The book of Philemon. Philemon
just has one chapter. The book of Philemon. If you
go to the book of Hebrews and turn one book back, you'll find
the little book of Philemon. If you go to Titus or Timothy,
you've went too far and you need to go back to your right. One
little book. Very, very seldom hear this book preached on. I bet some of you very, very
seldom read. I'll turn there to it, and let
me make some commentary about it, and then we'll read the account
of it. This is about a slave by the
name of Onesimus, and his master, his owner, was Philemon. There have been some commentaries. one or two that I've read, most
of them are in total agreement that Onesimus was a slave. We don't know what nationality
as far as what he looked like, we don't know. We're horrified, aren't we? When we think of slavery, some
of the things that has gone on in our country and in the world,
We have no idea, you and I have no idea what it was like to live
in some of these ancient times. If we could just suddenly go
back to those times, we would probably be horrified at the
immorality, at a lot of the injustices that took place. But it happened. When the gospel, and I've said
this before, when the gospel invaded the heathen world, I'm
telling you the heathen world was in a mess. The immorality,
the open and profane sins were awful. And slavery has always
been. Even Christians owned slaves. You know, the Bible deals with
it. History tells us about it. The
Bible deals with it. If a man owned slaves and
he read his Bible and he was a saved man, You know slavery
would soon be abolished. Because even though the Lord
never forbid it, He regulated it. And He told the masters,
you better be careful how you treat your servants. Because
you've got a master in heaven. You better do what's right and
just with them. And somebody said, why did the
Lord not forbid them? Well, the Lord don't forbid a
lot of things in this lost ungodly world. He could take it away
if he wanted to. He could just stop and say, I'm
not going to let any of this stuff happen. I'm getting rid
of all you fellows. But he's a long-suffering entity.
He's long-suffering with the injustices, long-suffering with
the terror of one man upon another man. But here was Onesimus, and
he lived in this time. He was a slave, and Philemon
was his master, his owner. And for some reason or another,
Omasimus left. We can think of a lot of reasons,
couldn't we? But he did his master wrong, and he stole from him. And he went to Rome, and he was
converted under the Apostle Paul's ministry. And now he was afraid
to go back. Well, we can think of a lot of
reasons he was afraid to go back. We don't realize it in our time,
but he lived at Coloss. Pergia. History tells us these
were some severe people that lived in this region. If you
were a Roman citizen, boy, you pretty much had it made. But
if you weren't a Roman citizen, I tell you, life could be tough.
And if you were a slave, sometimes life would be unbearable. If
you weren't a Roman citizen, and somebody accused you of a
crime, and they arrested you, you know the first thing they
did to you? They whipped you. We're going to interrogate you,
and to make sure you don't lie to us, we're going to whip you
first. And they'd whip you. And when a slave ran away, and
those around Perga was the worst for this. Some regions, they
had to consult the authorities before they whipped slaves. not
in Asia, not in this region. They whipped them and did with
them what they wanted to. And the slave owners had an unwritten
rule among them, if your slave misbehaves, if he runs off, you've
got to make an example out of him. If you don't, then our slaves
will start doing the same thing. You see why Onesimus hated to
go home. See why he was afraid to go home?
The Lord had saved him. He wanted to go back to his master
and make things right with him, but he was afraid to. And that's
what this letter is about. Paul wrote this letter back to
this man. Paul knew this man. He knew Philemon. And he writes
this letter back and goes into great detail about receiving
onesimus And that's what this letter's about. And one thing
I love about it, I think as much as anything, it shows us the
heart of this apostle. This is the only private letter
that we know that's left that the apostle, out of all the letters
no doubt he wrote, this is the only private letter that he wrote.
He didn't write it as an apostle. He didn't write it as a pastor. He wrote it as a friend with
a personal request. for his friend to take Omasimus
back and forgive him and to restore him. Now, that's what this letter
is about. And let's read it now. Philemon, verse 1. Paul, a prisoner. He was a prisoner at Rome. But
he didn't say, I'm a prisoner of Rome, did he? I'm a prisoner
of Jesus Christ. Timothy is with me, my brother.
