Well, as I said earlier, having
had three sermons in Titus, I was thinking what to do next, and
it seems that the message of Philemon is very appropriate,
not only for this time of year, As I've already said, you know,
to believers, it's Christmas every day. It's every day, just
like with Easter. We don't keep the pagan festival
of Easter, but every day we rejoice that Christ died for the sins
of his people and rose from the dead. You know, it's the first
day of the week, especially, that we rejoice in the resurrection.
This is why we, if we can, meet on this day, because it's the
day of the week on which our Lord Jesus Christ arose from
the dead. So in a sense, it's Christmas
in the sense of we rejoice in the incarnation, God becoming
man, God being clothed in human flesh, the son of God becoming
that which he wasn't before when he became the son of man. When
the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his son,
made of a woman, made under the law. Why? To redeem those who
are under the law. What for? That they might receive
the adoption of sons. This is what it's all about.
We rejoice in the fact he came into the world every day. We
rejoice in the fact that he died for the sins of his people. We
rejoice in the fact that he rose and ascended to heaven. We rejoice
in the fact that he is king of the kingdom of God and that all
things are going to be restored to him. So in that sense, there's
nothing different whatsoever. about this week. Nevertheless,
we do enjoy midwinter festivities with family and friends. That's
a good thing to do. I really do mean it, I really
do think it's a good thing to do. Those that tell us that we're
doing an unchristian thing by keeping Christmas because we're
giving credibility to the pagan excesses that go on all around
us, I'm sorry, how We were told in Titus chapter 2 verse 10,
adorn the doctrine of our God and Savior in all things. Make
it attractive. How do we make it attractive?
By being dour and miserable. Put on a warm and friendly and
generous spirited. When people at this time of year
more than any other attending to be generous-spirited to one
another, and friendly to one another, and exchange warm glances
at one another, well why not join in with it? What harm does
it do? Adorn the doctrine of our God
and Saviour in all things. We're to be zealous for good
works. What are these good works we saw last week? They're acts
of selflessness. The world is so selfish, even
at this time of year. Sin is so selfish. Acts of selflessness
Acts that cost us in time and money and resources in order
to help others. For what purpose? For absolutely
no return to ourselves. Just for the service of God. The epistles encourage us, whatever
you do, whatever you do, whether it's going to work, whether it's
in your family, whether it's looking after somebody, whether
it's doing that dreadful job, whatever you do, do as unto the
Lord. Because the Lord is there with
you if you're his child. You see, correct doctrine, which
we're so careful to maintain, should never be an excuse for
neglecting good works. And just in the same way, the
pursuit of good works should never be an excuse for being
lax about correct doctrine. No. A balance is required. There's
so little of Christian truth in religion at Christmas. So
little of it. As we see, it's just idolatry.
It's idolatry and falsehood. It's the paganism of ancient
Rome brought and mingled with early Christianity, fundamentally
what it comes down to. But if some are induced to do
some others some good, it's surely preferable to being like, you
know, the favorite story of this time of year is Dickens' Christmas
Carol, and you remember Ebenezer Scrooge, the very epitome of
that which is mean and selfish and unpleasant, surely it's preferable
to being like Ebenezer Scrooge. We like heartwarming stories,
don't we? Especially at this time of year,
people love heartwarming stories. Well, here in Philemon is one
such. And I thought it was a good time
of year to give it some thought. I've got three points. Grace
revealed. That's why we've been singing
about grace. Grace revealed. Secondly, human interrelationships
respected. And thirdly, human ranks leveled. I've called this message Bond
Servant Brethren because it's about Paul, the apostle, it's
about Onesimus, the slave, and it's about Philemon, who had
been Onesimus' master, but they're Bond Servant Brethren, all three
of them. First of all, grace revealed. Paul went around the Mediterranean
world in the first century preaching the gospel. You know he did.
He went all around what is now modern-day Turkey. And in the
middle of modern-day Turkey was a place called Colossae. something
like that anyway, we've got the epistle to the Colossians from
Paul to there. And he went round many other
places, Ephesus and Philippi in northern Greece and Macedonia,
Corinth in southern Greece, all around the Mediterranean world
preaching the gospel. And he spent some time in Colossae
as he did in most places. And there in Colossae was the
household of a man who it would seem had certain means. He had a household. So he had
a place where a group of people could meet. Because here it talks
about, in verse 2, the church, speaking to Philemon, the church
in your house. He had a house that was big enough
to accommodate a church. Whether it was bigger than this,
I'm almost certain it would be bigger than this church that
meets in this house here. But you see, we're doing a very
scriptural thing this morning, meeting in somebody's house.
