll look at verse
14. He said, let all your things
be done with charity. If what you're doing, you're
doing with love, you'll give of yourself. In verse 15, he
says, I beseech you, brethren, you know the house of Stephanus,
that is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have addicted themselves
to the ministry of the saints, that you submit yourselves unto
such, and everyone that helpeth with us and laboreth. I'm glad
of the coming of Stephanus and Fortunicus and Achaicus, for
that which was lacking on your part, they have supplied, for
they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge
ye them that are such. Now Paul says the household of
Stephanus had addicted themselves to the ministry, to ministering
to the saints. And it doesn't mean preaching
there. What Paul means there is ministering to the needs of
the saints. They ministered, they're giving
to the poor, those who were in need. They helped all the saints
who were in need. They addicted themselves to that. Stephanus came to see Paul And
Paul said when he got there, he said he supplied what's lacking. Now I'm just sure of this. When
Paul uses this phrase about supplying what is lacking, he's normally
talking about an offering money and supplies and things that
would be needed. I'm sure Stephan brought those
things. He brought money to help Paul,
brought supplies that Paul would need. But now listen, it was
Stephan's own money, his own money. The church at Corinth,
was a wealthy church, very wealthy. But Paul said they lacked in
this grace of giving. Even though they're so wealthy,
they're stingy. They weren't giving. And Paul
said in 2 Corinthians 11, he said, I won't take support from
you. I'm not gonna do it. I will not be chargeable to you.
I'm not taking any support from you. So if Stephanas came and
supplied what he was lacking, he did it from his own pocket,
from his own pocket. He wouldn't bring an offering
from the church. And that personal gift, refreshed Paul. Oh, he
could have brought a bigger offering if he brought an offering from
the church, couldn't he? If they just took up a big old collection,
he could have brought more money. But that smaller amount that
came from Stephanus' own pocket, that refreshed Paul. It refreshed
him and it encouraged him. But more than that, Stephanus
and these other men of his household and of his friends, they came,
they stayed with Paul. They stayed with him and they
visited with him. And that fellowship and those conversations that
they had That refreshed Paul. Now, we refresh our brethren
when we give to supply their need, whether it be of our money. It could just be of our time.
Just sitting and talking with each other just refreshes us. Each of us can think of times
we spent talking with a brother or sister, and we came away refreshed,
encouraged to keep going. Oftentimes, you'll find this
is true. Oftentimes, you'll call someone, you'll go visit them
or something, you know they're having a hard time, and you'll
sit and talk with them. And you know what you'll find? You'll find they encouraged you.
They refreshed you. Well, you did them too. We refresh
each other like that. You're serving each other. Serving
these folks here and other believers that pass through, but certainly
these ones right here that we're with every week. Serving them
with our time, with our talents, with our money, however it may
be, that's serving the body of Christ. It's serving Christ himself. And everyone is to take part
in this giving. Everyone. Don't just leave it
to giving to somebody you think has more financial means than
you. Don't just leave this matter of calling people and going to
visit people and talking with them. Don't just leave that to
somebody with a more outgoing personality than you. You do
it. Every one of us, you do it, you
do it. And I promise you, whatever it
is you can do for somebody else, it'll be refreshing to them.
I promise you it will. All right, now look at the book
of Philemon. Here's the fourth thing. We refresh
our brethren by hospitality, by opening our homes to them.
Philemon, verse four. Paul says, I thank my God, making
mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love
and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all
saints, that the communication of thy faith may become effectual
by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in
Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation
in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by
thee, brother. Now, when Paul talks here about
the communication of thy faith, he means acting on your faith,
acting on it by your words. Just like Abraham and Rahab,
we know they had faith because they acted on it. We know that
they had faith, but we saw what they did. Well, that's what Paul
says about Philemon. This man, Philemon, put his faith
in Christ. And Paul said, I know you have
faith and love toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And I know you
have it toward all the saints because you're well known by
your actions, by showing hospitality. you open your home, you open
up your dinner table to all the brethren. If those you are passing
through or traveling through, and you know, in that day, it
wasn't like, you know, you can't just go down there to the Hampton
Inn, Holiday Inn Express, you don't get a room. These people
need a place to stay. Philemon opened his home to them.
Others in that area who were in need, Philemon opened his
home, he opened his dinner table, he opened his hand to them. This
is very similar to our last point of giving of yourself. Give of
yourself and give of what the Lord's given you. Let's not be
stingy. Was the Lord stingy with you
and given you things? Now whatever it is God's given
us, it's the gift of His grace. Let's be willing to give it to
help others. And you know when you open your
home, you open your heart to folks, it refreshes them. It really does. It's very important
that believers spend time with one another. So we can encourage
one another, we can help one another. Being with folks in
the world, that drains you. It drains you. And being with
the brethren refreshes us. And Philemon was well known for
that hospitality. He was so well known for it,
Paul just expected he would take advantage of it in the future.
