If you want to turn your Bibles
to the book of Philemon, however you like to pronounce it is fine.
I don't pronounce it as it should be. It's right before the book
of Hebrews in the New Testament. Philemon, right after Titus,
right before Hebrews. I so much appreciated what your
pastor had to say earlier from John chapter 1. That is such
a blessing. I like the part especially about
Rolf Barnard. I had never met Rolf. I have
heard him preach. The Book of Philemon. Now, let
me give you just an overview before we read together. And
let me ask you a question to help prime. I think questions
help us appreciate the answer once it's given. In the book
of Philemon, the apostle Paul is in prison. And he's in prison
for preaching the gospel, for serving Christ. He wasn't there
for any crime except the crime of being a servant of Christ.
And while he was there, by God's providence, a slave came into
his company. Paul preached to him the gospel
he believed and they grew very close in their relationship.
Because he was there in prison and knew this slave whose name
is Onesimus, he had such an affection for Onesimus, and he also had
an affection for Onesimus' master, whose name is Philemon. That's
why the title here is the epistle of Paul to Philemon. Philemon was the slave owner,
but he was also a brother in Christ. And so the question that
I want to ask before we start reading is, what would you say
to a brother who owned a slave and the slave was disobedient
and had run away from him and stolen something from him? So
he had wronged him and was indebted now to him, and he was his rightful
property by the Roman law. What would you say to that brother,
whose name is Philemon? How would you persuade your brother,
if you were the apostle, how would you persuade him to free
his slave and to treat him now as a brother in Christ? And that's
what this book is about. I want to set it up for you with
that question because this question is answered in the very emotional,
I don't know how else to say it, the apostle here speaks to
the heart of Philemon. And so we need to spend some
time understanding the emotions and the affections behind the
Apostle's relationship to both of these men, to Philemon and
to Onesimus. And I want to help us understand
also the condescension, the humility of the Apostle Paul in the way
that he deals with this matter between these two men, because
he loved them both. Such a humility on Paul's part.
But I don't want to spend this time with you trying to understand
the relationship between just these two men. Understand that
the Apostle Paul was especially chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the King of heaven and earth. And so the Apostle Paul
had authority given to him as an ambassador from Christ. But
with that authority, He didn't use that authority to intimidate
Philemon. And that's part of the humility
here. But because he was an apostle
of Christ and sent by Christ, he had a message to preach to
a people that Christ sent him to preach to. And so, This is
a private message that Paul wrote to Philemon. We've intercepted
the letter here. Because the events, the circumstances
of this entire history was arranged in order to teach us, the letter
itself was written by the Apostle under the inspiration
of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. So that the message here
is the same message that the Apostle was given by Christ to
preach. And the circumstances, like in
the Old Testament, prophets were given a message and their very
lives exhibited that message. And so this has an exceedingly
great weight because it's written of circumstances with a message
in word and in providence in order to teach that message.
In the Bible, God gives us clear statements of truth. Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. And we say that so
often that sometimes the words, we've desensitized ourselves
to the truth of it because we say it so much. It's not wrong
that we say it. The problem is that we are just
prone to be desensitized to things. But as the apostle said in Romans
chapter six, he says, I'm going to talk to you now because of
the infirmity of your flesh in a way that allows you to absorb,
really, absorb what I'm going to say. And so that's the way
this book is written in Philemon, this letter. It's written in
a way to convey the gospel so that it penetrates into our emotions
and sets us up for the eternal truth behind what's written here.
And so that's why it's essential that we understand not only the
circumstances here, the historical circumstances, but the relations
between these people. Paul, as I say, was sent by Christ,
and the Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples, it's enough for
a disciple to be as his Lord. In other words, Paul was, in
doing the things he did and saying these things, he was exhibiting
Christ's own heart in the matter. The way that he would have handled
it, when his disciples were with him so many times, the Lord Jesus,
did these things. He would ask them questions and
answer, and it was phenomenal how he convinced them through
this stoop of humility. And here the apostle is going
to do that here. Now, let me give you the overview,
first of all, of the message. There's a threefold message here,
as I see it. A threefold message. The first
one is Paul is pleading with Philemon for Onesimus. That's the first level. And it's
a passionate plea. The second level here is that
the entire matter between Paul and Philemon on behalf of Onesimus
is meant to teach us of the pleadings of our master, the Lord Jesus
Christ, as our surety on behalf of his people, to his father.