This is how it was in the first century. they met in Philemon's
house. And in that early church in Colossae,
in the middle of what is, well, southern Turkey these days, obviously
there was a culture of slavery all around. And it seems that
Onesimus was Philemon's slave. Now, we always get a very, very
bad view of that, don't we? You know, you sort of think,
how on earth can that be? And in a sense, you're dead right. It's
wrong. What did Jesus say was the essence of working out the
gospel? It was this. What's the essence of keeping
the law? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Which of you, even Philemon, which of you would want to be
another man's slave? Therefore, don't have slaves.
But you know, we must make allowances for the culture that we live
in versus the culture they lived in. There are things about our
society today that would utterly horrify people from the past.
I'm sure if you could bring back people from the 1800s and you
could put them in aspects of our society today, they would
be absolutely horrified by the attitudes and the selfishness
and the wickedness that you see. Oh, you say, well, Victorian
times were very wicked. Well, yes, there were. There's always
been sin. There's always been sin. But they would be horrified
at the state of society today. So let's not be judgmental in
this. This is a fact. And Nesimus was a slave of Philemon
in his household. He was probably an incredibly
well-treated slave. He was given his food and his
accommodation. He was probably trusted and given
responsibilities. He had a decent role in life
in that society as it happened. And Paul spent time there preaching,
there in that church that was in Philemon's house. And it seems
that Onesimus, and no doubt others, were completely unmoved by the
preaching that they heard, completely unmoved by it. But Philemon gave
the benefit of the doubt, and it seems that he gave responsibility
to Onesimus, and he trusted him with that responsibility. and
that Onesimus betrayed that trust. He stole something from Philemon. We don't know exactly what, but
he stole something and he ran away. He escaped. It must have
grieved Philemon greatly that having trusted this young slave,
he should so badly treat him by stealing his goods and running
away. God is not the author of his
sin. But providentially, God used
his sin and his escaping for his eternal purposes of grace. And you know, this is such a
wonderful thing to behold. I'm sure in every one of the
lives of believers listening to me now, you could say, well,
yes, but for the grace of God, where would I be? Look how God
ordered events to put me in that place at that time. Look how
God directed my paths. I didn't know it, but he caused
me to cross the path of a preacher, bearing the truth of heaven to
my soul at that time. Onesimus had found his freedom,
illegally, as it happened, but as he went on, you know, they
say, you know, you might get what you wish for, you know,
you might not want what you wish, you think that everything will
be solved if You know, how many people have wished for a lottery
win and then there are some that have won it and after years and
years of profligacy have ended up with absolutely nothing in
poverty? Freedom, yes, but increasing poverty and increasing hunger
and increasing difficulty. And just as in the days in which
we live, young people in our society, in this country, they
fall out with home, they get into all sorts of bad relationships,
they get into crime, And where do they often end up? They end
up in London. And they end up in the back streets
of London, sleeping rough and in all sorts of difficulties
and problems. Well, in the same way, it seems
that Onesimus gravitated down to the lower levels of society
in Rome. It's criminal low life. And that's
where he was, people coming and going. And like the prodigal
son in the parable that Jesus told, he no doubt came to an
end of himself. You know, he thought, ah, I've
got my freedom now and I've got this that I've stolen from Philemon
and I'll go and I'll be rich and I'll be, I'll be one who
will have my own slaves somewhere. But no, it didn't work out like
that. It was like the prodigal son. He came to an end of himself. And you know, this is all God's
doing because God providentially uses hardship. You know, don't
always think that the blessing of God is an abundance of material
possessions. Somewhere else in the epistles,
Paul talks about those who think that the blessing from God consists
in the things that they possess. It doesn't. More often than not,
those things are a curse. Those possessions are a curse.
We grasp onto them with selfish greed, grasping onto them. They're a curse to us, so often.
