All right, look with me in your Bibles to Philemon. There's only one chapter, but we're gonna take our time going down through this epistle. Only 25 verses, but an awful lot here as far as the gospel is concerned, certainly one deserves our utmost attention. I'm gonna read the entire, each time, just to help us see a bit of the context. And in this message, just introduce the first three verses and speak with you about God's gracious providence. I'm sure that all of us, after we finish reading this epistle, before the Lords, we'll be able to look back and see just how His hand so guided us and directed us to bring us to Christ. Some of the specifics may have been a little bit different, but I believe that you'll find as I did in studying this, there's a lot here that as I look back on how the Lord directed my heart to Christ, I can truly say it's all of his grace, and by that same gracious providence. We read here, Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy, our brother, unto Philemon, our dearly beloved and fellow laborer. Just note here the very, intimate terms that are used with regard to these that are the Lord's. There's a specialness to the Lord's people, and that's what we see here. The term brother, the term beloved, dearly beloved. And then again, verse two, to our beloved Aphio and Archippus, our fellow soldier, and to the church in thy house. grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all saints. That the communication of thy faith, again, it's not of your believing, Here, the word faith again is objective. The communication of that which is objective concerning Christ may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in thy love because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. 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 bonds, 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 mine own bowels, whom I would have retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel. 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 departed for a season, that thou shouldst 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 oweth thee aught, put that on mine account. I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it. Albeit I do not say 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 wilt also do more than I say. But withal, prepare me also a lodging, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you. There salute thee Epiphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus. Now you remember, And when we read in Colossians, here's the Colossian connection, because Epiphras was the one that came to visit Paul and communicate to him the news from Colossae. But now we see that he himself is called a fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus. So perhaps he arrived at Rome the same way that Paul did, being brought in because of the gospel. And yet through that, he learned of the church, of the work, there in Colossae. Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, amen. So you can see this epistle was written by Paul when a prisoner at Rome, and that's pretty evident from both how he introduces this small epistle and how he ends it. speaking of himself as a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Now, what brought about this particular epistle, as we can see, was this one Onesimus, who was a servant of Philemon, but had evidently embezzled his goods and robbed him, ran away from him, fled to Rome, And here's where we see God's gracious providence because all the while running from a particular circumstance or incident that some might say was of his doing and yet certainly God ordained. Here he runs smack into grace without even looking for it. And I would say that that right there is the very foundation of the testimony of every true child of God. We were running our own way and seeking our own interests, sending all the way. And yet in God's time, he caused our path to cross with the truth, with that grace that he had already purposed in the Lord Jesus Christ, from the foundation of the world, and through that brought us to himself. You remember back in Acts chapter 28, and here's where I like to try to link up some of the scriptures historically. And this may well have been the time that Paul first met Onesimus, because you remember when it says he was in prison, That is somewhat of a strong word by our own definition. It was a house. It was a house for hire. And he was retained there in many ways under house arrest. He was a prisoner in chains in his own hired house. They didn't have prisons back then where everything was provided for you. You not only were in chains, but you paid the bill. He was under the custody of a soldier, as we see here in Acts 28 and verse 30. It says, and Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house and received all that came in unto him, preaching the kingdom of teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him. So he was bound and waiting trial to go before Caesar. That's just how long a wait it was. Talk about trial dates today that go out over years. Well, it was that way here. And so he had to sit it out. He had to wait until this matter was settled. But that whole two years, even that was ordained of the Lord. to bring these people to hear him preach the kingdom of God and teach those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what it is to preach the kingdom of God, God's king and his subjects and how the Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed them unto himself. And he did it with all confidence, no man forbidding him. Imagine this, we're in Rome. You're there on trial already for preaching the gospel, and yet for two years, the Lord gives you full freedom, no man forbidding. That can only be attributed to, again, God's sovereignty and purposing, not only for someone like Onesimus to hear the gospel, but as we read in other epistles, even those of the household of Caesar that heard and would not have heard otherwise had it not been for these events. So we can see here in Philemon, the whole purpose of this epistle now is to reconcile Philemon to his servant. Most people would think, well, why even give much thought to a servant? Just a scum of the earth. Well, once he's been proven to be one of the lords, that the Lord redeemed and brought to himself, you can't just say it's just a servant. That's, so he writes here to Philemon to entreat him to receive him again, as we read here in verse 16, not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved. You stop and think about it. I mean, this guy cleaned house, took