And to Philemon, my dearly beloved and fellow laborer, And to our
beloved Althea, some think this was Philemon's wife. We don't
know, but she's a woman. And Archippus, they think that
may be their son. We don't know that either. But
he's our fellow soldier to the church in your house. They had
a church in their house. They met in their home. Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers. hearing of your love and faith
which you have towards the Lord Jesus and towards all the saints,
that the communication of your faith may become effectual by
the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ
Jesus. For we have great joy and comfort
in your love because the vows, the heart, the spirits of the
saints are refreshed by thee, Wherefore, though I might be
much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient
and fitting, yet for love's sake I rather beseech you, being such
a one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ,
I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds,
which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable
to thee and to me, whom I have sent again, that thou therefore
receive him that is my own vows, my heart, whom I would have retained
with me, that he may in your stead he might minister unto
me in the bonds of the gospel. But without your mind would I
do nothing, that your benefit, your good deed, should not be,
as it were, of necessity, because I commanded it, but willingly. For perhaps he therefore departed
for a season that you should receive him forever, not now
as a servant, but above a servant, a brother, beloved especially
to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh and in
the Lord. If thou count me therefore a
partner, receive him as myself. If he has wronged thee," and
some say that word there simply means sense. Since he hath wronged
thee, since he owes thee aught, anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, have written it with
my own hand. I will repay it. Howbeit I do
not say to thee how much you owe me, even your own self also."
He must have been one of the apostles converts too. Yea, brethren,
let me have joy of thee in the Lord, refresh my bowels, my inward
parts, my heart in the Lord. Having confidence in your obedience,
I wrote unto you, knowing that you will also do more than I
say, than I ask. But withal, prepare me also a
lodging, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given
unto you. There salute thee Epiphaes, my
fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus. Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas,
my fellow laborers, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
your spirit. Amen. I just want us to look
at this for a few minutes and learn some things, practical
things, about this apostle. And when he wrote a letter, what
was his letters like? And we see it here. in this letter
to Philemon. The first thing that we learn
about it is how Paul talked to people. How he talked to somebody
in his private conversation. You and I can learn something
here. I see it in you anyway, but when we talk one to another,
We don't write letters much anymore, but we email, don't we? We send
each other texts and phone conversations. Here is a good way to talk to
each other. We talk about so many things,
don't we? Everything from the weather. We'll get off a little
bit on politics. Then it gets heated. We get upset
and aggravated. Look here what the apostle does
when he talks to believers. He's always turning the conversation
to gracious things, to things of heaven, to spiritual things.
Look what he says here in verse 3. Look how he begins this. Grace
to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And look in verse 25 how he closes
it. The grace of our Lord Jesus be
with your spirit. And when you remember this now,
he's not writing as an apostle. He's not writing this as a pastor. He's writing this to a friend. He's talking to a friend. And
how? How does he talk to it? Grace
and peace be with your spirit. There's a habit that I'm trying
to get into. I don't care if I just talk to some of you for
a minute or some dear brothers and sisters some other places.
Here's the habit that I'm trying to get into. Turn the conversation
toward spiritual things. Don't stay off on the things
of the world very long. And when I say to somebody, brother
or sister, I'll see you, I'm trying to get in the habit of
saying this, the Lord be with you. The Lord bless you and keep
you. The Lord cause His face to shine
upon you. I think if you and I talked with
this man, he would talk with you just about anything. But
I bet you just about every other sentence, he'd be turning it
back towards heaven, back towards spiritual things. Grace and peace
be multiplied unto you. That's the first thing I see
in this. That's a good lesson to learn, isn't it? A good lesson
to learn. We get off on politics, and man,
especially in our day, it gets discouraging, doesn't it? It
gets disgusting. But when we turn the conversation
back where it ought to be, it's pleasant. But look here in verse
4 now. This is one of the things that
encourages me. And I've got some friends that
tell me this. I have a friend that will call me sometime. He's
a pastor. And I believe him when he tells me this. He called me
not long ago and he said, Bruce, every day I pray for you. Isn't
that wonderful? Man, to have somebody that you
believe and he tells you that. And he's not telling me to boast
in that. He don't have any idea how it
makes me feel to know that he mentions my name before the Lord
every day. And Paul did this. Look what
he said in verse 4. I thank my God. I thank God for
you. Making mention of you. Making
mention of your name. Always in my prayer. I tell you how I pray for you,
and I'm going to tell you this. I pray for you. And you know
how I pray for you? Anthony's not sitting where he's
supposed to sit. He's supposed to be over here.