Oh, what does it say? Godliness with contentment is
great gain. With contentment, content with
what you have, content with your situation. God providentially
uses hardship to stop us relying on worldly support. And maybe
when Onesimus was at the end of himself, in the slums of Rome,
in the back streets of Rome, with the criminal lowlife of
Rome, there were people coming and going, And maybe he heard
from somebody, I don't know, another man or a woman, maybe
he heard them say, do you know, there's a man preaching in this
house, and he's getting a lot of people come and listen to
him. And I went last week, and I tell you, he said things that
I must hear again. And Onesimus has said, well,
who was it? Oh, a man called Paul, Paul. He calls himself an apostle,
a man called, I know him. He used to preach in my master's
house in Colossae. I know him. Can I come along
with you? What have I got to lose? I'm
at the end of myself. You see, we read in Acts, the
very last two verses of the Acts of the Apostles tells us that
Paul dwelt two whole years. Do you know why he was there
in Rome? he'd appealed to Caesar. As he was being sought by the
Jews to have him killed, down many years, he went to the council
in Jerusalem and he appealed to Caesar, under the rulership
of Festus and Agrippa and those different ones there, and they
said, well, this man's innocent, but if he hadn't appealed to
Caesar, we would have let him go free, but he has, he's appealed
to Caesar, so they sent him to Rome, and it was in Rome that
Paul died. Paul died in Rome as a martyr,
but for two years, at the end of the Acts of the Apostles,
he dwelt two whole years in his own hired house. and received
all that came in unto him. So they let him gather a meeting,
I guess, like this, but I imagine a lot bigger. And what did he
do? He preached the kingdom of God and taught those things which
concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding
him. He had the freedom for two years
to preach the kingdom of God. What is it to preach the kingdom
of God? I've told you before, recently,
that in this world there are really, ultimately, spiritually,
only two kingdoms. There's the kingdom of God, and
there's the kingdom of Antichrist. The vast majority of what we
see, like in Revelation 13, is the kingdom of Antichrist. What
it's doing, what it's rising up to do, the things that it's
enacting, the things that it's doing, the things that it's promoting,
they're all around us, our entire society, including the vast majority
of its religion. is entirely the kingdom of Antichrist,
the kingdom of Satan. What is the mark of the kingdom
of Satan? It's this, that everything will
be alright and we don't need to bother about the justice of
God. We don't need to bother about the righteousness of God.
And against that, right from the beginning in Eden, is set
the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is in this
world. As the white horse of the apocalypse rides forth, the
gospel goes into the world and touches people. And we have been
touched here, and those listening to us out there, so many have
been touched by this gospel of God's grace in Christ. And that
kingdom is the kingdom of which Christ is the king. You know,
they put on his cross Jesus, the King of the Jews, Jesus of
Nazareth. And the Jews said, take that down. And Pilate said,
what I've written, I have written. It's staying there. Jesus of
Nazareth, the king of the Jews, the king of the kingdom of God.
And the kingdom of God is that kingdom where the righteousness
of God is not violated. The righteousness of God is completely
established. The righteousness of God is accomplished
in the doing and dying of Jesus Christ who became man. to save
his people from their sins. All of this book, the Word of
God, those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, he's everywhere
in it and this is what Paul taught. His text this week would be in
the book of Numbers. His text the next week would
be, you know, he used the word of God and he preached the kingdom
of God and the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all
confidence. Where did he get his confidence
from? You know, it said of the Lord Jesus Christ, he spake not
as the scribes and Pharisees, but as one having authority because
he got his truth from heaven and the truth of God stands And
the truth of God, men will say they disbelieve it, men will
fight and rail against it, but the truth of God stands. No man
forbidding him. Why? You know, we read in the
book of Revelation, the letters to the churches, he says, I forget,
is it Philadelphia? He says, behold, I have opened
a door before you and no man can shut it. And in another place
he says, I've closed a door and no man can open it. When he does
these things, his purposes are accomplished. He had opened a
door here in Rome. Where was Paul? He was under
house arrest in Rome. He was going to stand before
Caesar. He was going to be put to death for his faith. We know
that. But here, a door was opened.
And no man could close it because God had opened that door. No
man forbidding him. Not even Caesar could forbid
him until this two years was up when he preached to so many
people. And Onesimus came in with whoever
took him along to it. And yes, that's him. That's the
Paul I remember from Philemon's household. Yes, I remember him. And Onesimus heard him, heard
him preach. And it was just like, you know,
we read in Acts 16 about Lydia. in Philippi, wasn't it? Lydia, a seller of purple of
the city of Thyatira. That's in northern Turkey, so
she'd gone across to Greece. A seller of purple of the city
of Thyatira, which worshipped God. She was a pious woman and
she sought to worship God. She sought to do the right thing.