Look what he says in verse 22. But with all, prepare me also
a lodging, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given
unto you. Now it kind of sounds like Paul's
saying, you know, pray for me and I'm going to, going to be
set free here. I'm a prisoner and I'm going
to be set free and I'm going to come and stay in your house. It kind of sounds like Paul's
inviting himself over, doesn't it? You know what? I reckon he is, but that's all
right. That's perfectly all right. Philemon would just open his
arms and his home to Paul, just like he'd done for so many other
believers. And when he did that, even Paul just knowing Philemon
would do that for him, it refreshed him. There he is, a prisoner.
Prisoner of Jesus Christ, he said. But that thought just refreshed
him. Philemon, do that for me. He'd
opened his home and hospitality to me, and it refreshed him.
All right, here's the fifth thing. We refresh our brethren by forgiving
them. Look here in Philemon, verse
10. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds,
which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now he's profitable
to thee and to me, whom I've sent again. Thou therefore receive
him, that is mine own vows. You receive him as me, just like
you would me. 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 If you forgive
him, that's your benefit. That thy benefit should not be
as it were of necessity, but willingly. For perhaps he therefore
departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him forever.
Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother, beloved,
especially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh
and in the Lord. If thou count me therefore a
partner, receive him as myself. If he hath wronged thee or oweth
thee aught, put that on mine account. I, Paul, have written
it with mine own hand. I will repay it. Albeit, I do
not say to thee how thou owest unto me, even thine own self
besides. Yea, brother, let me have joy
of thee in the Lord. Refresh my bowels in the Lord. Having confidence in thy obedience,
I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou would also do more than
I say. Now Onesimus was a slave. I don't know where he was born,
where he came from, how he came to Philemon's house, but he was
a slave. He belonged to Philemon. He was Philemon's property. And
Onesimus, one day, he ran off. He ran away, and when he did
that, that's stealing Philemon's property. They had slaves at
that time. I can't reconcile this. Slavery's
wrong, but he was Philemon's property. When he ran away, he
stole Philemon's property. And the will of God, when Onesimus
ran away, he ran away to the big city of Rome. He figured,
nobody's ever gonna see me in Rome. I mean, look how diligent
somebody, look for Paul, you know. Somebody's just not gonna
be that diligent looking for this slave. And he thought he
could run away to Rome and fade off into the crowd, you know,
never be found again. But while he was fading off into
the crowd, trying not to see anybody he knew, he saw somebody
he knew. He saw the apostle Paul. Now
they knew each other. Onesimus knew Paul. He had met
Paul. Paul had been a guest in Philemon's
house in the past. He preached there. Philemon knew
him. Onesimus knew Paul, and Paul
knew Onesimus. For some reason, the will and purpose of God,
Onesimus stayed. He saw Paul, but he stayed to
hear Paul preach. It would be my guess, he didn't
stay to hear Paul preach back here at Philemon's house, but
here in Rome, he did. He couldn't explain why at first,
but he did. He stayed and heard Paul preach.
And God, in his mercy, oh, his mercy and his grace, he saved
poor Onesimus through the preaching of Christ. He gave that slave
faith to believe Christ. Now, up to this point, Onesimus
had been a bad slave. Paul called him an unprofitable
servant. I'm sure Philemon wasn't thrilled
at the thought of Onesimus running away. But you know what he found
out? His businesses, his household was more profitable with Onesimus
gone than when he was there. Because he's just unprofitable.
He just didn't contribute to profit. He took away from it.
But now, Onesimus ministered to Paul. And he was doing such
a good job of it. Paul said, he's so helpful to
me, doing such a good job. Well, what's the difference?
What made the difference in this fellow? Now he's serving in love,
not the law. He's serving in love. And Paul
said, now he's such a help to me. Philemon, I keep Onesimus
here, but now he's your slave. I would not keep him here without
your permission. He said, I'm sending him back
to you. Paul said, now Philemon, you forgive him. Forgive him.
