Morning, everybody. As always,
it's a pleasure to be here. If you would, turn to the book
of Philemon. If you're unfamiliar with that book, it's right before
Hebrews. The book of Philemon. This is
an epistle of Paul. It's a very interesting book.
This is the third shortest book in the entire Bible. Third shortest. We're going to read this here
in just a moment. We're going to work verse by verse. But there's a
word that you will not find in this book. And that word is intercession. You will not find that word anywhere
in this story and in this epistle. What's interesting about that
is that is the exact point of this epistle. While the word
is not found there, this whole thing, this whole letter that
Paul writes, it's all about intercession. That's what it's all about. Paul
is making intercession for a man named Onesimus. Onesimus was
the servant of a man named Philemon. Philemon was a wealthy man. He
had servants. Onesimus was his servant, and Onesimus wronged
his master in some way. We don't know how. Perhaps he
stole something from him, did wrong in some way, and after
wronging his master, Onesimus flees, and he goes to Rome. Just
so happens, you know who else was in Rome? Paul. Paul was arrested. He was in
prison, not in the conventional sense. He was under house arrest.
His only charge was preaching the gospel. But under house arrest,
he wasn't allowed to leave, but people would come to him. And
everybody that came to Paul, you know what he did? He did
what Paul did. He preached the gospel to them. And something
amazing happens. Onesimus finds himself in Rome,
and something wonderful happens. He finds himself lost. He's in
a place he's probably never been. He doesn't know anybody, and
he doesn't know where to go. So where does he go? He goes to Paul.
And he hears Paul preach. And from this, it's quite clear
that the Lord saved Onesimus. And from this, it's quite clear
that Onesimus wanted to return to his master. But there's a
problem. Onesimus can't return to his master. He's wronged his
master. He has done him great wrong.
By all law, he should not be received. He should be punished. What does Onesimus need? He needs
an intercessor. He needs somebody who can make
peace with the offended master on behalf of the offending servant. Do you see where we're going
with this? Now this is a beautiful story and in this abyssal it
almost seems as if it should be over in the Old Testament
because it's an illustration. It's a beautiful illustration
of how the Lord Jesus Christ made effective intercession for
his wayward people on behalf of his father, or unto his father
rather. We're going to work verse by
verse. When we go through verses 10 through roughly 18, I would
encourage you very highly, when we read those words, they are
Paul's words. But make no mistake, those are
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to his father. And that's how
they should be read. So let's look at the first couple
of verses. Read the first two. It says, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus
Christ, and Timothy, our brother, unto Philemon, our dearly beloved
and fellow laborer, and to our beloved Apphia, and Archippus,
our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house." Now, Paul
opens by addressing who this letter is addressed to, and he
names some people here. There's the name Apphia, and
that is a feminine name. We suppose that is probably Philemon's
wife. He mentions Archippus, that is
likely the pastor of this church that Philemon attended. This
church was in a place called Colossae. So if you're familiar
with the book of Colossians, when Paul wrote those epistles,
that was to all the churches in Colossae. This would have
been one of those churches. Archippus is mentioned in Colossians
4. Paul actually points out that he is a preacher of the gospel
and a pastor. And he is likely the pastor of this church that
Paul is writing to. And then you have this man Philemon. He is likely an elder in the
church. He did some preaching, apparently. Paul refers to him
as a fellow laborer. He was a wealthy man. He was
also a very loving man and a very generous man. Paul salutes him
as such. This man had great wealth, and
it's thought that this church that's being addressed here,
that it was actually built, the physical building was on Philemon's
property. He provided for the property and place for that church
to meet. By all accounts, by Paul's account
here, this man was a good master. He's a type of God the Father.