You know that's the way I pray for you folks. I picture myself
standing right here, and I start with Danny and Anthony and the
children. I go to Larry and Sue. Then I
go to Dave and Kathy. Then I come back around to Glenn
and Gene. And there's Barb and Bob. All of you sit at the same
place. And that's the way I pray for every one of you when I mention
your name before the throne of grace. So you might want to remember
that happening. Sit where you're supposed to.
Do you pray for each other? You pray for me. I believe you
do. I believe you do. But it's a
wonderful thing, brothers and sisters, when somebody tells
you, I pray for you. This must have been a praying
man. Because look at the times that he writes to these churches,
and all of them he tells it. He said, I'm praying for you,
always mentioning you in my prayers to God. That's a wonderful thought,
isn't it? And you know, this wasn't an
apostolic letter. This was just a personal conversation he was
having with this man. And he tells them this thing.
And look here in verse 5. Here's something else. He tells
him he's thankful for the graces that is manifested in his heart.
Curing of your love and your faith which you have towards
the Lord Jesus Christ and toward all saints. I've heard of your
faith in Christ. and your love. There's three
graces the Apostle Paul often mentions. And this is why I say,
even though this is a private letter, he can't get away from
these graces. Love, faith, and hope. Old Philemon and I looked back
over at Colossians. They tell us the book of Colossians,
the epistle to Colossians. And this is where Philemon lived
in Colossus. They tell us that the book of
the epistle of Colossians was written probably at the same
time that Philemon was. I don't know, but he tells of
these graces here in Colossians chapter 1, and look at it. And
he does something very wonderful about this. And look here what
he says in verse 3, Colossians 1 verse 3. We give thanks to
God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.
Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love
which you have to all the saints for the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the
truth of the gospel. He's always mentioning these
graces. We heard of your love for Christ. I heard of your faith in Christ.
And I heard of your hope. Your hope. Those three wonderful
graces, aren't they? Faith, living up on Jesus Christ
by faith. The life that I now live, I live
by faith in the Son of God. Love to Him. If you love me,
keep my commandments. Peter, do you love me? Clarence,
do you love me? He asked each of us that, don't
we? And by His grace, we can say, Lord, you know, I love you.
I love you. And hope. Hope. What a grace hope is. Here's the foundation for our
hope, isn't it? That's the foundation. You know,
if you're going to build a house, boy, you need a good foundation.
You don't want to come to the end of life and find out your
hope had no foundation. David said, Lord, you caused
me to in your word. That's the foundation of our
hope. How do we know we have a good hope? We hope in His mercy. He tells us what a good hope
is. He has given us a good hope through grace. And Christ in
you is the hope of glory. This union we have with Christ,
that's our hope. Christ in you and you're in Christ. And there's the grace of hope
that He's given you. That every day you live in hope
that when this life is over, the Lord will take you to heaven
to be with Himself. And then there's the object of
our hope. Paul said, for that hope which is laid up for you,
we're in heaven. It's in heaven. What's the object
of our hope? Everything that's yet to come.
Everything that God has reserved there in heaven for His people. And that's a gospel hope. Love,
faith, and hope. But look how he says it here
in our text in Philemon. Look how he says it. Not only
your love and faith which you have towards the Lord Jesus,
but look at this. Your love and faith toward all
saints. Now some say that's faith in
Christ and love to all the saints. Well, I read that in Colossians.
That's true. But you know, there's something
else true too. We have love to all saints. And we have faith
in the saints. Not in the same nature as we
have in Christ. Surely not. But we trust saints,
don't we? We trust. We have confidence. That's the same word in verse
21 where he said, I have confidence that you'll do what I'm asking
you to do. I have faith in you that you'll
do just what I'm asking you to do. Isn't it a wonderful thing
to be able to trust people? You know, one of the most heartbreaking
things I think anybody could say to me If somebody come up
to me and they say, Bruce, I just don't trust you. I don't trust
you're honest. I don't trust you're being sincere.
I believe you're just putting on a show. That would break my
heart. I just can't, I can't have any
confidence in you, Bruce. I just don't, boy, wouldn't that
hurt you? They tell us now that one of the greatest dangers facing
our country, they tell us, is people are losing confidence
in our institutions. in our courts, in our financial
institutions, and all of that. They said when confidence erodes
in our institution, when people don't trust our institution,
that's when a country falls. And you know, if we ever reach
the place where men can look at the church and say, I just
don't trust her, man, it's over with, ain't it? It's over with. God help us, not only to love
the saints, but to live in such an honest
and sincere way that they can trust us. You remember that it's
over in John, I think, chapter 2, where John said that the Lord
Jesus did many miracles. And they believed him when they
saw the miracles that he did. But the Lord did not commit Himself
to them. You know what that word means?