off, and now he gets this epistle saying, receive him back, not as a servant, but as a brother. Sometimes I think we make conditions on who will forgive and how and when. We're very much, when we preach the gospel, we say we believe in the unconditional grace of God, as long as it pertains to God or us. But when it comes down to dealing with one another, by nature, we are conditionless. That's our flesh. And I believe that's why the gospel is perverted by man. Unless they're taught of Christ, they're going to put a condition somewhere because that's what comes out of the heart. That's natural religion to do that. And the Lord has to teach you otherwise, and he will. I'm more aware of that than anybody, I think, when I preach these things, because the Lord always puts an illustration in my way the following week, where I'll be forced to bow to the very things I'm telling you. Unconditional forgiveness. It's like Christ told Peter, when they said, well, when a brother offends you, how many times? should be forgiven. Seven times, the Lord said, 70 times seven. That's a use of numbers that means to the nth degree. Even as you have been forgiven. And so this is a time to look to Christ, not only as a servant, but as a brother in Christ. And so for this reason, I believe this epistle is very instructive. There's not a person that ought to walk out of here without having the light shown on our own hearts and cause us to weigh prayerfully these things. Several things here that we can see. It shows, first of all, that great compassion in the Apostle Paul. I know we think of him as being a hard man. We think of him as when he traveled around, we read some of these epistles, and yet we know and understand he was very weak in bodily appearance, evidently, from what he said when he wrote the Corinthians, as Brother David has been reading for us. His letters were strong, but in personal appearance, there was something about him that caused people to wonder, you know, is this one of the Lord's servants? And yet we see here a great compassion, not of himself, but again, God wrought that moves him not to think it below himself, to be concerned even with this one servant. I think about how the Lord deals with us as sheep, that we often think of the strongest sheep. That's where our minds go. And yet the Lord's attention is on the weakest. and I'm the smallest. And this is an area where the Lord continues to teach me. And that is, you can only move the Lord's sheep along just as fast as that weakest sheep. But how often we become disgruntled and upset and impatient with somebody that may be the Lord's, and yet we don't see the particular progress in them that we think we ought to see. That's sort of a condescending, not sort of, it is a condescending attitude on our part. When in reality, whoever it is, we ought to be commending them to the Lord. And I believe manifesting this same compassion. Paul certainly didn't have anything to gain by taking up the care of Onesimus here, particularly with regard to Philemon. If he had any selfish motives, even as he said, I could just keep him here. I'd like to have somebody to sweep the floor every morning and bring me the water and do all of these things and be in comfort. But his thoughts were toward reconciling him back to Philemon. But secondly, I believe that it does teach, again, the right of the master over the servant, that that's not lost by becoming a believer. you notice even his language here, there's a respect for one's authority and property. I know that today there's a great movement just to put everybody on the same level and not have even some that are considered to be ministers or to be honored. It's not that they're above the people and yet Even in a congregation, our positions in life demand respect for one another. I can't just walk into a boss's office because he's a fellow believer and say, you know, how's it going? And talk to him in a manner that is disrespectful in that particular position, even though in the congregation we're one. Yet in the world, we have different positions. And I believe some of that is shown here as we read it. Paul's encouraging of this servant, Onesimus, to go back and submit himself unto his master. Some people might think that's legalism. He's forgiven in Christ, so let's just move on. But we find Paul very desirous of seeing a reconciliation accomplished, even between them, and even recompense for injuries done. Paul says here, and he wasn't putting it on Onesimus, he just said, as we read there in verse 18, if he ever wronged thee or owed thee aught, put that on mine account. He wasn't just speaking that, he was, if this is what is the issue, Philemon, then put it to my account. I'll take the full charge. So you can see a concern for reconciliation there. Ultimately, thirdly, it displays the riches of the grace of God in the conversion of a vile, wicked sinner. I believe that's the biggest lesson that we can see here. God's wonderful providence in overruling in that which was sinful itself. I know Brother Lane and I met a lady in London and we were while we're waiting for a flight, sitting at the table, conversing about this very thing. And she brought up a good point when it was asked, is God the author of sin? And our immediate reaction is to say no. But when you think about what an author is, it's one who plans, purposes, writes, and sets it forth. And in that sense, you'd have to say he is. In this sense, he ordained it. It's like he ordained the fall. He does not communicate the sin. He does not put it in the sinner. But we have to say that it wouldn't have happened had he not authored it, had he not ordained it. And so even when you read in Isaiah, it says that God said, I create good and I create evil. And I believe here's a situation where That is so. Just like with Joseph and his brothers. It's a mystery. I don't pretend to understand how this all works out because God is holy and just and cannot be attributed with sin in any way. And yet we can see reading the pages of this book, how over and over and over again, he has used it to his honor and glory. even to the point of saying this is a faithful saying worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners. How would there be sinners had he not ordained it? And why did he do it? For the glory of his son, to exalt his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why it could be said of Joseph. After you think about the hatred and the conniving and everything those brothers did. And yet he said, you meant it for evil. God purposed it for good. Doesn't say he allowed