We'll be in the Book of Philemon
again if you'd like to turn there. The purpose of Philemon's letter
As we mentioned, the first hour is that Onesimus being Philemon's
servant, not his servant, his slave. A servant's paid. A slave
is not. He was a slave. He robbed from
Philemon. Therefore, in committing that
trespass, was found guilty and fled for his life to Rome. Once
he arrived at Rome, we could say somehow, some way, but we
know why and we know how. It was the Lord. Him and Paul
met each other. Now understand, Rome is a huge
city. What are the chances of that?
What is the odds of that? Well, 100% if the Lord's doing
it. The Lord doeth all things well. So there was no such thing
as chance in it, were there? No, it was all about the Lord's
providence. And he tells Philemon, He's repented. He's omniscient
has repented. Omniscient has been called of
the Lord. He's been saved to receive him, receive him as a
brother. And he says these words, let's
read verse 17. If thou count me, therefore,
a partner, receive him as myself. If he hath wrong thee or oath
oath, the alt put that on mine account. I, Paul, have written
it with mine own hand. I will repay it. Albeit, I do
not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides. Yea, brother, let me have joy
of thee in the Lord. Refresh my bowels in the Lord.
Having confidence in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee, knowing that
thou will also do more than I say. Paul says whatever he's done
wrong, whatever he's wrongfully taken, whatever it is, put that
on my account. I will repay it. That's what
I've titled the message. I will repay it. Having been
found guilty, having fled, death was deserved. Paul says I'll
pay his debt. Whatever wrong that he has done,
whatever trespass against you he has done, I will pay it, receive
him. This makes Paul, by definition,
Onesimus's surety, surety. Assurity is someone that takes
full responsibility for the safety, the well-being, and the care
for another. Assurity is someone who becomes
fully obligated to ensure another's duties or obligations are met. This is what assurity is. Assurity
becomes solely accountable for the actions and consequences
of another. What Paul's saying is, don't
charge Onesimus anymore. Don't charge Onesimus, put it
on my account, I will pay it. He became surety for Onesimus. Becoming surety is making a promise
to assume all liability for the debt obligation acquired by another
party. Paul didn't deserve to pay whatever
debt Onesimus had acquired. Paul didn't deserve what had
happened with Onesimus committing the trespass. He didn't deserve
the consequence of it. He chose to pay off that debt,
didn't he? He chose to become surety for
him. Paul became Onesimus's surety. And our Lord Jesus Christ became
our surety. Our Lord Jesus Christ became
our surety. If he had not became our surety,
you and I would have been damned. We would have had no hope of
eternal life, but he became our surety. In the covenant of grace,
Before time ever began, he, the Father and the Spirit, entered
into that covenant and he said, put their sin on my account. The people that the Father elected,
put their sin on my account. I will repay it. I will repay
it. Now, there's a beautiful allegory
of this in the life of Joseph, as I mentioned in the first hour. has now been sold into slavery. but he's been exalted to being
the second in all of the land of Egypt under Pharaoh. He's
been exalted to the position of being the right hand of Pharaoh. Matter of fact, whenever he was
given the charge, if you will, or the, um, the words that Pharaoh
used towards Joseph is the only one in this land that's higher
is me. That's it. And so everyone did everything
Joseph said. Most amazing part is, is he was
a Hebrew slave that came from a prison. And the Lord exalted
him. Isn't that a beautiful picture
of the Lord himself, highly exalting his son, giving him a name above
every name. That's what the Lord did to his
son, wasn't it? So there's a famine in the land
during this time. And Jacob hears Israel, his name's
been changed to Israel, hears that there's corn down in Egypt. He has no idea that it's his
son's corn. I love that. Go get corn is what
he tells his 10 sons. Now we know that Jacob had 12
sons. He leaves Benjamin behind. Benjamin
and Joseph were born to Rachel. I'll remind us the significance
of this would be that Jacob wrestled, uh, Jacob went and worked for
Laban in order to marry Rachel. He loved Rachel and he had to
work for seven years in order to acquire her hand. The next
morning after the wedding was consummated, it wasn't Rachel
that was laying there with him, it was Leah, her older sister. And so what did Jacob have to
do? He had to work another seven years for the one that he loved.
He never loved Leah. Scripture never gives us any
indication of him loving Leah. So whenever that seven years
finally expired, he got to marry Rachel, but the Lord shut up
Rachel's womb. The Lord wouldn't allow Rachel
to have children. And, but would allow Leah to
do so. So she ends up having four sons
born unto Jacob at this time. And we see that the first one
being named Reuben means, well, now my husband will love me.