And Paul preached and those that were with him by the riverbank,
And she heard us, it says, whose heart the Lord opened. You see, you can sit here or
wherever you are listening, and your ears can be deaf to the
words that you're hearing. But if God, the Holy Spirit comes
and opens your heart, just as he did Lydia's, she attended
to the things which were spoken of Paul. Oh, Onesimus had heard
it all before, didn't make a scrap of difference. He'd fled from
his master's house. He knew his master was a good
man, but he fled from his house. But now, it's just like Lydia. The Lord opened the heart of
Onesimus. You see, the natural man cannot
receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they're foolishness
to him. Neither can he know them. Why? Because they are spiritually
discerned. You must have a gift from God,
which is known as spiritual discernment, the gift of eternal life, the
new birth, Unless a man be born again, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. Never mind talk about it
or discuss it, you cannot see it. But God's Holy Spirit comes. And for all of the elect of God,
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, all that Christ
redeemed at the cross of Calvary, for He redeemed them and only
them and accomplished salvation for that great multitude and
them alone. But in the individual experience
of everyone, at the right time, God the Holy Spirit comes and
gives life and causes an awakening and opens the blind spiritual
eyes. and switches on the light of
spiritual truth and shows that light in the face of Jesus Christ. He quickens. You see, how are
you going to become a Christian? Is it down to you? You know what
John chapter 1 verses 12 and 13 say. As many as received him,
this is the Son of God, this is John writing at the very start
of his gospel but talking about the effects of the gospel of
the ministry of Christ. As many as received Christ, to
those people gave he power to become the sons of God. What's
that saying? Is that saying that because they decided to receive
him, then as a result God gave them power to become the sons
of God? Not at all. It can't possibly mean that.
How do I know? Because the rest of the scripture
argues against it. It is this, that the Holy Spirit
gave the power to become the sons of God and therefore they
received him. He made his people, as Psalm
110 verse 3 says, he made them willing. in the day of his power.
He made them willing to believe the true gospel. They weren't
willing, they were like all other natural men, but he made them
willing in the day of his power. He gave them power to become
the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, because
that's the only way you know, as Paul wrote to the Thessalonians.
I thank God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. That's how Paul knew that
the Thessalonians were the elect of God, because they believed
the true gospel. They'd not believed some false
gospel. You know, John tells us we're
to try the spirits, we're to try the preachers, we're to try
the teachers, whether they be of God. They must confess that
Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the promised one, the anointed of
God, doing everything that the Old Testament said he would do
in saving his people from their sins, that he came in the flesh
and accomplished it all, that's a true preacher of the gospel.
You say, well don't lots of people say that Jesus Christ was born
as a baby? They're all doing it this time
of year, aren't they? Every single one of them, all the false religions
are doing it. They don't say that this Christ,
this Christ of God, is accomplishing exactly what the Old Testament
said. What did the Old Testament say about him in Isaiah 53? In Isaiah 53 it says, for the
transgressions of my people was he stricken. Do they preach that? No, they most certainly do not.
No, they do not. For the transgressions of my
people was he stricken. This is the Jesus Christ that
was made flesh. This is the one that we preach.
And they were born, it says, not of blood. It's not something
that runs in genetics. You know, you're not a Christian
because of genetics. You know, that's why we don't
have infant baptism. You know, we sort of say, oh, well, we're
very close to the Presbyterians. No, we're not. We're a million
miles apart. We really are. No, no. Baptism is adult baptism
and its immersion in water because of what it symbolises. We don't
baptise infants, no we don't, no. We nurture our children,
we teach our children, we try to raise them in the admonition
of the Lord, in the truth of God, we teach them the things
of God, we teach them the principles of God, but it is of God the
Holy Spirit, born not of blood nor of the will of the flesh.
You know, God's, as Billy Graham used to say, you know, God has
now done everything he possibly can. Now it's up to you to exercise
your will and condescend to accept him and let him into your heart
because he can't come in unless you do. Complete lie. Not of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of who?
