the Lord. Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy, our brother. To Philemon, our beloved fellow worker, and Aphia, our sister, and Archibus, our fellow soldier, and the church in your house, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake, I prefer to appeal to you, I, Paul, an old man, and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus, I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me, I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I prefer to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. For this, perhaps, is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a bondservant, but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother, especially to me. But how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord? So, if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand. I will repay it. To say nothing of your owing me, even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ. Confident of your obedience. I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers, I will be graciously given to you. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Well, this is a delightful and a wonderful letter from the Apostle Paul to Philemon, and it's just so rich, I really can't do the whole thing justice in one message, so I'm really just gonna try and focus on the power of the gospel in the life of Philemon, in the life of Paul, and in the life of Onesimus. So, let me start with this illustration. I worked in Las Vegas quite a bit the last 10 years. I retired recently. But I got a chance to visit the Hoover Dam when I was there about, I don't know, about eight years ago. It's an amazing story, the way that dam was built. During the Great Depression, thousands of workers came together to build it. It was one of the most ambitious engineering feats in American history. It wasn't just a massive wall of concrete, it was a vision to tame the unpredictable Colorado River, prevent deadly floods, irrigate dry lands, and bring electric power to the growing cities of the Southwest. Now when completed, it didn't just hold back water, it turned desert into farmland, it lit up cities like Los Angeles and Las Vegas, it offered stability and hope at a time of national despair. The Hoover Dam was more than a display of raw power, it was a display of transformative Power. Power that didn't just stop something, but reshaped everything around it. Well friends, that's the kind of power we see in this short letter from Paul to Philemon. It's not power that has to do with concrete and turbines, but with grace and forgiveness. Power that transforms not landscapes, but human hearts. Today we open this very short letter, just 335 words in the Greek, but within this small note lies a mighty display of God's grace and power. Paul's letter to Philemon gives us glimpses of that power, the gospel at work, changing lives, changing a man, changing a relationship, and transforming a community. It's the most personal of Paul's letters. He writes not to the entire church, but mainly to Philemon, although he wants the letter shared in the church that meets at Philemon's home. Now before I give you a few points to take away from this, let's just rehearse this story so we just have it in our heads. Onesimus was a slave of Philemon. Philemon was the slave owner and Onesimus had wronged and possibly robbed his master of money and then had run away. He made his way to Rome, apparently hoping to lose himself in the crowds and elude the slave catchers who would be on the lookout for a fugitive. But in some way, unknown to us, he runs into, providentially, the Apostle Paul, who's in prison. Maybe he sought Paul out. We're not told how that happened. But we do know from verse 10 that the Apostle Paul led him to Christ, and he became a new creation through faith in Jesus Christ. The Spirit opened his eyes to the beauty of Christ, to the beauty of the gospel, and he believed. and he repented. However, although he'd repented, there was this small matter of restitution. Paul felt that Onesimus must return to his master in accordance with the demands of the law. The fact that Onesimus agreed to do this proves the reality of his faith. Onesimus knew what might be in store for him. The Roman law practically imposed no limits on the power of a master over his slaves, so they were constantly, many times, crucified for far lighter offenses than this, or punished severely. A thief, a runaway, he had zero claims to forgiveness. Well, Paul sends this letter with Tychicus, with Onesimus, to Philemon. And so, we'll pick it up there, and tonight I want to look briefly at the power, through this story, at the power of the gospel in four ways. The power of the gospel to transform human hearts. The power of the gospel to transform relationships and whole communities. the power of the gospel to bless the guilty with grace, and the power of the gospel to restore hope and a future. So first we'll look at the power of the gospel to transform the human heart. We actually see three transformations of three different people here at the beginning. In verse one, we see the apostle Paul, how the gospel transformed him. He starts this letter, Paul, a prisoner for Jesus Christ. Paul, a prisoner. Paul, we talked about this a little bit this morning, he was on the wrong road. He was on the wrong, the road to Damascus in order to persecute and kill Christians and Jesus called him to be his own on that road. He did a 180 and became a wonderful Christian leader. But I want you to notice that Paul doesn't begin this letter by appealing to