That's what his name means. Now my husband will love me.
The next one was, there were three, Levi, Reuben, and Judah. Judah was the fourth born, but
Judah's name was different than all the other three prior. The
other one said, well, Leah had called them their name because
she said, now my husband will love me because I've had a baby
by him. Now he'll love me. But the time
Judah came around, she named him Judah, which means I'll praise
the Lord. I'll just praise the Lord. He
doeth all things well. She named him Judah. Well, in
the fullness of time, we see that 10, the 10 sons that he
had born, not of Rachel are sent down to Egypt. The only two that
were born of Rachel is Joseph. And he was highly esteemed by
his father, more so than his brothers. I try not to be partial
with my children. I try my best not to show partiality. Jacob didn't mind at all to show
partiality. He even made him a coat and said, this is my son.
He calls Joseph his son to his sons. You see what I'm saying? It was like almost they didn't
exist or something. It was in his old age as well.
They would have all been grown men. So perhaps that's significant,
I'm not sure, but anyways, he loved Rachel and had Joseph and
also one more, his name was Benjamin, but Benjamin wasn't permitted
to go down to Egypt with the 10 brothers because of what happened
to Joseph. Joseph's brothers sold him into
slavery, but took the coat of many colors and they put blood
upon it and said, he's been, he's been killed. Joseph's been
killed. So to Jacob's knowledge, Joseph is dead. You can imagine
how protective he would have been for his baby, Benjamin. He would have been abundantly,
overly protective and says, you can't go with them down to Egypt.
You stay with me. So he sends the 10. Now, upon
their arrival, Joseph sees them and recognizes them immediately.
As I said, the first hour, but they don't have a clue who he
is. And I would imagine makeup and things like that would have
played a factor in that, but they ask him for corn, ask him
for grain, whatever green they would have had. And he accuses
them of being spies. He says, no. He says, you're
Hebrews coming in here. You're trying to spy out the
land. You're trying to see what we have. You're looking at our
storehouses. You're going to try to take from us, aren't you?
And they said, no, no, it's not so. And so Joseph begins to inquire
of them about their wellbeing, the country that they're from.
He's wanting to find out about his father is what it is. And
finally he gets to that point, well, tell me of your parents,
who are they? And our father's well, and we have another brother.
Now the Bible doesn't give us any indication that Joseph knew
who Benjamin was. There's some Bible scholars that
says that he knew him prior, but it's not clear on that. So he might've thought, well,
they're lying. You're gonna have to prove you have another brother.
Because what happens is they say, okay, you're spies and you
can't have any more grain. And as much as he gave them,
then he can't have any more unless you bring that other brother
back with you the next time. And by the way, I'm keeping your
brother Simeon in prison till you get back. And that's exactly
what happened. Simeon was kept prisoner. Now,
whenever they get back to their father, they open their bags
and they find the money. And as they're conversing with
their father, They said, well, number one, they took Simeon
from us. And number two, now we have our money back. So they're
going to think we're not only spies, but now they're going
to think we're thieves. You can imagine the fear that came over them.
Jacob says, well, we're going to have to go back and get more.
We'll just return it. Then they said, well, there's one condition.
There's one condition of us returning. The man was very clear and he
spoke gruffly to us. The scripture doesn't say the
word gruffly. It says something else, but that's literally translated
gruffly as well. He spoke harshly to us. You got
to bring Benjamin back with you or you get no more grain. Now
understand the severity would be that they're going to die
after this grain runs out if they don't bring Benjamin back
with them. Him being, Joseph being the second
in all the land of Egypt, he had the authority to kill them
if he wanted to and they were afraid of just that. Whenever this is said, Jacob
speaks and he said, Joseph is not with me. And now Simeon's
not with me and you would have Benjamin too? He said, all these
things are against me. Brethren, think about the Lord's
providence in Joseph being the second in Egypt, just as Onesimus
went to Rome and heard the gospel in Rome. Think about Joseph being
in Egypt, first of all, but then being exalted to second in order
to save his family, the entire nation, Israel. That was the
purpose. You think Joseph sat in the prison thanking God that
he was in jail and he'd been sold into slavery? No, he would,
he would have been just like you and I murmuring and complaining.