Take him back into your household. He's been unprofitable before,
but you take him back. Paul says, I love how Paul writes this. He says, do this for me, Paul,
Paul the agent and a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Of course, you know. Paul says,
I hope you do this for me. Do it for me. Accept him like
you would me. He says, but now I won't say
how I, after he says it, I won't say how you owe me your own self
besides. He says, I won't mention that. And you know, I'm just
sure of this. Paul wrote this letter. He says,
Philemon, you forgive Onesimus freely and take him into your
house. If he owes you anything, if he
took something from your house, what if he took the silverware
with him to fund his trip, to hawk it along the way? If he
owes you anything, if he stole anything from you, he owes you
anything, don't you demand payment from him. You demand it from
me. You demand it from me. He said,
I've written it with my own hand. I'll repay it. I've read that story a thousand
times at least. It just overwhelms me every single
time. What a beautiful picture of the gospel to this Onesimus. Christ the Savior told the Father,
Father forgive him, forgive him. Father don't charge their sin
to them, charge it to me. Don't demand payment from them,
demand it from me. I'll pay it. I'll pay it. I'll
pay it with my own blood so that my people can be forgiven. And
Father, accept them like you accept me. Accept them in me. Love them like you love me. Now
I'm confident Philemon saw the picture. He's reading this letter.
Can you imagine Philemon out there overseeing his business
one day? He sees in the distance, here
comes Onesimus. He's afraid of Philemon. Philemon
could put him to death. He's afraid. He comes up and
he hands that letter to Philemon. Philemon looks at it. He recognizes
Paul's handwriting on there. He looks at that letter. What
are you doing with a letter from Paul? I mean, he's just mad. Can't you see? He opens up that
letter. He starts reading it. He saw
the picture of the gospel there. He had to. He had to. And his
heart was softened. And I'm just confident of this.
On the spot, he forgave Onesimus. I'm confident of it. And Onesimus
became a profitable servant. It didn't relieve him from his
duties. He was still a slave, he was still a servant, but now
he became a profitable one. He became a brother. He became
a brother as well. There's another place we read
about Onesimus being with Paul. Philemon sent him to him. He's
a profitable servant, a brother in Christ. And they both benefited,
both Philemon and Onesimus, they both benefited from that forgiveness.
They're both refreshed. Now let's seek the opportunity
to do that for each other. There's a need for forgiveness,
even amongst us. We love one another, we care
for one another, but there's a need for forgiveness. Maybe
something was done on purpose, maybe It was done without our
knowledge. Maybe it was misinterpreted.
But somebody feels like they've been done wrong, or they actually
have been done wrong. Have you ever been the one? You've
done wrong. You know you did wrong. And you
feel guilty about it. You hate that you've done something
to harm your brother or your sister. What is more refreshing
than them putting their arm around you and say, I forgive you? I
forgive you. It can't get any better than
that, can it? Let's do that for each other. Let's do that. Those
who have been forgiven for Christ's sake, certainly ought to be able
to refresh our brethren by forgiving them, shouldn't we? Shouldn't
we? And that's how we refresh one another with those good works.
But here's the most important part of the message. I know I've
taken some time now to set this up, but this, what I'm getting
ready to deal with now, this is the most important part of
the message. So hang with me. Here's my second point. This
refreshing, this work of refreshing, does no good whatsoever without
my second point. It's mercy. Mercy. Now do these
good works. Refresh one another. Be diligent
about them. Be addicted to them. To do, to
refresh your brother, the ministering of the saints. Do them with all
you've got, but don't for a minute trust in any of them. Do these
things with all you've got, but don't for a minute trust in anything
that you've done. Don't think that you've done
these things and now you're better or you're more spiritual than
those that don't do them. You do them, trusting Christ
to be your all. Trusting Christ to be all of
your acceptance with God. And I can show you that in Luke
chapter 17. Luke chapter 17. Verse three. Take heed to yourselves. If thy
brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent,
forgive him. And if he trespass against thee
seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to
thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles
said unto the Lord, increase our faith. And here they say,
hear this about forgiveness. Forgive my brother seven times
in a day. I can't do that. That's just
not in me by nature. So they pray the Lord increase
our faith. And the Lord said, if you had
faith as a grain of a mustard seed, you might say into this
sycamore tree, be thou plucked up by the root and be thou planted
in the sea and it should obey you. But which of you having
a servant plowing or feeding cattle will say unto him by and
by when he's come from the field, go and sit down to me. He will
not rather say unto him, make ready wherewith I may sup and
gird thyself and serve me till I have eaten and drunken and
afterward thou should eat and drink. Does he thank that servant
because he did the things that were commanded to him? I trow
not, I think not. So likewise ye. When you shall