Trust. He did not trust them. Because
He knew what was in them. He knew the love of God was in
them. The same people that come to Him then who said, Hosanna
to Him that cometh in the name of the Lord. Those same people
said, Crucify Him, Crucify Him. So He didn't trust them. There
is a sense in which we love the saints and we trust them. We
trust them. Brother Todd Nyberg was at my
house one time when we were having our conferences. I never will
forget this. There was a preacher called me. He lives in this area
and he called me and I had him on the speaker phone because
I can't hardly hear. Our phone was so low. Todd was
listening to what he was telling me and he said, I'll see you
in the morning at this certain place at a certain, certain time.
He said, I'll be there and I'll see you in the morning. And I
hung up the phone and Todd looked at me and he said, I think that
guy's not telling you the truth. I don't think he's telling you
the truth. And I said, well, I'll see you in the morning.
And you know, that guy never showed up. And he never did call
me to tell me why he didn't show up. When I saw him again, he
never did tell me. So I began to watch that guy,
and I found out, buddy, you're not trustworthy. You're not trustworthy. But Paul said to Philemon, you
not only have love to the same, but you can trust them. We can
trust you, Philemon. Boy, that's good, ain't it? That's
good. And I tell you that you're tonight, and I ain't just bragging
on you, trying to build you up. But I tell you what, there's
some of you here this afternoon. If you told me something, bud,
I can take it to the bank. And that's the truth. And I hope
you have that confidence and trust in me that you say, if
my pastor tells me you'll do something, he's going to do it.
Or he's going to let me know why. Your love and trust to Christ. We know why we love Him. We know
why we trust Him. We trust the saints. And we love
the saints. He gives us two things here in
verse 6 and verse 7. Look how important this faith
and love is. Look what he said in verse 6. That the communication of your
faith. Boy, this is some more statement.
If you just read it, it will just confuse you to death because
Paul writes sometimes and you just have to be careful and take
his words apart. That the communication of your
faith may become effectual by the acknowledgement of every
good thing that is in you in Christ Jesus. And what's he saying? Somebody said this, and I jotted
it down, and he said this, as you live by faith, others will
be affected by it and make you to know and see
in you Jesus Christ and His work. When you live by faith, it's
going to affect people. That's what he said. When people
see your faith, your living by faith, it's going to have an
effect upon people. Our Master said that, didn't
he? They shall see your good works and glorify your Father,
which is in heaven. How many times have you heard
some lost person say, that man right there believes God. That man believes God. He knew
that because the man who said, I believe God, was faithful to
what he believed. And that's what Paul is saying
here. And look what he says in verse 7. Here's the second thing.
For we have great joy and consolation in thy love. We have great comfort
in your love. Why? Look at this. Because the
bowels, the hearts, of the saints are refreshed by the brother. You love so much that when your
brothers watch you and see what you're doing and how you're doing
it, it just fills their hearts with joy. Gellie, I don't want
to embarrass you, but I thought of you when I read this passage
of Scripture. I thought of all the things Gellie
does. to this congregation. And don't
it refresh you? When you think of Gail, aren't
you refreshed? When you think of all she does in taking care
of Clarence? It refreshes you, doesn't it? It does Clarence. You remember when Dorcas died
and the women called for Peter and they were so concerned And
I don't think they knew Peter was going to raise her from the
dead. But they needed some comfort. They had lost their dear friend.
And she was a widow. And she sewed all the time. She sewed. And gave out these
coats and things to the women, the children. And she was laying
there. And Peter came. And the women were gathered around
there. And they were crying. And they had these coats that
they brought. And had these clothes. And they said, Peter, look here.
What are we going to do without her? Look how much good that
she's did. And it just thrilled him with
joy. When they locked her, they said, what are we going to do
without her? And Peter raised her from the dead by the grace
of God. And it thrilled their soul. That's what love does. You may think because you're
loving people and you're living your life because you love them
and doing things for them that it has no effect upon somebody.