it. He purposed it. You look at the lineage of Christ, David and Bathsheba, as grievous as sin as that was, Christ came from that lineage. He could have chosen some pure race, but that would defeat the whole purpose of salvation by grace. And that's the thing where we bow. That's where I bow. I consider that even in this, the Lord shows himself righteous and good, the wonderful providence of God in taking this slave and the sin itself, the running away from his master and using it to the greatest good, his conversion. So a lot of lessons here that can be learned in the chief being Christ is coming to this world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Let me just give you a few thoughts here in these first couple of verses with regard to this epistle. As I said, and this is what I find interesting, as small as this epistle is, it's still written in the very same way that Paul wrote all his other epistles. There's a consistency in how he addresses these matters and how he addresses people. whether many or few, I like that. As I read that, I thought, it doesn't matter whether a room's full of a thousand people, or whether you've got a few like we have here tonight, that the message is the same. It's the same consistency, whether it's addressed to the church in Rome, the church in Colossae, or Philemon. Philemon. I believe where you see that consistency, there's persuasion. A man doesn't change based on the circumstance. His emotion, his affection, everything about what he says here is exactly the same as what he's written throughout all his other epistles. And so as we consider that, we can see how the Lord raises up preachers of the gospel and teaches them and uses them as an influence in the lives of others. I find here, first of all, you can see in verse one, his condition as a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He doesn't talk about being a prisoner of Rome or a prisoner of Caesar or a prisoner of circumstances. I know we can get down sometimes because of circumstances and things. And when we talk with one another, that's what we talk about. It'd be good to remind each other Really, if that's your prison, you're still a prisoner of Jesus Christ, the Lord ordained it. And I like the way he addresses it here. Although a prisoner of Rome, he's not giving the glory to Rome, prisoner of Jesus Christ for the gospel sake. And that's why he writes this as being in the bonds of the gospel and considers it to be an honor. I would like to think that if I were in the same situation, that the Lord would give me the same grace. Sometimes I wonder about it. And it's easy to preach this when all's going well. But then again, the Lord gives grace just when you need it. It's not beforehand. It's exactly as needed. But he was not ashamed of his chain because he wasn't ashamed of the gospel. And therefore, whatever hurt men tried to put on him. It didn't affect his happiness, it didn't affect his affection for the Lord, it didn't affect his affection for the Lord's people. If you didn't know he was a prisoner here, you would not discern anything in here by way of discontent. And again, when we're reminded over and over again that God is the author of all things, then we contentedly I don't say it's immediately, but he brings us to find contentment even in the most adverse situations. But more importantly, I believe his second point I want to bring up, and that is the spiritual relationship that there was between Paul and Onesimus. What other reason would there be even for him to take up this man's case? On a natural front, it would be foolish. Most of the world would look at a situation like this and say, you know, what's the fuss? He ran away from his master and he's building a new life and master's got money. He'll get on with it. He doesn't need what Onesimus stole anyway. That's the way most of the world deals with this. But we find Paul here not being able to leave it alone. And As we read here in verse 10, he says, I beseech thee for my son, Onesimus, which I have begotten in my boss. He's not talking about having given birth to him physically, but a relationship here with him that is wrought by a birthing. That's the new birth. It's the work of God. It's being from above. You stop and think about what binds us together. If it takes an organization, if it takes programs, if it takes all of these activities that's going on in religion to try to keep people happy together, something's wrong. I believe that if the Lord has truly wrought in our hearts his grace and taught us by his spirit, it endears us to one another. there's an endearing that comes with time. Otherwise, how on earth would we ever be together? And I believe that it shows us that the body of Christ is not an organization, it's an organism. It's a living organism. And if you have to try to put things in place, as religious organizations do, to try to get people to get along with one another, They probably ought to be apart anyway. There's something wrong. Paul here says, I beseech thee for my son, Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds. He draws Philemon into it. My son, but I beseech you. There's a relationship here that's not going away. And again, you can, as I mentioned in reading this earlier, the use of the word brother, I believe the word brother in today's religious circles is used far too loosely. I don't just go around calling anybody brother. But where I do refer to one as brother is because I do believe, until proven otherwise, that there's one that's the Lord's, that the Lord has brought us together with by his spirit and through the blood of Christ. but there are those two uses of brethren in scripture. We are either men's brethren in Adam. In other words, there's a relation, a natural physical relationship there, or we're brothers spiritually because of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Paul uses both, but where he uses it, he makes clear what he's talking about. For example, in Romans nine and verse three, Here's an example. He's just not lopping everybody together because they consider themselves to be Christians. He says, when he says here, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, and as I preached not too long ago, you can translate that for I had wished that myself were accursed from Christ for my brother. He's talking there about those, he says, my kinsmen according to the flesh. So he very clearly defines it. We have a lot of brethren according to the flesh that we can identify with. And may we never get cocky even in what we know and forget the pit from which we were