And then the second lesson here is also very important. The Lord
Jesus Christ again pleading to us, his church, on behalf of
his elect. So let's look at these things
and these three areas here. First of all, let's look at Paul's
pleadings, his advocacy for Onesimus to Philemon. In verse one, it
says, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, a prisoner. He wasn't
there by his will. He was there because he was serving
Christ. It was by Christ's appointment
that he was there. And Timothy, our brother, unto
Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow laborer. Right away,
Paul disarms Philemon, doesn't he? He opens the letter, he's
talking about The Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, not
Caesar, who put me here in prison, Christ put me here. There was
a reason for him to be there, a very effective reason. If Paul
was not put there in that prison, we would not have this letter.
If Paul wasn't in that prison, we wouldn't have most of the
New Testament. What a blessing of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ and His wisdom and grace to us. put Paul in prison. And that's at a human level.
We understand that. How much more God the Father
put his son into prison that we might be saved. Now, he goes
on in verse one, unto Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow
laborer. Paul identifies Philemon as his
peer in the gospel, a fellow laborer. In those days, labor
was not admired. It was looked down on by the
normal people. Labor was something that the
underlings did. And so Paul here in two ways
lowers himself because he's pleading for Onesimus, who is a slave. I'm a prisoner. I'm a laborer,
just like this man. Philemon knew something about
that. He was a laborer in the gospel. And he writes, to our
beloved Apphia and Archippus, our fellow soldier, Apphia apparently
was the wife of Philemon, beloved to Paul. 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. We should spend a long time there,
but we are not going to take time. But note this, he tells
Philemon, as you are a recipient, an object of the grace of Almighty
God our Father and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. So am I, so
are you. And grace permeates the entire
letter. At the very end, look at verse
25. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with your spirit. From first to last, all of grace. That's what this is saying. He
goes on in verse 4, he says to Philemon, 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. So what he's saying here is that
unless God had grace on you, Unless God was to give the credit
for this, unless God gives this to you, you would have no faith. You would have no love. Your
faith, your love toward the Lord Jesus Christ and toward His people,
that's by God's grace. That's why I'm praying for it.
That's why I'm thanking Him for it. Verse 5, 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. Communication is another way
of saying, you're going to share, you're going to have fellowship
in this faith. Obviously Philemon by saying
this was a teacher. He had said in verse two that
he was writing not only to Philemon and his wife, Apphia, Archippus,
but also to the church that was in his house, the assembly of
Christ's people meeting together. Philemon was obviously a man
of means, had a place big enough for the church to meet, and he
could support Paul on his journey, because at the end he asks him
to prepare a room for him. And he must have had at least
one servant, probably more than one, And so he's saying here
to Philemon as a teacher of the gospel, as a preacher of the
gospel, thy faith, meaning what we believe. We do believe, but
he can't share his personal belief. He shares what he believes, the
one he believes, the one who we hold dear. If we take a loaf
of bread and you tear off a piece and I tear off a piece, that's
fellowship in that loaf. But in the gospel, Each one of
us take the whole loaf, right? We don't just take a piece of
it. Christ died for our sins according to the scripture. I
don't just take the part about Christ or my sins. I take the
whole thing. I need it all. And because we
have that common object of God-given faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
we have fellowship at such a deep level, an intimacy. that goes beyond biological relationships,
doesn't it? They say blood is thicker than
water. The gospel is thicker than that. It's way thick. So
he's asking here, he says, that this is part of his prayer, that
the communication of thy faith, the teaching of the gospel, might
be effectual. It might accomplish God's will. by the acknowledging of every
good thing which is in you by Christ Jesus. Everything that
Philemon was in any prophet to God was obviously by God's grace
or the purpose. And he wants that God-given grace
to Philemon to become effectual. And this is why he's writing
to him that that might become effectual. Because in the way
that he deals He's writing to the church here. And the way
that Philemon deals with his slave, Onesimus, in this matter
of his departure and his unlawful use of his goods by stealing
or whatever he did there. How Philemon deals with that
is going to give him a platform, a ground on which he can actually
effectively preach the gospel. You see, that's what he's praying
for. Paul has, in everything he says here, by the wisdom of
Christ, he has this pleading motive in mind to woo, not to
command, but to woo Philemon towards his servant, Onesimus,
in order to get them reconciled. Paul is acting as a mediator
of reconciliation between Philemon and Onesimus, isn't he? And so
he goes on. Verse 7, for we have great joy
and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints
are refreshed by thee, brother, the hearts, the inmost heart. And haven't you noticed that?
