The Book of Philemon serves as a profound illustration of God's plan of salvation, with Philemon representing God the Father, Onesimus the sinner, and Paul the intermediary, Jesus Christ. Onesimus, a runaway slave whose name means 'profitable,' embodies the natural state of humanity as unprofitable and enslaved to sin, having wronged God and being indebted to Him. Paul, acting as a surety, appeals for Onesimus, mirroring Christ's role in reconciling humanity to God by paying the debt of sin. The sermon emphasizes that God, like Philemon, receives sinners not based on their merit but with boundless mercy, urging them to be received 'as myself' and 'forever,' highlighting the transformative power of Christ's atoning sacrifice.
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This evening we're again going to look at the Book of Philemon. We have been looking at the Book of Philemon each of the nights this week. First night we looked at five expressions of fellowship in this lovely little letter. And the next night we spoke on five expressions of love that are found in this little book. And then on Wednesday evening we spoke on five times in which we have the subject of the Apostle Paul being in prison or in bond for the sake of the Lord Jesus. And then last night we looked at Paul in five examples, five ways in which he is an example to us.
And this evening we're going to look again at Philemon and we'll begin reading with verse one. Philemon verse one. Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy our brother, Under Pilemon our dearly beloved and fellow laborer. Verse eight, Wherefore though I might be much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient, yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such in one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bond, which in time past was to thee unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me.
whom I have sent again. Thou therefore receive him, that is, my own vow, whom I would have retained with me that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. But without thy mind would I do nothing that thy benefit should not be, as it were, of necessity, but willingly. For perhaps he therefore depart for a season that thou shouldest 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 hath wronged thee, or oeth thee ought, put that on mine account.
I, Paul, have written it in my own hand. I will repay it. Albeit I do not say to thee, how thou oeth unto me, even thine own self, besides. We would have to look very hard and long in the whole of the Bible to find a better illustration of God's wonderful way of salvation than is found in this little book. There are three main characters in the book. First of all, there is Philemon, there's Paul, and there's Onesimus. Philemon is the owner of the slave. Onesimus, the runaway slave.
and Paul the intermediary. And these three together go to tell us the wonderful story of God's marvelous plan of salvation. First of all, we have Philemon, the owner of the slave. I believe in this story he pictures very definitely God the Father. and he is the owner of every one of us. Psalm twenty four says, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein. We belong to him, not only by right of redemption, but we belong to him by right of creation. It is he that has made us and not We ourselves.
Undoubtedly, Philemon, the owner of this slave, had lavished every kindness on him because he was a Christian slave owner. He had been very kind to him. He had not treated him unjustly. And yet, no doubt, he thought that his master was very hard of him. Man has that same idea of God, that he is a hard-past master. But God... is indeed the one who showers blessings upon men every day of their lives. He daily loads us with benefits. He give it to all, said the apostle in Acts. He give it to all life and breath and all things.
What have we that we have not received? First Timothy chapter six, it says, God giveth us richly, not with a niggerly hand, but richly all things to enjoy. The Bible refers to God as the God of all grace. His every act, pure blessing is. Nothing but good treatment at the hand undoubtedly of his owner, and yet he rebelled. Reminds us of that story in Luke chapter fifteen, the son in the father's home who had received every blessing at his father's hand. And yet there came a time in his life when he said, Father, give me the portion of goods that fall to me.
And he went into the far country. that he could manage things far better than his father, but we know what a shameful mess he made of his life. Then we have Onesimus, the one who ran away from Pilemon, robbed his master undoubtedly, and if he has wronged the Paul says, or oh, if he ought, and the indication is that perhaps he had taken from his master that which did not rightfully belong to him. He was a runaway slave. His name means, interestingly enough, profitable. Can a man be profitable unto God? This is the question that is asked in the book of Job.