Make no mistake about that. And finally here, he addresses
the church. And by doing that, Paul's saying, this letter is
not private. It's not just to be read by the few of you. Share
this with everybody. Share this with everybody in
the church. And it was for this reason Paul wanted Philemon to
receive Onesimus, that wayward servant. But not just Philemon,
he wanted the whole congregation to receive him as well. Forgive
him and forget about it and receive. Good rule. Now look at verses
three through five. Paul says, grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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 the saints. Now notice what Paul wished for
these people and what he was confident that they had. The
words he uses is grace and peace. This is what he was confident
they had, grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ, and this
is what he hoped for. Those two things, grace and peace,
they can never be separated. If a man has the grace of God
upon him, He has real peace with the Father through our Lord Jesus
Christ. And if a man has peace with the
Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, he has the very grace
of God upon him. That cannot be separated. And the teaching of this book
is very plain, and it's very simple. There is a word that
is used over and over and over in this book, and that word is
largely disregarded by men. They attempt to change the meaning,
they try to disregard the word, and that word is elect. Over
and over again in this book, you will read of this word, elect,
and this is the teaching of this book, that God has an elect people. See, he's God, that's what he
does, he chooses. He decides, he takes action, and everything
just reacts to what he does. He chose, and he chose with this
purpose, to show grace, to show the loving kindness of God to
these particular people, although although they would hate him
so much and they would fight against him so much. That's grace. And that's something, folks,
in the human realm, we don't know anything about. We love
people who love us. We think highly of people who
think highly of us. We don't know anything about
loving our enemies, but thank God he loved his enemies. And
peace. Because of this eternal purpose
to graciously save this elect group of people, God sent his
son. his only begotten son, and he sent him to the cross for
these people. And this is what is recorded about that. This
is Colossians 1.20. It says, and having made peace,
through the blood of his cross for these people, for this elect.
This is what is recorded that the Lord Jesus Christ came to
this world guided by the grace of God and he made their peace
with God. That means the reason for anger
from the Father towards these people was absolutely removed
because the sin The sin was the reason for the anger and the
sin was removed by the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And
I love the wording here. It says he made peace. It does
not say he made partial peace. And now you need to do something.
It does not say that he started peace. Now you have to finish
peace. It does not say he made a shaky peace that is subject
to change. Absolutely not. It says he made
peace through the blood of his cross. That means for these people,
these elect, They have absolutely nothing to worry about. Their
peace has been made with God and it's done. It's finished.
It is a finished work and it's solid. It's in concrete. It cannot
be moved. Now, who are these people? Look
at verse five again. Paul says, hearing of thy love
and faith. Now, here we have cause and effect. Without exception, everyone who
has the grace of God upon them, and the Lord Jesus Christ has
made their peace with God, they have these two attributes. Love,
love for the Lord Jesus Christ, love for his people, and faith
in Christ alone. What we have here is cause and
effect, and the order is so very important. What is spoken of
first? Grace and peace, that is the cause. What is the effect
of grace and peace? Love and faith. And if you reverse
that order, that's salvation by works. If you come up with
your own love, if you muster a natural love for God, if you
can come up with your own faith, muster a natural faith in Christ,
you will be rewarded with grace and peace. That's salvation by
works. That is not God's doing right there. This is the order.
The order is so important. It begins with God and His graciousness.
Grace and peace. Grace unearned. Demerited of
anything else. True peace with God that we didn't
have anything to do with. And what's the effects of that?
Love and faith. Now, I enjoy talking about faith. Because faith is very, very simple.
It's very simple. Here's what faith is. Whatever
needed doing in salvation, Christ did it. I am confident of that. I cling to Him in that. I am
persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day. Whatever need of doing, that
word salvation is a big word and involves many things, but
it all boils down to this, real simple. Whatever need of doing,
He did it. And it's all done. And I'm resting
in Him. That's it. I love talking about
faith. This next one I don't like talking about. My love for Christ and the believers'
love for Christ. And the reason I don't like talking
about that is because I know so little on the topic. I've
always cringed a little when my pastor would talk about the
believers' love for Christ. I always sink in my seat a little
bit, literally because I know so little about that topic. And
I suspect all believers feel the same way. We don't feel good
about our love for Christ. And I've wrestled with this my
entire life, that the Lord brought me a knowledge of himself. Do
I love him? That's a strong word. That's
a very strong word. Love. Do I love him? That demands some examination.
When I thought of this, it was helpful to me, and maybe it will
be helpful to you. I'm going to ask you a question.
Would you change him if you could? If it was within your power to
change the Lord Jesus Christ, his father, the triune God, in
any way, would you change him? Would you change his absolute
sovereignty? Would you make him less sovereign
in any way if it was within your power? Because the truth of the
matter is this. Everything that has ever happened
or ever will happen is simply the eternal purpose and goodwill
of God himself playing out the seemingly good things, the seemingly
bad things. He is the first cause behind
everything. Say, what about evil things?