hewn. we ought to be able to identify with the worst of sinners if the Lord has taught us who we are. So it's not having a holier-than-thou attitude toward people that are still in darkness. In one sense, we can relate to them as brothers according to the flesh. So that's important. If you look over in 2 Corinthians chapter 11, in verse 26, you can see the same language. There's always something to distinguish when he's talking about brothers according to flesh versus those that are so spiritually. Here he said, in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In other words, something about their attitude, their doctrine that identified them as being false brethren. That's not something we're just supposed to lightly speak of, but where it becomes evident, you say it. They might profess to be brethren, but they're false brethren. And yet on the other hand, you can look here in Acts chapter 28, in verses, again, 14 to 16, in the same context we were just reading with regard to Paul going to Rome. This is interesting here. On his way, in Acts 28 and verse 14, he says, where we found brethren. And again, they're defined, they're described. Who's a brother in the Lord? Well, here he says, and were desired to tarry with them seven days, and so we went toward Rome. And from whence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Apiphorum and the three taverns, whom when Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage. And when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard, but Paul was suffered to dwell by himself with a soldier that kept him. All right, so you can see these that were true brethren that were not afraid to identify with him, even in the very reason why he was going to Rome, the gospel. To me, that's the clearest evidence that one is truly a brother in the Lord. They stand with you in the truth. They stand with you in the doctrine. They're not fleeing. when it comes to identifying with the message of Christ and his grace. They're not compromising. There's not a whittling down of it. And so I believe Paul's references here, as we saw in verses one and two and throughout this epistle, it's talking about a true relationship, not just an emotional term. which speaks of them being dearly beloved. But fellow laborers, that's how they're identified. Or as this one here in verse two, our fellow soldier, there's a warfare. And these have identified with me in this gospel, in the message, you see. That's how strong the bond is. So besides Philemon, Paul includes these others as true brothers. And I'll just mention these for time's sake, but verse two, he speaks of Aphia. Some believe that this may have even, it's a woman's name, may have even been Philemon's wife. So again, an example of how blessed he was, not only to be one of Christ's blood-bought sinners, but even his wife. where the Lord has so blessed a couple, that is a blessing. You've got both that are the Lord's. And then he refers secondly to Archippus there in verse two, calls him a fellow soldier. Actually, again, the connection with Colossians, if you read, if you go back to what the book of Colossians chapter four in verse 17, he's mentioned there, it's not talking about a soldier in the army, the Roman army, that sense, but a fellow soldier in the sense of being a minister of the gospel with Paul. Here again is one of these unknown preachers in Paul's day that we know little about. And yet these two times he's mentioned here in scripture, and say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry, which thou has received in the Lord that thou fulfill it. And so being a fellow soldier, You know, all of the Lord's people are enlisted to fight under that banner of Christ and him as the captain of salvation. You read in Ephesians 6, we're to take on the armor of God. It is a warfare. You're not gonna identify with Christ in this message and be at ease in this world. If you are, something's wrong. There's an enemy in the camp. And yet to know that you're not alone. But I believe more than that, it's talking about ministers of the gospel who are called upon just like he is to endure hardness, as good soldiers of Christ, to war a good warfare, to fight the good fight. These are all terms that we find because of the enemy, because of the nature of men's hearts to rebel and to reject the message that gives Christ all the glory and salvation. and without condition. There's an engaging of false teachers. That's probably one of the hardest things I find about being a minister of the gospel is having to constantly answer the naysayers. And you find out in a hurry as you pinpoint things that are necessary to the glory of Christ and the gospel. You find out that some people just get uneasy, start wiggling, and then they start fighting. It's like you've tasered them or something. They just, you know, here they are, they're going at you. But Paul says here, to our beloved Aphia and Archippus, our fellow soldier, that's what it is. And when you see that word soldier, there's a battle to be fought. But also, you see, he addresses the church. where he says, the church in thy house. Some commentators particularly say that that just refers to his family meeting in the house. But we have to know that these early congregations were small. They met in homes. This whole notion of huge church buildings and cathedrals and places where men meet today didn't start till after about the fourth century. when these things started taking off and they started trying to imitate the world. We ought never to be embarrassed about smallness. In fact, the Lord always referred to his church as his little flock. I believe that there's more truth, not that size means anything, but where the gospel is preached, it's rare in this day and age to find it in huge buildings and ornate places of worship. Just the very nature of that itself speaks to emphasis being on organization and building and not on the gospel. The Lord met with his people in the wilderness in a tabernacle. It's true that that temple was built to Christ's honor and glory as a type of Christ, but when people started even making an idol of it, God destroyed it. He destroyed it. When the disciples were walking around saying, going on about how Herod had built onto this thing, the Lord said, you see this temple? The day's coming when stone will not be upon stone. The true temple is the body of Christ, that which he has purchased by his blood, and sinners that God has chosen, and that he's calling out, just like Onesimus, Philemon, different ones in his time for his glory. What a gracious prophecy.