Can a man be profitable unto God? Man by nature is not profitable to God. The Bible says the carnal mind is enmity against God, not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. It's an impossibility, apart from the new birth. So then, They that are in the flesh, doesn't say do not, but come on, please God. Man imagines that his life somehow is pleasing to God, but God says that all the best that we can do, our righteousness, our filthy rags in his Son. And God writes over every human life, unprofitable, Which in time past was the thee, Paul says, writing the believing, unprofitable.
And over every human life, that can be written. Unprofitable. For a life away from God is an absolute waste. Remember what the Lord Jesus called Judas? He called him the son of perdition. That word means waste. The son of waste. When Judas watched as Mary poured out that alabaster box of ointment on the Savior, he said, Why was this waste of the ointment made? And the Lord Jesus said, Your whole life has been a waste. It isn't of no value, whatever to God. And I think one of the saddest commentaries in Scripture on a man's life is what the Lord Jesus said of Judas.
It was good for this man that he had never been born. He didn't say it was good that this man had never been born because he served a purpose. But he says it was good for this man that he had never been born. A life awaits. And that's what man by nature is. His life is unprofitable to God. On this it was a slave. And then this, of course, he's an indication of what is true of all man because men by nature are slaves to sin. They're bound by sin. Lord Jesus at Lucifer commits sin is the slave of sin. He's unable to break the bondage. And undoubtedly this slave thought of his master as a great demander.
He said, do this and do the other. Man considers what God tells him to do. He thinks that God is demanding too much. He wants to do his own thing. He doesn't want to do what God says. And he thinks of God as a great demander. The Bible doesn't picture God as a great demander. It pictures God as a great giver. In fact, the only way that anybody is going to come into blessing with God is on the basis of the fact that God is a great giver. God insists on it. He says, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. In Luke chapter fifteen we read of two men.
One man said, lo, I have served thee, the elder son. He's a picture of the Pharisee, the religious, upright individual who imagines that somehow his life is pleasing to God. He says, lo, I have served thee these many years. He thought of his father as a great demander, I have served thee. But the prodigal who went into the far country when he returned home, he didn't say, I have served thee. He said, I have sinned. Man says, I have served. And he gets nowhere with God. Because God is not demanding. God is giving. And then there's the one who says, I have sinned.
And he comes home. And the Father says, concerning this one who says, I have sinned and am no more worried to be called thy son. He says, bring forth the best robe and put it in on him. The Scripture tells about two men who went up to the temple to pray. One man said, I thank thee, God, that I'm not as other. He prayed thus with himself, the scripture says. His prayer didn't reach to God. He prayed with himself. He said, I thank thee, God, that I'm not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as it's publican. I fast twice in the week. I give ten percent of all that I possess. He told God what a wonderful fellow he was. And did you notice in his prayer he never asked for one thing.
And he didn't get anything either. Or the Bible says, ask. and he shall receive, seeking he shall find. That publican he didn't even dare to lift up his eyes to heaven, but in the agony of his soul, conscious of his sin, oh God, he said, be merciful to me, the sinner, as though he was the only one in the world. And the Lord Jesus, I tell you, this man went down to his house, justified rather than the other. You know why? Because God says, I will have mercy and not sacrifice. God is not a great demander. He's a great giver. And he insists I will have mercy and not sacrifice.
We come to him on the basis of our works. The Bible insists it's not a works. But any man should boast, God who is rich in mercy, for his great love were where he loved us, even if we were dead in trespasses and sin, have made us alive together with Christ. Onesimus was a runaway. And in that, it's true of every man, because every man by nature turns his back on God. The Bible says so. It says, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. We have not all sinned alike, but we all alike have sinned. And the Bible insists on that. It says there is no difference for all of sin.
and do come short, do continually come short of the glory of God. Onesimus was a slave. He ran away from his rightful owner. And God in the book of Isaiah says that dumb animals are smarter than men. Did you know that? God says in Isaiah chapter one that the ox knows his owner and the ass his master's friend. But my people Israel does not know. They do not consider. God says even the jackass is smarter than man. He knows who he belongs to. But my people, they do not consider. Here is this man.