Who decides then? Who decides? What does the word
of God say? But of God, of the will of God, of the will of God,
he gave them power. to become the sons of God, by
God's grace alone. And Onesimus, when he heard Paul
preach, Onesimus fleeing headlong to hell, he's got crimes which
in those days he would have been guilty of death. He would have
been, it was a capital offense that he had committed. And he
would have been guilty of going to the court and then being executed
for his crimes of stealing and running away. But here, Under
the sound of the Word of God preached by the Apostle Paul,
this is what arrested him. This is what stopped him dead
in his tracks. This is what convicted him of
the sinner that he was. A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. He was shown his sin. He was
shown like that Philippian jailer. What it is to stand before a
holy God in your sins and know that you have nothing to answer
and know that you deserve condemnation and to cry out, what must I do
to be saved? And the answer, believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. You and anybody else
in your household who believes And in believing, to know what
it is, to find pardon. As with Pilgrim, in Pilgrim's
Progress, where he's got that burden on his back and he's trying
to find release from that burden and he comes to the cross and
there he sees Christ bear that entire burden in his place. And because Christ has borne
it, he bears it no longer. and the burden is taken away,
and he knows pardon, and the forgiveness of sins, and the
fact that he's saved from just condemnation. Here is a criminal
guilty of capital crime, destined for certain hell, running away
from the same gospel he consistently heard in Philemon's house and
rejected there, and here the Holy Spirit arrests him and transforms
him. I love it, seeing the change
that is made. You love that account, don't
you, of the madman in the caves amongst the tombs in the land
of the Gadarenes and in the ministry of Jesus they went there across
the Sea of Galilee and they went to that side and there they found
this man and nobody could tame him, nobody could constrain him.
They bound him with chains and he broke the chains as if they
were little bits of thread. He was so strong and violent
in his demon possession and Christ took the demons out of him and
when we read that he's there at the feet of Jesus and how
is he? He's clothed, no longer naked and screaming and railing
and cutting himself and violent. He's clothed and he's in his
right mind. Is this not what the gospel does?
Clothed and in his right mind. In verse 10, this man Onesimus,
this young man, this young criminal slave has believed the gospel. And look in verse 10, I beseech
thee says Paul to his beloved friend Philemon. I beseech thee
for my son Onesimus, And what Onesimus thought, my son, for
my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds while I'm
here in prison under house arrest, he's become my son in the faith
because he heard me preach and he believed the gospel that I
preached. Unprofitable to you. Philemon,
but so profitable to me. He's such a help to me. He's
such a support to me. He runs errands for me out in
Rome and gets me the things that I need so that I can continue
to minister in this way. And he's trustworthy. Now, he
was deceitful and dishonest, but now he's trustworthy. How? Because he knows God. He
knows God. Do you know, somebody once said,
I must look up, I must Google who said this, but somebody once
said, if God didn't exist, mankind would have to invent him for
the good of society. Do we not see that all around
us today? That in this society where there
is no God, where there is no God before their eyes, there
is no fear of God, and every man does that which... You read
the book of Judges, and at times it's a terrible book to read
because of the evil and corruption of the human heart left to itself.
They all did, as it says, that which was right in their own
eyes. What's right? What I feel like doing. Does
it matter what it does to anybody else? Not in the slightest. But
when we know the true God, we know as Hagar when she left Abraham,
In Genesis 16, she said, thou God seest me. Is that not how
the one who knows the true God lives their life? Thou God seest
me. Others might not see me at this
moment. That person, that boss, that employer, that partner,
that husband or wife, they might not see me at the moment, but
the true believer knows this, thou God seest me. We can hide
things from others but not from God. And having seen by faith
my debt to God and his forgiveness of me in the Lord Jesus Christ,
how can I be ungracious to others? Having experienced such grace
and such immense forgiveness, how can I be unforgiving to others
and mean-spirited to others? Jesus told a parable, didn't
he, in Matthew 18, of the king's servant that owed him a colossal
debt, 10,000 talents, whatever that was, a huge, huge amount,
that the man had not the slightest hope ever of being able to repay. And the king was going to enact
the justice of the situation. This servant owed him all that
money, and he pleaded with him. And the king had compassion on
him. and the king had mercy on him and the king forgave him
the whole debt and cancelled the debt and said you don't owe
me it any longer, it's written off, I don't need this debt anymore
and that servant went out and found a poor servant one stage
lower than him who owed him a measly hundred pence, a tiny, tiny little