And yet God had his hand upon him for the purpose of saving
his family. After Jacob said that, Reuben,
when Jacob said, all these things are against me. I would like
to just remind us to rest. All these things are not against
us. All things are ordered and sure. All things work together
for good. Them who are the Lord's, who are called according to his
purpose, rest in him. We see that Jacob says, all these
things are against me. And Reuben speaks up, the firstborn,
the eldest. And he says, Father, send him
with me. Send Benjamin with me. And if
I bring him not back, I will slay my two sons." I'll slay
my two sons. Jacob says to Reuben, he's not
going with you. He's not going with you. Why?
Well, it's not only a story, but it's an allegory as well.
Reuben being the firstborn is a picture of Adam. He's a picture
of our elder, or our father, physically speaking. He's a picture
of the firstborn man, Adam. And Adam couldn't do anything
to atone his sin, could he? He could have made all the sacrifices
in the world, but it would have done no good in atoning his sin. It would have just made it worse. That's called iniquity, isn't
it? It's called iniquity. Adam could not help himself.
He was in a situation where he couldn't fix it. It didn't matter
what he sacrificed. It didn't matter what he did. Adam could
not get better, just as you and I cannot. That's what Reuben
represents. You can do all the sacrificing
you want, but you can't, it won't come to any good. It's not gonna
be good enough. The father did not trust Reuben for the safety
of Benjamin. We see that the beginning of
the next chapter, Well, first of all, Paul says
to Philemon, I will be surety for Onesimus. And at the beginning
of the next chapter in Genesis chapter 42, after Jacob said,
all this is against me, Reuben spoke up, I'll slay my two sons. The very beginning of the next
chapter says, and the famine waxed sore and they used up all
the grain. They ran out of grain. Now they
have a conundrum. well, they don't, Jacob does. Jacob's in a position where he
don't want his son. Last time that he was with his,
last time Joseph was with the brothers, that's where he was
sold and said that he died. So Joseph was sent down to his
brothers and they, so they would have been responsible for him.
So Joseph, Jacob's not going to send Benjamin for that very
reason. And yet they're out of grain,
so they must do something. And so what happens? Well, Jacob tells them, go down to
Egypt. The same, the nine that were
there, go down to Egypt. And they were, Judah spoke up
and he says, father, they told us that if we came back, we couldn't
have grain, that they would, we have to have Benjamin with
us. He said, but I'm going to be surety for Benjamin. I'm going to, Judah spoke up.
Now, Reuben, the firstborn, spoke up and says, I'll slay my two
sons. Jacob says, he's not going with
you. But then Judah speaks up in the next chapter after time
had passed. He says, I'll be surety. I will be surety for
Benjamin. And the father agrees. He says,
take double the money and take gifts with you. Take gifts with
you. Understand something. Simeon
had been in prison a long time by now, hadn't he? He'd been,
but Jacob wasn't worried about Simeon. He was worried about
Benjamin the whole time. That's a picture of so many people that
the Lord passed by, left them in prison, didn't worry about
them. He worried about his people and took care of them. That's
the picture of that. Judah says these words regarding
Benjamin, I will be sure a T for him of my hand shall thou require
him. If I bring him not into thee
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever.
He trusted Judah. He said, take double the money,
take gifts and go down, fetch him, go down, fetch Benjamin
and go down and bring back Simeon and get us some grain. And so
they do just that. Joseph recognizes them again, Joseph, obviously
had a love for Benjamin that he didn't have for the other
ones, because when they sat down to meet at Joseph's house, he got five
times the portion of the other ones. I thought that was Another
picture of the Lord's mercy towards his people, giving us grace.
Everybody eats food, but the Lord's people eat the bread of
life. That's the beautiful picture
there. But upon their departure, now they've
gotten Simeon back, they've gotten their grain, they've gave them
the money, they're parting ways. Upon their departure, they are
accused of stealing from Joseph, stealing his cup. And they speak
up. They all speak up and say, we
would not dare steal from the Lord of the, we would not dare
steal from Joseph. They don't know, they didn't
know it was Joseph, but we wouldn't dare steal from Joseph. He's
the right hand. He's the, he's the second in all of Egypt. We
wouldn't dare steal from him, therefore. And they, they pronounce
this judgment on themselves, whoever the cup, wherever, whatever
bag it's found in. Whoever it's found in, he'll
die. They were so confident that they hadn't done anything wrong.