He belonged rightfully to Philemon. But he left his right below him. You read of Cain in the Old Testament that he went out with the presence of the Lord. The prodigal turned his back in his home and he went into the far country. You know, man tries to run away from God, but that's impossible because he's unavoidable. Every one of his truths is going to give account of himself to God. The Bible says all things are naked and opened under the eyes of him with whom we have to live.
I don't have to give account to you for my life and you don't have to give account to me for your life but the Bible says every man shall give account of himself to God and then we have Paul in this story his name means little Paul the Apostle he's the one that was sent by God and he's a picture I'm sure in this story of the Lord Jesus Christ who was sent to bring man back to God. God was in Christ. The Scripture says, reconciling the world unto himself. And so Paul appealed on behalf of Onesimus.
I want to think a little bit about Onesimus as a sinner. And what he pictures as a sinner, first of all, he was a slave, as I've said before. Whosoever commits sin is the slave of sin. He's not a just man upon earth that doeth good and sineth not. The book of Job we read that man is held by the cords of his own sin. He's a slave. He can't break that bond. He needs a slave. He's a slave. Secondly, he was a runaway. He ran away from his rightful owner. He ran away, in his picture at least, he ran away from God.
And that's what man is doing. I remember hearing a story years ago about one fellow who was telling about his part in salvation. He said, I ran away from God as far and as fast as my feet could carry me. He said, that was my part in God's salvation. And he says, he ran after me until he caught me. That was God's part in my salvation. Several months ago, I was in the Bahamas and a man that I've known there for quite a number of years. his father was a very good friend of my dad's fine Christian man but this man for years did not know the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior in fact he was sixty-eight years of age when he got saved he was a man as far as this world is concerned morally upright and he looked with scorn on many believers and he taught his life far far better in a moral sense than many who profess the name of Christ.
When you tried to broach the subject of the gospel to him, he just had no ears or no interest, apparently, in the gospel. But you never know what's going on in a man's heart and in a man's life. Back about a year ago, he turned on his television set with the purpose of listening to Ronald Reagan bring some speech. But the reception was very, very poor in the TV signal was very, very snowy, and so he turned it off and discussed. His wife, a Christian, had turned on a gospel radio broadcast in which a Methodist minister was speaking at a conference in the Bahamas.
And his subject was Jonah, the man who ran away from God. And as he listened to this, he said to his wife, I've been running away from God?" And she said, yes. That's all you've been doing all your life. Well, said Eve, I'm going to quit running tonight. Right there you see Christ as a Savior. Sixty-eight years of age. A man morally outstanding in the community, and yet he had never come to Christ. You know, you didn't used to be able to talk to him.
about the gospel and now you can't shut him up what a difference it makes when the Lord Jesus Christ comes into the life and he told me that for twenty seven months he'd been under deep conviction of sin and checking with his neighbors later he found out everyone in the neighborhood had good reception on their TV except him and that's what caused him to listen that night to the gospel he told me he said I felt that that was my very last opportunity. I did not receive Christ as Savior then. He said, I felt that I would never have received it. Running away from God.
I remember when our little girl was quite small. You know, we have five boys and one girl, and I guess they say fathers, all of a sudden, kind of a little extra sympathy for the girls. I don't know how that is. But anyway, I remember when she was three years of age, she was cute as a butt and all fathers think that. But you know blonde curly hair and all that stuff but we used to play a little game when I'd come home I'd chase after her and I'd tell her now Jenny her name is Virginia but we always call her Jenny I said now Jenny you run away from daddy daddy will catch her but every time I'd run towards her she never got it through her noodle that she was supposed to run away from me and I'd catch her she'd run towards me I said no that's not the way you play the game You run away and daddy will catch you.