What about sinful things? That is man's fault. Make no
mistake about it. It is our fault and he is still
sovereign over it all. Would you change that? I wouldn't. Not to save my life. The only
reason I can get out of bed every morning and face the world without
fear is knowing that every step I take that day and every interaction
I'm going to have that day is all according to the goodwill
and the purpose of God. And he has promised that his
purpose and his will is only to do good for his people and
to glorify himself. Wouldn't change that if I can. In this thing of salvation, if
you make him any less sovereign in salvation, you make him any
less sovereign at all, that means you put something on me. That
means my will comes into play, that means my actions come into
play, and that would ensure one thing and one thing alone, that
I would be damned. No. He must be sovereign. My only hope that he sovereignly
chose me. that he sovereignly broke through
the wall and drug me to himself. That's my only hope. I wouldn't
change that if I could. What about his perfect standard?
His standard of perfect and absolute righteousness and holiness? Is God too strict? Would you
change that if you could? I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I am so thankful And in this
world, and in this reality, and in this creation, there is somebody
who has a perfect standard. Now, as men and women, we live
in a wicked world, and we create laws and we create rules, but
they are fouled and they are flawed because of who we are
and what we are. And sometimes we interpret the
law to mean something different for one person, and we interpret
it different for another person because we want a different outcome.
based on who it is. And we're willing to sweep some
things under the rug depending on who the person is, but not
so much for this person. It's a flawed system and it is
not fair. That is the way with men. It
just is not fair. It's not just. But he has a perfect
sense of justice. He's going to have everything
just so. With God, everything is black and white. It is right
or wrong. It is righteousness or it is unrighteousness. And
nobody gets past. You either meet the standard, perfect righteousness
and perfect holiness, or you do not. That's it. I love that. I love the fact that somebody
has a perfect standard, unwavering sense of justice. And I'll tell
you what I love more. Is that every believer in Christ?
We meet that standard. We meet that standard because
Christ meets that standard. As much as he is holy, as much
as he is righteous, we have that very righteousness of Christ.
We have the very holiness of Christ. We actually do meet the
standard. Nothing is getting swept under
the carpet. Everything is perfectly just and perfectly right. I love
that. What about the fact that his
mercy and his grace is only for the chiefest of sinners? Now
we talked about cause and effect. What is the cause of salvation?
The grace of God and the peace that Lord Jesus Christ made with
his father on that cross. That's the cause and what's the
effect? Love and faith and you can add this one in as well,
sinner. What's the effect of salvation
right there? A man finds out exactly what
he is. He is a sinner and nothing more. He is a vile creature.
He has never done that which is good. He has only done that
which is wrong. He is nothing and he's got nothing
before God. And you know what? That is the
man. That is the person. And that
is the only person that the Lord's grace and His mercy is for. And
you can be rest assured of this, if that's you, if you are a sinner
in need of mercy in the hands of this sovereign God and what
you deserve is damnation, make no mistake, Lord Jesus Christ
made your peace with God. This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into this world to
save sinners, of whom I am the chief. Would you change that?
I wouldn't change that at all. Best news I've ever heard. What
about his eternal purpose of glorifying himself? There is
only going to be one man in heaven that will have a crown on his
head. There will only be one man in heaven whose name is going
to be sung. He's going to be praised. He's
going to be memorialized. No one else will have any glory.
All of this is about him getting glory for himself, and you will
have none. Make no mistake. Would you change
that? I love it that way. He deserves every bit of it.
You take all his attributes, his all-powerfulness, his all-knowingness,
his independence, his eternality, all those attributes, would you
change anything about him? I wouldn't. And when we talk
about him, just like we've done for the last couple of minutes,
you know what I detect? Just some small embers of love. He is wonderful in his person. All right, look over verse six.
Paul said he prayed for these people. What did he pray for
them? That the communication of thy faith may become effectual
by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in
Christ Jesus. You know what that is? That is
a one-verse commentary on true gospel preaching. What is true
gospel preaching? It is one sinner standing up
and communicating his hope of salvation to a bunch of other
sinners. One beggar telling other beggars
where he found bread. And I already told you my hope.