his authority as an apostle. No, he often starts his letters, Paul an apostle, especially when he's dealing with false teaching. But here he begins by appealing to the fact that he is a prisoner. He's in prison. But he is a prisoner not of Rome, but of who? What does he say? A prisoner for Christ Jesus. And he talks about that, again, further down in the letter, but he brings it out right in verse 1. He's gone from taking prisoners of those who follow Christ to being a prisoner of Christ. So we see the transformation by the gospel of Saul into Paul. There's a second transformation we see here, and we see that the gospel has transformed Philemon, and we see that in verses four to seven. Paul writes to him, I hear of your love and the faith you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints. Now we don't know how or when Philemon was converted, but we do know this, that his faith and his love of the Lord Jesus and his love for all the saints by word of mouth was spreading. Everyone was hearing about it. So this man's life was clearly transformed by the gospel of grace. His home was turned into a church, his relationships into ministries of refreshments, his status as a wealthy master into a platform for humble service. So Paul doesn't address him with an apostolic command Instead, he comes as a partnership in the gospel, as a brother, because Philemon's life has already displayed the fruit of the gospel, generosity, hospitality, and a heart that willingly responds to Christ's call. And so Paul is comfortable saying, I'm asking you, not telling you I'm asking, I could tell you, but I'm asking you to do this for Onesimus. The third transformation we've seen is that of the slave, Onesimus. In verses 10 through 12, we see how Paul describes him as a changed man from a runaway slave. Verse 10, he calls him my son, my son. Paul has led him, he's his spiritual son. Paul's the one who has led him to Christ, to faith in Christ. He says in verse 11, Formally, he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me. Now you need to know this, the name Onesimus means profitable. So Paul is making a play on words with his name, profitable. He says, hey, formerly he wasn't very profitable for you, Onesimus, Philemon, but now he's quite profitable, quite useful. to you and to me." So Paul is saying his life's been changed. He's a different man. In fact, he says in verse 12, as I send him to you, I'm sending you my very heart. Oh my goodness. The change in Onesimus is so real that Paul sends this runaway back as sending his very heart. This is how confident Paul is that the gospel has reshaped Onesimus from an unfaithful servant into a faithful Christian. Paul even says in verse 13, I'd prefer to keep him with me because he's become so valuable to my ministry. Now these verses just drip with irony, because again, the name Onesimus literally means useful, yet he had been anything but useful. He'd failed his master, he'd likely stolen from him, and he had run away, but now something has changed. Through Christ, he's become what his name always meant him to be, useful, restored, redeemed, a new man in Christ Jesus. This isn't surface-level improvement, this is gospel transformation, the kind only Jesus Christ can bring, and this is what the gospel does. It doesn't just erase your past. It creates a new future in Christ. It takes a man who once ran away and turns him into a man who willingly returns. That's not willpower, friends. That's new life. That's the power of the Spirit in him, the power of Christ in him. So, we see the power in these three lives of the gospel to transform the human heart. Now there's a second kind of transformation we see, and that's the power of the gospel to transform relationships and community. We see it in, well, verses 12 through 17, but as much as Paul loves Onesimus and believes that he's a new man in Christ, he still feels that something is missing, that Onesimus must go back and must be reconciled to Philemon. He feels that's important, and so he sends him back. But when he sends him back, he sends him with this letter so that there could be reconciliation. Paul makes this beautiful plea for how Philemon, and not just Philemon, but the entire Christian community that meets in his home should receive Onesimus back. Now look what he writes in verses 15 and 16. For this, perhaps, is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave, a bondservant, but more than a bondservant, as a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. Wow, that is beautiful. Paul doesn't just want Onesimus forgiven, he wants him welcomed into the Christian community as a brother in Christ. He doesn't want him just tolerated, just quietly restored and shoved to the side, but embraced as family. This, my friends, is radical. It breaks every social expectation of the Roman world. Onesimus is still legally a slave. But Paul is asking Philemon to receive him, not as property, but as a brother in Christ. That's not just reconciliation, that is radical change in relationship. And Paul doesn't whisper this request in private, Philemon, take them back, okay, just keep it quiet. No, no, he puts this in a public letter that he wants read to the whole church. Because gospel-shaped reconciliation is not just a private matter, friends, it's a witness to the world. Now, I wanna make a historical side note here. This little book, Philemon, was quite controversial in the decades leading up to the United States Civil War, where slavery was still legal in the US. Christians were wrestling with the message of Philemon. Now some