You know, and every time when I start running towards her, she'd run right to me. And I'd pick her up. One day we were playing this game. And I thought to myself, oh, the sinners were as wise as this little girl. Instead of spending all their life running away from God, they'd only run to them. The eternal God is thy refuge. God is not one to run away from. He's one to run to and to hide in. What a wonderful thing it is to know that he stands ready and willing and able to welcome all and every sinner that comes to him through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I love that hymn we sing. By thee, O God, invited, we look unto the Son, in whom thy soul delighted to all thy willeth done, and by the one chief treasure thy bosom free we give. Thine own pure love we measure, thy willing mind to save. O God of mercy, Father, the one unchanging claim, the brightest hopes we gather from Christ's most precious name, what always sounds so sweetly in thine unweary dear has freed our souls completely from all our sinful fear. The trembling sinner fears that God can never forget, but Christ's full payment cleareth his memory of all debt. North beside could free us or set our souls at large.
Thy holy work, Lord Jesus, secured a full discharge. No wrath God's heart retaineth. To us were to believe, no dread in ours remaineth as we his love receive. Returning sons, he kisses, and with his robe and vest, his perfect love dismisses all terror from our breasts. Philemon, the name means the one who kisses. What a beautiful picture he is of God our Father. Not only was Onesimus a runaway, but he was a wrongdoer.
If he hath wronged thee, and every sinner wrongs God either by doing what God does not want him to do or failing to do what God does want him to do. You know, there are sins of commission and there are sins of omission. In fact, it's interesting in the Gospels to notice that the Lord Jesus had just as much or more to say about sins of omission as he did of sins of commission. Inasmuch as you have not done it, he said, unto one of the least of these, my brethren. You have not done it unto me.
You know, the thing that is going to condemn the sinner is not the sins of overt disobedience to God, but the failure to do what God bids us to do. No one is ever going to be condemned, finally, no matter how great your sins may be. The one condemning sin is He that believeth not the Son. fails to trust in him shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on him. God will forgive us from any and every sin. It doesn't make any difference what they are. But you'll never forgive anyone who fails to put their trust in his Son.
He that will leave it on the Son, have everlasting life. Not only was he a wrongdoer, he was a debtor. He says, if he owes you anything. Now we do not know, of course, what Onesimus owed by Lehman, but the Lord Jesus pictures for us in Matthew chapter eighteen what we owe to God. Do you remember in that chapter the question was asked, how often shall I forget Peter asked the question seven times? The Lord says seven times to, I say only not seven times but seventy times then.
there's to be no practical limit to our forgiveness. And then he went on to say a certain king, you know, took account of his servants, and he found that one of his servants owed him ten thousand talents. And his Lord gave command that the man was to be sold and his wife and his children and all that he had to make restitution for this debt. And then the man said, just give me a chance and I'll pay you every day. You know, the sinner imagines that he can pay the debt that he owes to God. But that man owed his Lord an impossible debt. You know, in those days, a man's pay for a day was one silver denarius, a penny, called in the Bible.
It was a silver coin, not like our copper, not like our sin. But it was a day's wages for a man in that day. Now, the Bible says he owed him ten thousand talents. Well, a talent is equivalent to six thousand pennies. Six thousand days. One thousand. But he owed ten thousand dollars. So he owed for sixty million days. Which meant if he was going to repay that loan at the rate, the going rate for a man's wages in that day, it would have taken him one hundred and sixty-four thousand years.
And that meant that he would have to work seven days a week for one hundred and sixty-four thousand years to pay his debt. The longer he lived, the more he would get a debt. Because the interest on that debt was far greater than a penny a day. And that's just the condition of the sinner. He's bankrupt. He's hopeless. There's no way that he can pay the debt. And praise God, he doesn't have to pay the debt.
Because Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. You know when the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, he spoke one word, tetelestia. It's a Greek word. It was a word that was used by the artist when he completed a picture. He would look at it and he'd stand back and he'd look at it. Tenelestia is perfect. It's finished. It's complete. It was a priest's word when they brought an animal for sacrifice. You'd look it over and he'd say, it's without spot. It's without blemish. It's perfect. It's suitable for sacrifice. Tenelestia. It was a word that the merchant used.