have done all those things which are commanded you, when you've
done all these good works seeking to refresh your brethren, you've
done all these things which are commanded you, this is what you
say. We're unprofitable servants. We've done that which was our
duty to do. When we have by faith done these
works to help folks in need, when we've done our very best
to try to refresh them, this is what we should say after we've
done our very, very best. This is what we should say. I'm
an unprofitable servant and I need mercy. I need mercy from God. I can't do anything to deserve
God's favor. The only hope I have of salvation
is God's mercy. Salvation is not by works, not
by works of righteousness, but by God's mercy, he saved us. And that's exactly what Paul
says about Onesiphorus in our text. Paul doesn't say, Lord,
Bless Onesiphorus, because he was good to me. Be good, Onesiphorus,
because he was good to me. He said, Lord, be merciful, Onesiphorus. Paul didn't say, Lord, give Onesiphorus
in equal measure that he gave me. He said, Lord, be merciful,
Onesiphorus. He didn't say, Lord, pay back
this debt, Onesiphorus. Pay him back for all this good
that he did to me. He deserves a reward. Give him
a reward. He doesn't say that. He prays
for mercy for Onesiphorus. A mere prayer is one of the ways
we can refresh our brethren. When we pray, mercy, mercy is
the best thing we can ask for from God. Mercy. Do good works. Do these things to refresh your
brethren. Seek the opportunity to do them But don't depend on
them. Don't depend on your works thinking
somehow it's making you, you know, have a higher station,
you know, with God or something, you know. Don't depend on those
things. Depend on God's mercy. Depend on God's mercy. You can't
depend on your works, but you can depend on God's mercy. If
our best works make us say I'm an unprofitable servant, we can't
depend on our works, can we? No. We're not asking God to pay
back a debt to us, to pay us for our works. If God does that,
we're going to get eternal death. The wages of sin is death. If
God pays us back a debt, we're going to hell. The wages of sin
is death, but the gift, the gift of God's mercy, the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. I need mercy,
don't you? I need mercy. I need electing
mercy where God chooses a sinner. that would never choose him if
God left him alone. I need sovereign mercy. I need
sovereign mercy that cannot be stopped and showing mercy to
the object of God's love. I need sovereign mercy that will
override my sinful will and save me against my will with my full
consent. I need sovereign mercy. I need redeeming mercy, redeeming
mercy that puts away the unspeakable debt of my sin. I need calling
mercy. I'm not coming to God unless
he calls me. I need God to call, I need calling mercy. I need
keeping mercy. I need God to keep me, keep me
safe, keep me from myself, not just keep me from the world,
keep me from myself. I need glorifying mercy that
one day is gonna take me from this body of death and this world
of death and take me to be with Christ. I need mercy. Do you
need mercy? Do you need mercy? Well, that's
God's mercy. That's God's mercy. We can rely
on that, can't we? We can rely on that mercy. We
can't rely on our works, but we can rely on mercy. You know
how God refreshes his people? His mercy. It's his mercy. Oh, God be merciful. God be merciful
to me, the sinner. That's where good works and mercy
meet. We're unprofitable servants. God give us mercy. All right,
let's bow together. Our Father, we thank You for
this, Your Word. We thank You for this instruction.
We thank You for another time we've looked into Your Word and
been pointed to our Lord Jesus Christ to depend upon Him. Father, how we thank You for
Your mercy. Human language cannot express the value, the worth
of mercy to sinners. Father, how we thank You that
You save Your people in mercy. It's not by our works of righteousness,
but by your mercy. Father, we're so thankful. And
Lord, would you continue to be merciful? Oh, we beg you continue
to be merciful. Be merciful to folks here who
are listening here or another time on the Internet. Father,
be merciful. Cause your people to just hear
and to see the Lord Jesus Christ and draw them to him. Father,
be merciful. Continue to save your people.
Father, be merciful and continue to keep, feed, and shepherd your
people. Father, be merciful. And Father,
in response to your mercy, cause us to be merciful to one another. Enable us to be a help. Deliver
us from ever being a discouragement, stumbling block to each other.
Father, cause us to be a help and encouragement to one another.
This world is hard enough. This world puts enough Roadblocks
in our way don't let us put it others for our brothers and sisters
But father enable us to be helpful one to another All these things
we ask and we give thanks in that name, which is above every
name the name of our Lord Jesus Christ All right, Sean come lead
us in a closing hymn if you would If you would please stand and
turn to song number 354, What a Friend We Have in Jesus. What a friend we have in Jesus,
all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything
to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything
to God in prayer. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful? Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Are we weak and heavy laden,
Comfort with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge,
Take it to the Lord in prayer. Do thy friends despise, forsake
thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer. In His arms He'll take and shield
thee, Thou wilt find a solace there.