That's it. Having made peace through the
blood of his cross. That's my hope. That's where
all my hope lies, that he made my peace with God through the
blood of his cross. Now, and what does every believer
have through that peace? They have every good thing that
is in you that is in Christ Jesus. What good things are in Christ
Jesus? Because these people who he made
their peace with God, they have all these good things that are
in Christ Jesus. Well, I'll tell you what's there.
The free, frank, full forgiveness of sins is in Christ Jesus. Righteousness
that actually stand the test of the law and stand the test
of God's justice, that's what's in Christ Jesus. perfect acceptance,
unchangeable state of holiness, eternal preservation, and a confident
expectation for the future. That is what is in Christ Jesus. And everybody who has that same
hope that He made their peace through the blood of His cross,
you have that. You have that presently, right now. You can't
get any more accepted than you are right now with the Father
in the person of Jesus Christ. But the linchpin of the whole
thing, the linchpin of the whole verse, lies on this one word,
one word, effectual. That the communicating of your
faith might be made effectual. A man can stand up and he can
say all the right things. And he can be doctrinally accurate,
and he can have the best illustrations that any man has ever come up
with. At the end of the day, if the Lord does not take that
and make it effectual to the hearts of the sinner, it means
nothing. And vice versa, he can take a
stumbling fool who can't find the words, and he can take those
words, and he can make them effectual, and he can give life through
them. That's the whole linchpin of the whole verse, effectual. Now, Paul's going to get into
his request. Look at verse 8. He's prefacing
the request. He says, wherefore, though I
might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee or make thee that
which is convenient or right, yet for love's sake, I rather
beseech thee, being such in one as Paul the aged, and now also
a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Now, bondage never produces obedience. What Paul is saying to Philemon
here is, I could make you do this. This thing that I'm about
to ask you, that I'm going to request from you, I have the
right to command you to do it. Paul was an apostle. He was coming
under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And he
says, Philemon, I could make you do this. I could force your
hand on this one. But he says, I'm not going to.
Bondage is not my appeal. My appeal is love. for love's
sake. Bondage never produces obedience. You put a man under the law,
give him any law whatsoever, it only ensures one thing, that
he will break that law. That's it. Salvation by works
only leads to death. That's it. Give a man a law,
he will break it every single time. But this is what I thought
of. The gospel comes to the center
as a command. Make no mistake about it, it
is a command. And with that command comes the
obedience. We are dragged to Christ. When
God the Holy Spirit comes to a member of the elect, he makes
the gospel effectual to that man, and he calls him, and that
man is literally drugged by the divine power of God to Christ
himself. He's got no choice. Your will
just doesn't come into play here. You are mine, you are coming
with me, and you are literally dragged by the back of your neck
to Christ. So much so that not one of God's
sheep is going to be lost. Not one. If there is anything
I'm sure of, anything I'm willing to put this, this is the truth,
I am sure of this, there is no chance it could possibly any
other way, it's this. Everybody who belongs to the
Father and Jesus Christ died for, they're going to be saved.
Because He is the successful Savior, He cannot fail. It is
impossible. And literally, when that command
comes, come to Christ, believe on Him. Zacchaeus, come down.
Zacchaeus came down immediately by divine power. But you know,
that's not our experience. We have no experience of being
dragged and forced to Christ. None whatsoever. Listen to Scripture,
if you will. This is Isaiah 118. Come now and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Now here's the power in that
statement. This is the divine power of God.
He says, they shall be. Though they be red as scarlet,
they shall be white as snow. By that word, shall, what he's
saying is, they already are. I've already done it. I've already
put away all your sins. I've already made you white as
snow. I've already enacted divine power. You're all taken care of. And
now I'm going to sit down with you, and I'm going to reason
with you. And if he reasons with you, you're reasoned with. He
changes your mind, literally. You're given a new mind. a new
heart and a new will. And in this reasoning says this,
this natural way, this way you feel about me, your hatred of
me, picking a fight with me, it's unreasonable. Remember who
I am. I'm God. Remember who I am. I'm the master. Remember who
picked this fight. You did. You sinned against me.
You started this war. Remember that. This way, this
way you feel towards me, it's unreasonable. That's enough.