When a man owed a bill, he was right on the bottom of it. Death a less the eye. Paid in full. What a wonderful thing it is. When our Lord Jesus Christ hung on that cross, he paid the debt that we could not pay. He was not only a debtor, as I said, but he was unprofitable. His life was a waste. All of your life away from God is an utter waste. You know, all during those years that that prodigal son was in the far country, the father said he was dead. He's alive now.
He was lost. All that time was just lost time. He's found. And the time before you come to Christ, as far as God is concerned, is a history that doesn't count. In fact, when you come to Christ, you get a new history. You become a new creation in Christ Jesus. And all the guilty past is wiped away forever. all that unprofitableness is forever forgiven and forgotten. We were once sometimes just a being deceived, serving divers lust and pleasures. Paul writes to Titus, but after that the kindness and love of God, our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he saved us.
And then not only was the unprofitable, but he was under judgment. He was subject. to apprehension at any time by any of the authorities. And as an owner of that slave, Philemon was in the law to do anything that he wanted to with that slave up to take him his life. He could have beaten him to death. And the law would have said nothing to protect that man in the day in which this letter was written. That's the condition of the sinner. He's under judgment. If the Lord Jesus Christ should come tonight and you're here without Christ, your opportunity for salvation will be over the Bible says he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life he that believeth not the Son shall not see life but the wrath of God abided on him that's a sobering thought under judgment well then we have Paul the surety you know it costs to be assured somebody was telling us the other day about a man who had signed a note with his property and if things don't work out for his son He may lose his farm.
Book of Proverbs says, He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. Even you are an assurity for a friend sometimes. You'll smart for it. No, here is the problem. Paul had a great burden for Anissimus. He loved him. This man who had been begotten in his bonds. But the problem was, how can justice show mercy and still be justice. How can wrong be made right without right being made wrong? That was the problem with God was faced with. How could God be absolutely righteous and yet forgive the sinner? The Bible says he's just.
I'm saved not only by the mercy of God. I'm saved by the justice of God. God would be unjust. And I say it reverently. to refuse any sinner that comes to Christ because he's jumped and the jump of our every one that believes in Jesus we sing the perfect righteousness of God his witness in the Savior's blood says in the cross of Christ we trace his righteousness yet wondrous grace God could not pass the sinner by his sin demands that he must die but out of pity Jesus said, I'll bear the punishment instead. The sin of life on Jesus' end.
It is in his death that his debt is paid. Stirred justice can demand no more. Mercy can dispense their store. The sinner who believes is free can say, the Savior died for me. Can point to that atoning blood and say, this made my peace with God. Paul says, if he owes you off, put that on mine account oh what a difference you know there's no such thing as a free lunch sometimes I go out with people and I sit down to the dinner table and it's free for me but someone has to pay there aren't any restaurants that I know around giving me free meals and someone has to pay God has spread the gospel had to be paid for.
The Lord Jesus Christ paid to make it possible. Paul says, if he owes you ought, put that on my account. One of my favorite singers, he's with the Lord now, he's a fellow from down in Texas. He had a sort of a strange, weird way of singing, but I love to hear him sing. I have a few of his records at home. His name is Jack Holcomb. They said he used to sing with a tear in his voice. I have a recording at home that goes like this. There was a time on earth that in the book of heaven an old account was standing for sins, yet unforgiving.
My name was at the top and many things below, but I went to the keeper and I settled it long ago. Now the old account was large, it was growing every day for I was always sinning. but I never tried to pay. But when I looked at him and saw such pain and woe, then I said that I would settle, and I settled it long ago. Long ago, yes, the old account was settled. Long ago, and the record's clear today, for he washed my sins away when my old account was settled long ago. Oh, it's wonderful to know that the debt has been paid in full and the Lord Jesus has made himself responsible for the death of all who will trust him.