That when the gospel is preached, it is so blessed that there's
nothing that surpasses it. There's nothing. And so you want
that? You want that effectiveness of
the gospel to be given. And notice how Paul, he's not
there. But he wants this for them. How
many times have I prayed for myself and I forget to pray for
Brother Gabe or whoever else because I am so self-centered. But Paul, he's praying for these
people and not in general. Lord, help all the churches.
He prays for them by individual names, doesn't he? Very personal,
very personal. So he says in verse 8, Wherefore,
though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee, to command
you, to put a demand on you, that which is convenient, it
means proper, what's fit, what's right in the eyes of the Lord,
yet for love's sake, I rather beseech thee, being such in one
as Paul, the aged, and now also a prisoner of the Lord Jesus
Christ." Now, notice here, Paul is pleading to Philemon for Onesimus. He identifies his connection
with Philemon, dearly beloved. They were both partakers of the
same grace from God the Father. They were both teachers in the
gospel, the preacher's fellow laborers. They were peers. But
now he's talking about Onesimus. And I want you to notice how
he's taken this much time to build up to this point. Because
this is such a skill exhibited by the Spirit of God in order
to effect reconciliation between these two and the man who loved
them both, that he actually takes His methodology for pleading
with Philemon is he pleads his identity with Onesimus, the slave. He pleads the intimacy of his
identity with Onesimus to Philemon. And it is an intimate identity
that is much deeper than his relationship to Philemon. And
so he goes on. He says in verse 10, now notice,
in our translation, it puts the word, the name Onesimus here
in the middle of the sentence, but in the original, Onesimus
is at the end of the sentence, and there's a reason for that.
He says, I beseech thee for my son, and I'm gonna skip the name,
whom I have begotten in my bonds, Onesimus. You see how he piles
it up here? My child, when I was in chains, he was born. He was born. And through the preaching of
the gospel that Christ gave to me, God gave him the spirit of
God, and he became a child born of God. Through the word, he
says, of his own will, James 1, 17 and 18, of his own will,
begat he us by the word of truth. And this is what Pastor Darwin
was talking about. God sent a man to Onesimus. And through Paul, he heard the
word of life. And with that word, the Lord
Jesus Christ, with his spirit, brought life from the dead and
birthed him and created him. And he became a new creation,
a new creature. And of course, with relationship
to Christ, that was because of Christ's blood. He didn't just
become a new creature by, let's make him a new creature. There
was something that had to be laid down first, a foundation
for this sonship, and it was the redeeming blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God the Father had to choose
him. He had to put him among his children. He had to give
him to Christ and had to give him to Christ in order to redeem
him from his sins and justify him in his righteousness. Now
he's fit. Send the Spirit of God to him
and birth him. And so this is Onesimus now.
And with respect to Paul, Onesimus is his son in this in this work
of God, a spiritual relationship that goes so deep. You know the
relationship between a father and a son is deep, isn't it?