They said, whoever you find the cup in, kill him. We're confident. So they start with Reuben and
they go all the way down to Benjamin. And who do you think had the
cup? Who do you think had the cup? Benjamin did. But did you
know Benjamin didn't steal that cup? That cup was placed there
by Joseph in the providence of God to show us what Judah was
going to do next. They're being brought back at
that point. Now they had departed and they got caught. Now they're
being brought back. Can you imagine the woe upon
each of them, the anguish? What are we going to do? Benjamin,
what did you do, Benjamin? I didn't do it. I'm innocent.
I haven't done anything. You can imagine the conversation
that'd be happening and the fear that would have gripped them.
This is dad's favorite son. What are we going to do? How
are we going to get out of this? No one would have been more fearful
than Judah. because Judah was surety, surety for Benjamin. Judah knew just what to do. As
they walk into the room, the place where Joseph was, he asks
them, why have you done this? And Judah steps forward. And
he says unto them, he confesses everything to them, everything,
not just what they had done. They go all the way back to Joseph.
They confess Joseph to Joseph. That's what they did. He said,
we took our brother, we sold him into slavery. And because
of this, all this evil has come upon us. We are guilty. We are
guilty. We deserved no good thing, but
Lord, let me be a bondman to you. See, my father loves his
son dearly, and if I don't bring him back to him, it will kill
my father. It will kill my father. Therefore,
take my life instead. Let me, I want to bear the blame.
Let me bear the blame instead. And Joseph could not, Joseph
could not refrain himself anymore. He broke down, he started crying
and revealed who he was. Who he was, I'm your brother,
Joseph. You imagine their thoughts then, uh-oh. Uh-oh, we thought
we were in trouble before. Now we're really in trouble.
Brethren, there is a picture here that is unlike any other
because it is the gospel of our Lord. The gospel is unlike anything
else. It is unlike anything else. Before
time ever began, before time ever began, the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I will be surety. for your people, for my people.
I will be surety. I will take full responsibility
and obligation to restore them back, to return them unto you.
He put his name on the dotted line, if you will. He signed
it, said, I do it. I'm gonna do it by my own blood. He became a bondman, didn't he?
For his people. I got way far ahead in my notes,
and so I try to find where I'm at. The Lord himself, the Lord
himself became surety. Now I would remind us, being a surety means you take
full responsibility for the safety, well-being, and care of another. You become fully obligated for
someone else's obligations. You take ownership of that. Rather than Joseph being angry
towards them, when Judah said, I became surety for him, he says,
God sent me before you to preserve you. He said, you meant it for
evil. The Lord meant it for good. God sent me before you to preserve
you. So now it wasn't you that sent me here. It was God. What
grace there was in him coming to that understanding. It was
God that sent me here. Then he tells him, go and bring
back my father. Go and bring back my father. and bring everybody,
bring everybody. I own this place. I own this,
I take care of them. Can you imagine what Jacob would
have felt whenever he saw, he would have been looking for two
people and two people only. He knew number one, if he saw
Benjamin, everything was all right. But he knew if he saw
Judah, Benjamin was okay also. So he believed in the surety
promise that was made by Judah, just as our Lord, our heavenly
father believed in the surety of our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ, for his people. How much did he believe it? He
ordained us to eternal life before time ever began. He trusted his
son before the world was created and ordained his people unto
everlasting life. Can you imagine whenever they
were walking back? He saw Benjamin, he saw Judah,
and he saw his sons. He said, okay, all is well, the
amount of relief he would have felt. But then they opened their
mouth and say, Joseph's alive down in Egypt. Everything that
Jacob thought he lost or was afraid of losing, God restored
to him because of one reason. Judah became surety for Benjamin. Everything that we lost in our
father, Adam, we have gained back infinitely more for one
reason, the Lord Jesus Christ saying, I will be surety for
them. They are my people and the sheep
of my pasture. And what does Isaiah tell us?
I've bought you. I've redeemed you. You're mine. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
said, I will be surety for them. I will be surety for them. He
became fully obligated to ensure our duties and obligations are
met to the Father. He became solely accountable
for the actions and consequences that should have came to us on
the cross of Calvary. He owned our sin as he is. When the cup was found in our
bag, the Lord said, put that on my account. I'll pay for that. I'll pay in full for that. What's
the price, blood? Blood, the wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal
life. Lord said I'm going to take their sin. Put that on my
account. I will repay it. Lord Jesus Christ made a promise
to assume all liability for the debt obligation that was acquired
by you and I. He took our debt. He took our
sin. He took our unrighteousness. He took our ungodliness. and
made us the righteousness of God in him. Why? Because he said,
I will be surety. I will be surety for them. The
first man, Adam, couldn't bring us, couldn't bring Benjamin back,
could he? No, the first, Reuben couldn't bring Benjamin back.