He said it is finished, paid in full. Philemon, as I say, a picture of God our Father. How is the sinner to be treated? How is this one who has returned home from the far country? How is he to be treated? The law says he must be judged. He must be punished for what he's done. Soul that sins and must die. Grace says, let him live. Forgive him. Someone else has paid his penalty. And in this lovely little book, there is to me one of the sweetest words in the English language.
I'd like to call your attention as Paul uses it. First of all, he uses it in verse twelve, verse fifteen, verse seventeen. And it's the word, receive him. Receive him. Receive him, that is, by known powers. In the Old Testament, the prodigal son was to be stoned to death, but The royal welcome is given to the prodigal son and the New Testament returns from the far country because God delights in mercy. And I can imagine Onesimus as he approaches home, the home of Philemon and he had been in that far country in Rome with Paul in prison.
And he has the letter of Paul, this letter in his hand. And he approaches his master, the one who owns, to whom he belonged. He had been such a rascal. He had cheated him and ran away owing him. a death and he watches as Philemon opens that letter and Philemon reads on down and down receive him receive him and then he says in verse seventeen receive him as myself what's that Paul do you mean that you want me to receive this rascally slave just as though he were you yes Paul says That's exactly what I mean.
Philemon, what would you do if I came today? Would you run out and throw your arms around me? Well, throw them around on this. Would you have a great feast ready for me if I was coming today? Yes. We'll have a feast to celebrate on this and this homecoming. Would you welcome me with a kiss? Oh, yes, Philemon, that I certainly would. He says, receive him as myself. Is that the way God receives the sinner when he comes? Yes. The Bible says we're accepted in the beloved. He receives us as though we were his beloved son.
And he calls on his beloved. And then Paul says, receive him forever. Oh no, now wait a minute. Wait just a minute. I can hear Philemon said, you know what that fella did? You know what a rascal he was? I'll take him on a trial basis, maybe six weeks or so, and see how he turns out. If he behaves himself, then I'll keep him. Receive him forever. Is that the way God receives you and me? Yes, indeed. I bless God that he'll never turn us The Bible says, him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.
He not only says he'll receive us, he says he'll never cast us out. One of my favorite evidences, that one lies my soul. Behold his Jesus. Jesus fills thy wandering eyes. See him now in glory seated where thy sins no more can rise. There is righteousness, transcendent. Loing up in heaven appears, shows the blood of his atonement as thy titan. to be there. All thy sins were laid on Jesus. Jesus bore them on the tree. God who knew them laid them on him. And believing thou art free. God now brings thee to his dwelling.
Spreads for thee his feast divine. Vids thee welcome. Ever telling what a portion there is thine. And then this verse. Blessed, glorious word. forever yea forever give the word nothing in the ransom sever not divide them from the Lord receive him receive him as myself and receive him forever shall we pray our father we're thankful for this Lovely story in my words.
Though we pray that the wonder of thy salvation that transcends all our thoughts may grip our hearts afresh tonight. May we live as those who appreciate salvation so vast, so rich, so full, and so free. There's one here, young or old, tonight, without Christ. We pray that they may heed the invitation to come now, just as they are. Receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, and know that thou hast received them because they have received him.
We seek thy blessing. We thank thee for these days together in the precious and worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Could we sing in closing just a couple of verses of number two hundred and seventeen? Two seventeen. Come every soul by sin oppressed. There's mercy with the Lord. He was sure to give you rest by trusting in his word. Verses one, two and four of two seventeen. A memory sold by sin oppressed, there's mercy with the Lord, and he will surely give you rest by trusting in his word.
only trust him only trust him only trust him now he will save you he will save you he will save you now verse two For Jesus shed his precious blood, rich blessing to be saw. Watch now into the crimson blood that was as white as snow.
Only trust him, only trust him. Only trust him now. He will save you. He will save you. He will save you now. Verse four. Come then and join this holy band and on to glory go. To dwell in that celestial land where joy is his horn of hope.
Only trust him, only trust him, only trust him now. He will save you. He will save you. We will save you now.