This way of your salvation. Your natural way, this way of
coming. You say, accept me for what I've done. You know I can't
accept anything that comes from you. You know what you are. You're
a sinner. This whole thing is unreasonable. Now, bend the knee
and believe on me. And you know what? When he reasons
with you like that, Every single time, you're brought to the proper
conclusion, Christ is all. And the whole time you are being
drugged by the back of your neck, no choice whatsoever, but at
the end state, it's exactly what you want. You want Christ, you
want him crucified, and you want that alone because you've been
given that new will, both by command and for love's sake. Now, Paul's going to begin his
intercession for Onesimus, and as I said to you before, I think
you'll be blessed by reading this as the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Like I said, it almost seems as if it should
be in the Old Testament because Paul is a very powerful type
of Christ-treater. It's no mistaking it. So read
these as the words of Christ himself. Look at verse 10. I beseech thee for my son, Onesimus,
who I have begotten in my bonds, which in time past was to thee
unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me." Christ goes
to his father and he says, my people, they were at one point
unprofitable, wicked, vile, useless, completely and utterly unprofitable,
but I've gotten them in my bonds. What bonds were God's people
under? The bondage of a law we couldn't keep? In the bondage
of sin? Couldn't stop? Couldn't get out
of it? Couldn't do anything about it? Couldn't make up for it?
But how did He beget us? By Him taking on our bonds. It
says this, it says He was made of a woman, made under the law,
and you know what? There was no sacrifice in that.
The Lord Jesus Christ came to this world and He was made under
the law, subject to the law, but there was no sacrifice in
keeping God's holy law. He was just doing what comes
naturally to him. Keeping the law. Being righteousness. Doing that which is righteousness.
But he entered into the bondage of our sin. He became it. He became his people's sin. He
put himself under the bondage of that sin and he put himself
under the bondage of God's wrath for that sin. Through that sacrifice
of himself, through that death, he took the bondage away, and
he gave freedom. And now for everybody he died
for, there is complete and utter freedom. There is no more bondage.
It's over. No more bondage to the law. The
law has been fulfilled. No more bondage to sin. Sin's
been put away. It is all over. It's all done. And now Christ stands before
his Father, and he says, look them over. They were unprofitable,
so unprofitable. Now they're profitable. They're
meat. They're meet for fellowship. They're meet for your acceptance.
They're meet for worship. They're meet to sing our praises.
Look, they are now profitable to us. Look what I've done. I've
taken the unprofitable and I've made them profitable unto you. Look at verse 12. Paul says, 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." Paul mentions two things there.
Number one, he says, my bowels. He says, I love Onesimus. He's
my bowels. The bowels in the seat of love.
That's what it is. I love this man, Onesimus. And
I'll tell you what, Philemon, I want him to be with me. I'm
going to give him to you because he's profitable to you, but I
want him right here with me. Those are the words of Christ
concerning his bride, concerning his people. I love them. I've
loved them with an everlasting love. That's why he was willing
to go to the cross. Make no mistake, he wasn't forced
into anything. Everything he did as a substitute and everything
he did, he did willingly. And it was all for love's sake.
It was because of his great desire that my people would be with
me where I am. Listen to this. This is John
17, 4. This is his prayer to his father. Father, I will that
they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am. Think of the great love Christ
has for his people. He says, I must have them. They
must be with me where I am. And it was all for love's sake. Not that we loved God. but that
he loved us and gave his son to be the propitiation for our
sins. Look at verse 15. For perhaps he therefore departed
for a season that thou shouldest received him. Forever. In one of my favorite scriptures,
Isaiah 55a, the Lord says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. Thank God
that's the case. And you think about it, Onesimus
was a servant in Philemon's house. The gospel was being preached
there. Philemon was preaching it, Archippus was preaching it,
and the Lord could have converted Onesimus right there under that
preaching, but he didn't. He allowed Onesimus to sin against
his master. He allowed Onesimus to flee all
the way down to Rome. Then he brought him to Paul.
And he converted him under the preaching of Paul. And they sent
him back, just like that. And when I think about that,
I think, what an inefficient way of doing business. Why didn't
you just save him right there under the preaching of Archippus?
Because my ways aren't your ways. And if he would have done that,
we wouldn't have this story right here. But I thought about this, too.
When Adam fell. All humanity fell collectively
in Him. You know whose fault that is?