I beg your pardon. It does too. It does too. Wayne moving down here from Alaska. That thrilled my soul. Every time I see Bill and Diana's
little white car sitting out here, it thrills my soul. Why? Because they love the Savior.
They love us and want to be around you. Don't that just thrill you?
That's what Paul said. We have great joy and comfort
in your love. In your works of it, in the manifestation
of it. See something else. Look here
in verse 11, verse 16. Boy, notice this. Notice how
salvation changes our relationship with people. It changes your
relationship with people. Look what he said in verse 11.
He's speaking about omassiveness. In time past, he was unprofitable,
but now he's profitable to thee and to me. And look in verse
16. He asked him to receive him back.
In verse 16, not as a servant, but above a servant, a brother
beloved especially to me, but how much more unto thee, both
in the flesh and in The Lord, here was this great apostle,
and here was this slave that was unprofitable, that had ran
away after stealing some property, and the Lord has saved him, and
now this great apostle says, he's my brother. He's my brother. I tell you, when the Lord saves
somebody, it changes their relationship. Did you see Onesimus going back
to his master instead of Philemon saying, Onesimus, I've got a
field out there. I need you to get out there and
do it. Let's get it done today. He gets him up and he goes up
there and puts his hand around him and says, Brother, we've
got a field out there that needs to be plowed. Brother Onesimus,
Brother Philemon, I'll get right on it. I'll get right on it.
See how it changes everything? I've noticed, Bill, with Ben,
His grandson, they have a very close relationship. But you know
something, Bill, we'd change that and make it better for the
Lord to save him. Wouldn't that be something? You
and little Ben sitting there in your house, calling him brother. Brother Ben. Brother Grandpa. Brother Bill. It changes things,
doesn't it? You may have a child. You may
have a dad or a mom. You may have an employee or employer.
You may have some that you care about, and you may have some
that you can't get along with and don't care about. But I tell
you, when the Lord saves a person, it changes that relationship
with them. Makes a slave your brother. Makes
a master and a slave brother. That's wonderful, isn't it? Brother
or master. He left as your slave. He's coming
back as your brother. You lost Him for a while, and
that was a good thing, that you may receive Him forever and be
in heaven with Him forever. And look at this,
a couple of more things, and I'll quit. Look in verse 10. There's
a couple of things here. Look at this, how the providence
of God is sovereign. in the salvation of the soul.
He says here in verse 10, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom
I have begotten in my bonds. Paul was a prisoner at Rome.
You read there in Acts chapter 28, that's probably where he
was at. He spent two whole years there in the house being guarded
by a soldier, but everybody that wanted to could come and visit
him. But here is a very, very mysterious thing. Onesimus lived
in Colossus, there that we call Turkey now. If I'm right in my
estimation of the miles, it's right at a thousand miles from
where Onesimus lived to Rome. Can you imagine going to that
major city in Italy? and finding this apostle and
just happen to sit under him and hear the gospel and be saved?
That's amazing, isn't it? How could that be except the
overruling and reigning providence of God that guided this poor
slave to this preacher? I think about my own experience.
why everything was shut down in Tennessee, and I made my way
to Indiana to hear the Gospel. I bet you that woman that drawed
water from Jacob's well there in Acts chapter 4 often wondered,
why did I just happen to go to Jacob's well at noon that day? We know why, don't we? We know why the Lord must needs
go through Samaria. The time had come The time that
He had ordained to save one of His elect souls. And when the
time comes, when it pleases God to save an individual, I tell
you, heaven or hell or man cannot stop His arrangements. Isn't
that a wonderful thing? What a wonderful thing. I don't
know if the Lord ever saved my neighbor, dear old Martha Johnson.
But most of you know this story. I tried to get her for years
to come and hear me preach. And she would not come. She was
adamant about it. She would not come. She just happened to fall. And
they had to put her in the nursing home. And it just happened to
be the nursing home where we preach at. And she just happened
to sit there and listen to me for two years. I don't know if
the Lord ever saved her or not. That's His business. But I know
he can arrange to get people under a gospel if he has to take
them a thousand miles to do it. That's the first thing. I'm not
concerned about that. Are you? He's going to say to
the North, give up. He's going to say to the South,
hold on back. Randy was here this morning.