Jacob had a son named Benjamin, the youngest son of his most
loved wife, who died in childbirth. And he said, that's the son of
my right hand. Benjamin, my son, and he would
not let Benjamin go. When Joseph in Egypt required
Benjamin in order to give them bread, he said, no, I'm not going
to send him. You bereaved me, Joseph, I'm
bereaved of. And now if you take my youngest
son, Benjamin, no, you can't take him. His love for Benjamin
was so deep that when Judah was speaking to Joseph about him,
he says, If he goes down to see Joseph and not come, my father
will die. Benjamin and his father Jacob
were tied together in the bundle of life. There was no separation
there. That was deep. And this is a
spiritual relationship. Onesimus and Paul believed the
same Christ, the same Savior. They were each one as equally
attached to him And yet Onesimus heard that gospel through Paul,
and to Paul he was his own son in the faith. So he says to Philemon,
now listen to me. This is in verse 10. I beseech
thee, and I don't command you, but I beseech you with entreaty
for my son. And I have begotten him in my
bonds. in my suffering. I'm being held
here. I'm not free. I am a free man,
but I'm not free as a slave here in prison for the gospel. I've given birth, spiritual birth
to this man, Onesimus, who's your slave, who was held against
his will. You can see how it's building
up, can't you? And now look at verse 12. This intimate identity,
this relationship between Paul and Onesimus is intensified to
a maximum point here. He says in verse 12, whom I have
sent again. Now, he's going to send him with
this letter. Onesimus is going to take this
letter to his slave owner, Philemon. And Paul says, whom I have sent
again. You can see Paul opening the
letter and reading this. Whom I've sent. Here he is standing
before Philemon. This is the one. Thou therefore,
notice what Paul says, receive him that is mine own balance,
my own heart, my son. I'm begotten out of my bonds
and my prisonment, you see? This is an intimate identity
with Onesimus. It exceeds his relationship in
his love for Onesimus, if it could be
said that way. And then he says in verse 13,
whom I would have retained with me, that is, in thy stead, that
he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel,
because he was Philemon's property. The apostle Paul certainly had
authority to require Philemon to serve him with his goods,
which was Onesimus, but he didn't require him without getting his
consent. He goes on. but that without
thy mind would I do nothing, that thy benefit should not be
as it were of necessity, but willingly." That is humility, isn't it? The
Apostle Paul will not have anything that is a pretended obedience
that comes out of constraint. There is no such thing as obedience
in this case that is not obedience in love. And so he's not looking
for a superficial reconciliation. He's looking for Philemon to
be so reconciled to Onesimus that he does it freely. And in
fact, later on, he says in verse 21, having confidence in thy
obedience, I wrote unto thee, knowing thou wilt do also more
than I say. When I used to work, they said,
you can either meet the expectations or you can exceed them. Philemon,
the apostle, knows he's going to exceed them. Because that's
what love does. The law requires, do these things. And it even says, love your neighbor
as yourself. How in the world can you love
someone? By command. It doesn't happen,
does it? You love him. You tell that to
your children. Now you love your brother. If
you don't, That doesn't work, does it? It wouldn't have worked
here. Notice how skillfully the apostle
is taking the gospel that was applied to him by the Spirit
of God, and he's using that same gospel in his relationship and
in his communications between these two men. It's a wonderful
thing. And so he says, without your
mind, I wouldn't do anything. It won't be a constraint. I'm
going to get your full buy-in. He's not going to treat Philemon
as a slave. That's what he's saying here.
I'm not going to treat you as a slave. That's what slaves do. Get over there and do the dishes.
No. He only wants Philemon to do
this out of love. That's what he said back in verse
9. For love's sake. For love's sake. That's the title of this message.
For love's sake. And so he writes on. For perhaps,
verse 15, he therefore departed for a season that thou shouldst
receive him forever. What is he saying here? God arranged
for this. God arranged to save Onesimus. He ran away from you, that was
wrong. Whatever he took, that was wrong.
He defrauded you, embezzled, maybe stole. He was a thief and
he wasn't a faithful servant. He goes, for perhaps therefore,
in other words, this is the reason behind it, he departed for a
season that thou shouldst receive him forever. Joseph said that
to his brothers, didn't he? You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. You, Peter preached in Acts 2.23,
you took him and by wicked hands have crucified and slain him.
but it was the predetermined counsel and foreknowledge of
God to save many, you see. And so he writes this way because
in God's providence, this is the way God works in our lives,
doesn't he? We meant it for evil. We have no regard. We wanted
the honor that belongs to Christ. We preferred our own works to
his righteousness. And we lusted after the pride
that was in our own souls in order to have some honor for
men. And so we went about trying to produce our own righteousness.
We were thieves and we were idolaters. And we thought we were doing
the right thing, but we were rebellious. And the Lord said,
sin will have its control over you. In fact, By the law, it
will actually grow in its intensity and its grip and its tyranny,
and it will bring you to death until grace comes. And when God,
at the appointed time, makes known to you the righteousness
of Christ and Him as your Savior, you know what you'll say? You'll
say what Paul said here. Perhaps, therefore, by the gracious
will of God, He brought you to himself through the fall of Adam,
through your own sin, in order that you might know Christ as
your Redeemer. You see. And he's telling this
to Philemon, because that's the way Philemon had to be saved.