All of humanity. We are all responsible. That's
it. But it all happened according
to the purpose and the will of God that we would depart for
a season, the elect. We departed for a season in Adam
only to be brought back, this is according to the purpose and
the will of God, to be brought back in the Christ. in so much
of a better state. Adam was upright, he was innocent,
he was righteous, but Adam wasn't holy. His standing with God was
subject to change. And he proved that because he
did. He changed. He fell. But in the Christ, being
returned in the Christ, all of God's people, they were returned
in an unchangeable state. We departed for a while. Being
brought back, we're brought back to a much better state than we
ever had with Adam. An eternal state. A state that
will never end. Now look at verse 16. Not now as a servant, but above
a servant, a brother beloved specially 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. These are the
words of Christ. The best commentary on this is
Hebrews 2.11, for both he that sanctifieth and them that are
sanctified are all of one, therefore he is not ashamed to call them
brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ comes to
his father, and he says, you receive me? Am I holy? Am I acceptable to you? Will
you receive me? And the father says, I'll receive
you, absolutely. He that sanctifieth and them that are sanctified
are all of one. If you'll receive me, receive them. Look what I've
done. I've made them acceptable. They're
all holy. They're all beautiful. They're all perfect. Receive
me, but it's a package deal. When you receive me, you take
them too. Every one of them go with me
because we can't be separated. Now look at verse 18. If these
aren't the words of the Lord Jesus Christ before eternity,
before the world ever began, I don't know what is. If he hath
wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account. I,
Paul, have written it with my own hand. I will repay it. Albeit,
I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own
self besides." Paul talks about what he's willing to do. He says,
if Onesimus owes anything, if he's wronged you in any way,
if he owes anything, you charge it to my account and I'm going
to pay it in full. And then you know what he does?
He throws a guilt trip on Philemon. He says, and I don't have to
say, if you'll recall, you owe me your life. Little guilt trip
there at the end. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
says this to his father, no guilt trip is necessary. No persuasion
is necessary because these words are in the past tense. They owed
you. I paid it. Everything they did
you charge it to my account. I Paid the debt in full. I wrote
it down with my own hand. I did it with my own hand Everything
you gave me to do in that covenant of grace before the world ever
began You said if I do this you will save them here. It is I've
did it. I Wrote it down with my own hand. It's done Now you
remember the covenant. And the father says, I honor
my covenant. They're beautiful. They're perfect.
Bring them in for your sake. Absolutely. No questions asked.
I want to close with this thought. In verse 19, Paul says very clearly,
he says, I have written it with my own hand. He's talking about
the letter. He's saying, Paul, I wrote this
with my own hand. But at the end of this book,
at the end of this epistle, there's a footnote. You may see it. It
would be below verse 25 if it's in your Bible. But that footnote
reads this. Written from Rome to Philemon
by Onesimus. a servant. You see, Paul's age
was catching up with him. His eyes were a little dim. He probably couldn't write the
way he used to. And while Paul spoke every word of this letter,
this is the mind of Paul, this is the heart of Paul, and these
are the words of Paul, somebody had to physically write it down.
You know who wrote it down? Onesimus. The whole time Paul's saying
these things, Onesimus just writing it down, writing it down. Yes,
wayward servant. Yes, sin against his master.
When he got to the part where he said, if he owes anything,
if he's wronged you in any way, and he owes anything, you charge
it to my account. How do you think he felt? It's
the best news he ever heard. Paul says, I take full responsibility
for this man, and Onesimus gets to write it down. He says, he's
taken full responsibility for me. Now, here's the point. What
can we take from that? For man's to be saved, what is necessary?
The Lord Jesus Christ must have made effective intercession for
that man. And to this very day, he must
plead for that man before his father. He must have said, when
he wronged you, When he owes you, you charge that to my account."
And he put it away. That's what's necessary. And
for everybody he did that for, he owned all their sin. He accomplished
all their righteousness. He made peace through the blood
of his cross. For everyone he did that for,
this is their hope. Philemon had to carry that letter.
I'm sorry, Onesimus had to carry that letter back to Philemon
and he had to stand there and hand it to Philemon as he read
it. Philemon opens it up and he sees Paul's intercession and
he says, Onesimus, come toward me. What's the only way we approach
the Father? What's the only way we approach
the Father? Seeking mercy, seeking acceptance, seeking forgiveness
through the intercessory work of Christ himself and nothing
more. That's a great story and a great
epistle. I'll leave you there.