amount by comparison, and wouldn't let him go, and insisted that
he paid every last penny and had no mercy whatsoever, and
how harshly then the king treated that servant who acted so unjustly,
knowing what he'd been forgiven, having been so unforgiving. That's
not the way of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. To Paul,
Philemon's wayward servant was now a beloved brother in Christ,
just as was Philemon. But, but, now, here's an important
point. Past wrongs have got to be put
right. Human interrelationships are
still respected. The gospel, you know, let's say
for example that there's a Christian teacher at school, and a young
person becomes a Christian, and they think therefore that Things
have changed now. We're brothers in Christ. I don't
need to do what this teacher tells me because we're brothers
in Christ. No, not at all. Those relationships are retained. Employers and employees, exactly
the same applies. those situations. Human interrelationships
are respected. Surely Paul had discussed with
Onesimus the wrong that he'd done to Philemon and that it
had to be put right. How are we going to do it? He
was valuable to Paul, but Paul knew there was something that
had to be put right. In Christ they were now brethren,
but in society It was still that Philemon was the master, the
rightful master of Onesimus. Debts were still owed, so they
agree. Onesimus must return to Philemon
and seek to put things right. Hence the epistle. Don't go on
your own. I'll write an epistle. And you
know Paul, I'm absolutely convinced Paul had a serious eye condition.
He tells the Galatians what went wrong. There was a stage when
you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.
I'm sure it was something to do with his sight. And so generally
speaking, all of the epistles, you read at the end of it, that
it was written by another person because Paul dictated. And when
he did write, it was very, very big handwriting that he wrote.
See what large letters he puts. It might even be here. Is it
in here? I don't know. Anyway, we'll find it in a moment.
He wrote this letter himself to prove to Philemon this is
Paul himself that's writing. Philemon looked and, oh, I recognise
Paul's handwriting. And he sent Onesimus with this
letter back to Philemon to put things right. Look at verses
12 to 14. Look what he says about Onesimus. I've sent him again. Thou therefore,
Philemon, you receive him, Onesimus, that is, Mino, receive him as
if he was me, whom I would have retained with me. Oh, I love
this boy. I love this young man. He's so useful to me. it would
be good for him to stay with me in place of you I know you
would want to be with me to help me but I would have liked to
retain him here to be in place of you that he might have ministered
unto me in the bonds of the gospel while I'm here because I need
him but I don't know 100% that that's what you think, without
your mind I would do nothing, I couldn't do that, I have to
do that which is right. That thy benefit should not be
as it were of necessity, but willingly. I don't want him out
of defrauding you from having him, but if you want to give
him to me, give him back to me, then fine. For perhaps therefore
he departed for a season that you should now have him forever.
You had him for a while when he was a slave who was unbelieving
and rebellious and ran away from you, but now receive him as a
brother, not as a servant, verse 16, but above a servant, a brother,
beloved, specially to me, but how much more to you, both in
the flesh and in the Lord. If you count me therefore a partner,
receive him as myself. Receive him just as if it was
me that was coming back to you. Do you see how warm this epistle
is, what a warm-hearted story it is. It's a true account, a
warm-hearted story of the difference that the grace of the Gospel
makes. In that society, it seems that
Onesimus was Philemon's legal property. Of course, as I've
said, Christianity doesn't condone slavery. Do unto others as you
would have them do unto you. Bring it into 2018. employers
and employees. Christians, one is still the
boss as far as work is concerned, the other is still the employee.
The one gives the orders, the other is duty-bound to carry
them out. Even though in Christ, as Galatians
3.28 tells us, there is neither Jew nor Greek. In Christ, Those
who are in Christ are exactly on the same level. There is neither
Jew nor Greek. There is neither bond nor free.
There is neither male nor female. You are all one in Christ Jesus. In marriage, there are clear
roles. Husband as the head, wife as submissive. In love, of course. Salvation transforms every aspect
of life. For the one saved, human interrelationships
are not violated by that principle. So Onesimus must return to Philemon,
respecting the relationships that existed. Paul stands as
a respected advocate for Onesimus in pleading with Philemon. As
one who was shown the mercy of God, Philemon, surely you ought
to show mercy to Onesimus. Receive him as a brother. Receive
him in the Lord. You, you, you, this is your,
this is surely your reasonable service. Treat him as if I were
coming to you and whatever he owes, verses 18 and 19, if he's
wronged you, whatever he owes, put it to my account. I will
repay it. He's not able to. He hasn't got
the resources. Clearly Paul had been given gifts
and he had the means to run a household in a rented house in Rome. He
had the means and he said, put it to my account and I will pay.