He told me his son was in South Korea and he's unsaved. And he
said he was reading that verse one day. He'll say to the South,
give up. And he said, if the Lord speaks
to South Korea, give my son up. It's time I save him. They'll
give him up. I'm not concerned about the Lord
giving one of his elect on the gospel. He soberly works that. And I tell you, when he gets
him under the gospel, he gets him under the gospel. The preacher
may be bound. Paul said, I have begotten him
in my bond. Paul sat there with a chain on
his legs preaching to a mass of them. Paul said, I'm a prisoner. I'm bound. But he said, the Word
of God's not bound. It's not bound. And boy, sometimes,
Terrence, you get up here to say a few things, and you feel
like you're bound in your mind, and you just stutter, and you
keep thinking verses of Scriptures, and everything seems to come
out wrong. I tell you, that don't make any difference. The Lord
can take His Word through so weak a means, and He sovereignly
takes it to the heart and gives life. Don't be afraid, dear child
of God. Don't be so timid about witnessing
to people, because you can't set things forth as some preachers
can. It's not the way you set things
forth. It's the Word. It's the Gospel. Just tell people what the Lord's
done for you and had compassion on you, and if He's pleased,
He can take that to the heart and say the matter. The word
that goes forth from my mouth, it shall accomplish that which
I please. He's sovereign in that, isn't
He? All that the Father gives to
me, He shall come to me. And boy, there said Onesimus
unto the gospel. And it was time, and He came
in my bonds. in my bonds. Look here what he says also. Paul, I tell you, even in his
writings here and in his talk, in his private conversations,
he was just full of the gospel. He says here in verses 12, look
at this. He just applied the union he
had with Christ. He just applied it. in his private
life with other people. This is what I mean. Look here
in verse 12. Whom I have sent again, I've sent anathemas back
to you. Thou therefore receive him, that
is mine own vows. He's my heart. He is my heart. That's what that word means.
He is my heart. And look what he says in verse
17. If thou count me therefore as a partner, receive him as
myself." Receive him just as you would receive me. Would you receive me if I came
there? Oh, you'd hug me, wouldn't you?
You'd kiss me. Do the same to him, just as you
do to me. That's union, ain't it? Receive
Him just like you'd receive me. Treat Him just like you'd receive
me. Ain't that what the Lord Jesus says? That's exactly what
He says to His Father. Listen to John 17. The glory
which you've given Me, I've given them, that they may be one even
as We are one, I in them and thou in Me, that they may be
made perfect in one, in Me. that the world may know that
you have sent me and have loved them as thou hast loved me."
Isn't it a wonderful thought, brothers and sisters, to remember
that we are accepted in the Beloved? And we are just as accepted as
He is. That the Father looks upon us
and accepts us with just as much love and affection as He does
Christ. Isn't that a wonderful thing?
We're Christ's heart. He says, Father, here they are.
They're my heart. Receive them as you received
me. People talk about God turning
a saint, not letting him in heaven, one of His children. It'll never
happen. Just as sure as he received his only begotten into heaven,
that's just as sure how he longs and waits to receive each child
into heaven, just as he received his own son. Look here what he says about
him in verse 18 and 19. This is amazing. And you know
Paul would have never wrote a letter like this if he didn't know the
gospel. Because right here is the gospel. Look what he said
in verse 18. If he has wronged thee, and they tell us that word
really should be read sins. If he has wronged thee, or he
owes you aught, put that on my account. What does that sound
like to you? Don't they say that to gospel
church? Ain't that what Christ said? Father, look at these rebels. You're their creator. You're
their maker. Look how they've rebelled against you. Look how
they stole and sought to rob you of your glory. Ain't that
what we did back in the garden? And here's what he says, Father,
put that on my account. He says here in verse 19, I,
Paul, have written it with my own hand. I will repay it. That's gospel, isn't it? And
he'd have never been able to write this if he didn't know
the gospel, because that's exactly what the Son of God said. And
he paid every bit of the debt, didn't he? He reconciled us,
Terrence. Made reconciliation, made peace
on our behalf with God. He took all the account, all
that we owed, and paid it to the Father. He took all the wrong
that we had done to God, all the injustices and all the offenses,
and He made reconciliation for all of them. He said, Father,
put it all on my account. I'll pay it. That's a precious
letter, ain't it? You can read this letter at your
leisure and just a wonderful thing when you get in the heart.
of this great man, this great apostle, Paul. May the Lord bless
you to your heart.