And he goes on in verse 16, not now as a servant, but above a
servant, a brother beloved specially to me, and how much more to thee
both in the flesh and in the Lord. Now, verse 17, notice.
If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him, listen to these
words, as myself. Verse 18, if he has wronged you
or owes you anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, have
written it with my own hand. I will repay it, albeit I do
not say unto thee that thou ow'st me, even thine own self besides. Hey brother, let me have joy
of thee in the Lord. Refresh my bowels in the Lord. Having confidence in thy obedience,
I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I
say. You can see it here. Paul builds
up. First he says, he's my son in
my bonds, and he exhorts him by this intimate identity he
makes with Onesimus. And then he says, now, let me
tell you how close that relationship is. Receive him, my own heart. Receive him as me. Receive him
as me." Now that was huge for a man to say. He says, he is
me. When you look at him, see me. You see? Now this is the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this is the second way that
we understand the gospel. And when I was thinking about
what to preach, I couldn't help but think, I want to preach the
part of the gospel that is so essential that is the dearest
part to a sinner like me. But I want to say it in such
a way that we answer this question. Is it really true? Is it really
true that God would look upon me and look upon Christ as one
and receive me for Christ's sake? Is it really true? Is it really
true? And you see, this is why the
gospel is given. To not only give it to us in a statement
of fact. We were buried with him. We died
with him. We rose with him. We were seated
with him. Those things bring it to us in
fact. But here, with the intimacy of
this relationship now, we not only enter into it in fact, but
we enter into it with tears, don't we? How can you read the
account between Jacob and Judah and Benjamin and Joseph and not
fall in tears, weeping at your feet? Lord, how could you love
me so? And here he says that. And so
the Lord Jesus Christ now, as our mediator, as our surety,
pleads with God for his people. He is a partner, isn't he? Paul called Philemon a partner.
The Lord Jesus Christ, as the meat-eater, when he goes to God,
he brings to him everything that God requires of us. So that when
God receives from Christ all the love and the blood and the
obedience and the humility and the faithfulness and the faith
everything. God receives it from him and
he sees us bringing it in the mediator because nothing is lacking
because the mediator is bringing it. And when the mediator comes
to us he brings all that God is to us in himself. And in him we are complete. There is nothing lacking. And
so He says, Father, now you consider your love, your eternal predestinating
choice of these who were unprofitable in themselves, you put among
your children, by sovereign acts of your own will, in love to
them. Now you consider that love. And
you consider how you put me as a surety when you engage my heart
and I approach to you and I agree to become a surety for them and
to fulfill all the obligations for them, to you, as them, only
me. And he comes to his father and
he has to deal with this matter of wrongdoing and a debt. And he says, if he has wronged
you or owed you anything, Put that on my account. And so Judah
did that to Joseph regarding Benjamin. He says, I became surety
for him long before I appeared here before you in this judgment,
long before I became a surety. And now I stand before you having
made that commitment, that pledge of myself for him in love. And Joseph is looking at his
brother, having not revealed himself to them yet. And he loves
Benjamin, and his bowels are yearning upon Benjamin. And he
sees Judah now pleading for Benjamin, who before had cast him into
the pit. And he recalls his father's love
for himself and for Benjamin and Judah. And yet, Joseph is
standing as the governor, representing the justice of God, and he says,
Far be it from me to let him go free." And Judah says, take
me instead of the lad and let the lad go up to his father again
with his brethren. You see, this is what Paul is
saying here. The Lord Jesus Christ pleads
his father's love. He pleads his own surety engagements
and then he pleads himself and he says, now, justice has to
be satisfied. Put the balances out. On this
side, put the whole proposal of eternal glory given to your
people as your children, the heirs of God and joint heirs
with Christ. And on the other side, put my
blood in eternal love shed for them. And justice looks. And justice looks at the inordinate
amount of blessing proposed by eternal love and looks at all
that that love has provided and says at that blood, it's appropriate,
it's right, it's good. Give it to him. And Joseph says,
this is me. This is Joseph, your brother.
He wanted the same thing as his father. And Judah, he wanted
the same thing. This is God in His holiness and
all of His perfections. It's one God. And so the Father
receives us, His own bowels, the bowels, the heart of Christ
as Christ. This is our salvation, isn't
it? I wish I had more time. I'd give you the other point,
but I don't want to take up too much time. Thank the Lord. Isn't it good? What a blessing. Amen.