Is that not like Christ for his people? What did he say? Christ
said on behalf of his people, put it to my account. In the
parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus is the Good Samaritan.
Jesus is the Good Samaritan. He's the one who took the wounded
person and took him to the inn and gave the price that was necessary
to keep him, and to feed him, and to bathe his wounds, and
to look after him. And he said, put it to my account,
exactly the same as this. Paul says that because it's so
Christ-like. When we stood as debtors, unable
to pay before the law of God, the Lord Jesus Christ came and
stood as surety in our place, as substitute, and said, put
it to my account. And he went to the cross, and
he paid the price due. Standing surety. to cover that
inability to do it yourself. Why ought Philemon gladly to
comply with Paul's request? Finally and quickly, human ranks
are leveled by the gospel. In society, in the economy of
the day, Philemon ranked higher than Onesimus. But who is Philemon? Who is Philemon? He's just exactly
like William Huntingdon. You know, Huntingdon was that
well-known, the coal heaver he was called and such a faithful
preacher of the true gospel and you know men like to put letters
after their name you know, you put your title and professionally,
I used to write a whole string of letters after my name from
degrees and things like that they tend to not seem quite so
valuable the older you get but the letters that William Huntington
put after his name was SS, do you know what that means? sinner
saved. What are you, William Huntingdon?
Like Happy Jack, I'm a poor sinner. and nothing at all, but Jesus
Christ. He's my all in all. You see,
Philemon, you're leveled down to the same level as Onesimus
in the gospel. Philemon knows he has been forgiven
his immense sin debt to God's law and justice. In a sense,
Paul's pointed out to him, he's debtor to Paul because Paul was
the one that brought the truth to him. Will he now insist on
Onesimus paying the relatively trivial worldly debt he owes
Philemon? Paul's confidence in Philemon
is great. He knows that as a true believer
he will not press this beyond what is necessary. What can we
surmise about this? Surely that Onesimus returned
in nervous apprehension and handed over Paul's letter in his own
handwriting, so he knew it was Paul's, and he waited anxiously
while Philemon read it. And like the prodigal, you know
when the prodigal came back to his father, I will go back to
my father and plead with him, make me one of your servants.
I'm not fit to be your son. And the father saw him coming
a long way off and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And
the prodigal, fearing the worst, was overwhelmed with gospel love
and grace, the fruit of the spirit of God. He was received gladly. he was accepted, he was restored. Onesimus as a willing, faithful
servant in Philemon's household. Philemon as a Christian brother
in Christ. You see how we're brought down
to the same level in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the gospel of
grace. Mutually supportive, knowing
whose we are and whom we serve, as unto the Lord, and therefore,
Instead of it being boss and servant, though no doubt Onesimus
was the best servant you ever could have had after this, because
he knew whose he was and whom he truly served, it's like it
says in Psalm 133, behold how good and pleasant it is for brethren
to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment
upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard,
that went down to the skirts of his garments as the Jew of
Hermon. and as the Jew that descended
upon the mountains of Zion. For there the Lord commanded
the blessing, even life forevermore. Here we have two, the one who
had offended the other, and the other had offended him in a way.
Philemon never should have had Onesimus as a slave. That's clearly
true, but here they are, brethren, restored because of gospel grace. Is that not so clearly a picture
of how the true gospel totally transforms into relationships.
It levels human relationships. It always respects that which
is right and proper in God's judgment in employment, in marriage,
in families, in society, in law enforcement, etc. It levels everybody
down to the same level of sinner saved by grace. The kingdom of
Antichrist strives to socially engineer relationships without
the satisfaction of divine justice. The kingdom of God has accomplished
perfect harmony by the very fact of Christ having satisfied every
demand of justice for his people. Do you know we see these lovely
heartwarming stories in the media, don't we? I don't know how many
films of the Christmas Carol have been made down the years,
it must be dozens and dozens of them. But do you know the
media couldn't tell this tale faithfully because they have
no knowledge of the vital ingredient. And what's the vital ingredient?
Gospel truth and divinely given faith. Amen.