He wasn't capable. He was unfit in the father's
eyes. He was unfit in Jacob's eyes to do that. And slaying,
that didn't give peace to Jacob at all. You're gonna slay your
two sons? That doesn't mean anything to
me. I still won't have my son. But Judas said, I'll be surety.
See, that's the Lord Jesus Christ standing for his people. You
and I can do nothing sacrificially that pleases the Lord. But whenever
the Lord said, I will be surety, the Lord declared his people
perfectly righteous right then and there. Perfectly righteous. Only the Lord was worthy to redeem.
Who was worthy? John heard the announcement in
glory when in Revelation, he said, Who's worthy to loose the
seals and open the book, the Lamb's Book of Life, that all
of those who are written in will be redeemed? Who's worthy? He
said, Nah, John looked in heaven, and I looked in the earth and
I looked under the earth and none was found worthy. I began
to weep, but the elder touched me and said, Weep not, John,
for behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, He's surety for his
people. He promised to redeem, to bring
them back safely. He is worthy to loose the seals
and open the book thereof. He is worthy alone to redeem. And he did. And he did with the
sacrifice of himself. He paid a debt he did not owe,
and I owed a debt I could not pay. So by his grace alone, the
Lord Jesus Christ became his people's surety. Songwriter said,
because the sinless savior died, my sinful soul is counted free
for God. The just is satisfied to look
on him and pardon me. The cup was found in our bag,
we were found guilty. Robbing God, robbing God's right
hand. Who is that? That's the Lord
Jesus Christ found guilty. Why or how is that by having
our own righteousness, a self-righteousness, something we were clinging to
as our hope of eternal life? And even in that unbelief, the
Lord says, put that on my account. I will repay it. When the men
were crucifying our Lord, they nailed him to the cross, they
plucked his beard, they beat him beyond recognition. He's
hanging there naked before the world. And what does he say?
Forgive them, Father. Forgive them, Father, for they
know not what they do. Put that on my account. Put that on my
account. I will repay it. There was some
that believed. Acts 2 says clearly. Peter was
preaching. Acts 2.23 said, you've taken
with wicked hands and you crucified the King of glory. You've done
it. Some of them that were there crucifying the Lord were believers. They didn't know it then, but
they were elect. The Lord brought them to the
knowledge in Acts chapter 2. That means that whatever they did
to the Lord, the Lord said, put that on my account. I'll pay
for it. And the same goes for you and
I. What placed our Lord upon the cross of Calvary? Number
one, he promised that he would redeem and that was the only
way it could be done. But number two, our sin is what placed the
Lord on the cross of Calvary. You and I, as we see the picture
of the scapegoat, the sin being transferred to him, he bore our
sin. He literally said, put their
sin on my account. I will pay for it. I'll be surety
for them. He did. He did and redeemed every
person he died for back to God. Became a bondman in our stead. He didn't do it for payment.
He did it to honor his father, that the covenant of grace would
be fulfilled, that the covenant of grace would be accomplished.
Everything required by you and I, the Lord Jesus Christ did. We know it's true because he
says, all that the father has given me, I've not lost one of
them, brought them safely back from Egypt, even though they
were found guilty and it looked like they were going to die.
I've taken that guilt and brought them safely back and restored
them to my father. That's what the Lord did. When the announcement goes out,
the wages of sin is death. Lord said, put that on my account,
all that sin, put that death on my account, I'll pay for it.
Therefore, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. All because he became surety. By our surety, we have When he
hath by himself purged our sin, he sat down. That's what our
surety accomplished. When he entered once into the
holy place, he had obtained eternal redemption for his people. Everything, everything that he
owns, he's given to his people. Joseph owned everything, didn't
he? This all started with him saying, I will be surety for
them. There is no greater comfort to
the Lord's people than seeing the Lord Jesus Christ as your
surety. Who's going to stop him from
accomplishing his purpose? Who's going to change his mind?
Who's going to say unto him, what doest thou? What did he
say? I will be surety. I will be surety
for my people. He became solely accountable
for the actions and consequences of us, putting away our sin by
his own blood, And now we have been brought back and redeemed
to God. Aren't you glad he repaid it? He repaid the debt that we could
not. He became our surety.