of the most troubling uses of Philemon in American history came from pro-slavery theologians and pastors in the antebellum South who twisted the letter to justify race-based chattel slavery. These arguments were not only theologically unsound, they radically misunderstood Paul, the gospel, and the entire New Testament ethic. They ignored the very heart of the letter. They seized Paul's silence about abolition while refusing to hear his loudest command, receive him as a beloved brother. Once that command is obeyed, slavery cannot survive. Christian theologians, like old school reform theologian Charles Hodge at Princeton, when Princeton was conservative, at Princeton, understood. Hodge wrote this, the spirit of the gospel dissolves the bond of slavery, not by violence, but by teaching the master to regard his servant as a brother in Christ. Look, it's true, Paul doesn't launch a political campaign against slavery in Philemon, right? Let's go after Rome and turn it around. No, he does something much more brilliant, much more wonderful, much more revolutionary. He removes the very foundation by calling Philemon to receive Onesimus no longer as a slave, but as a beloved brother. Paul strikes at the heart of the class, ethnic, and social divisions that make slavery possible. The gospel redefines identity, not by status or economics, but by our union with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And when a Christian looks at another believer and sees not property, but family, a true brother, the entire structure of slavery collapses. Think about this, a wall. You've got a big stone, huge stone wall, really big and imposing that almost couldn't be taken apart, but it's built on sand. What do you do if someone starts eroding the sand, and taking away the sand, and washing away the sand underneath? What will happen? The whole wall will crumble. And that's what Paul does here. I'm not saying he's purposely going after slavery, but I'm saying this ethic, this ethic that in Christ there's neither slave nor free, Jew nor Greek, male nor female, this ethic, the whole wall things like slavery are built on crumbles. He doesn't swing at the stones of the slave system, but this definitely washes out the foundation by insisting that a master view his slave as a brother. Once that gospel truth settles in the heart, the wall of slavery simply cannot stand. So that's my historical side note. I have a lot of interest in this because my Ancestors had farms in the 1840s in Illinois that were stops on the Underground Railroad. They were abolitionists. They came from Connecticut, and when they went to Illinois, they were very much involved in the fight against slavery. Okay, so we've seen the power of the gospel to transform human hearts, and we've seen the power of the gospel to transform a community and a church. Now we see the power of the gospel to bless the guilty with grace. Look at the bomb Paul drops in verses 17 and 18. Verse 17, so if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would welcome me. Wow. Paul puts Onesimus on equal footing with himself, the great apostle, a runaway slave. He says, look at him like you'd look at me. But even more striking, in verse 18, Paul makes his boldest move. He says, if he has done you any wrong or owes you anything, charge it to me. Friends, that's not blah, blah, blah, spiritual talk. That is a blank check, a runaway slave's theft covered by the apostle. Paul steps in and says, I'll take the hit, I'll settle the account, put it on my tab. Friends, this is grace. This is the heart of the gospel. Look what Paul writes in verse 19. He actually says, I'm writing this with my own hand. I'll pay it back. He's signing the check, literally, right? I'll pay it back, this is grace. Martin Luther once wrote this, what Christ has done for us with God the Father, that Paul does for Onesimus with Philemon. We are all Onesimus if we believe. Friends, that's what Christ has done for us. He has interceded for us with the Father just as Paul interceded for Onesimus with Philemon. Father, receive them. Christ pays the debt. He says, charge it to me. Charge it to my account. I'm signing the check. Your sins will be nailed to the cross along with my body. Christ reconciles the estranged. estranged, welcome them as you'd welcome me. Welcome the poor, the needy, the humble, the sinner, the lost, as you'd welcome me. Christ restores and renews, giving the guilty not what they deserve, but what he earned. Friends, this isn't just forgiveness, it's grace, undeserved, unearned, and lavish, and it's the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There's a story, I'm sure you've heard this probably, about a young woman standing in a traffic court, guilty of speeding. The judge listens to her case, reviews the evidence, hands down the sentence, guilty, the fine's $200. Then he stands up, he walks around the bench, he takes off his robe, pulls out his checkbook, pays the fine. You see, the judge was her father. He couldn't deny justice, she broke the law, but he couldn't deny love, she was his daughter, so he upheld the law and paid her penalty. And friends, that is just what Christ has done for us. He didn't lower the standard, he met it. He lived the perfect life we could never live. He died the sacrificial life. We couldn't die. He didn't cancel justice, he absorbed it. At the cross, the judge took off his robe, came down and said, charge it to me. And following in the steps of his masters, what Paul is doing in this book for Onesimus. So, we've seen the power of the gospel to transform individual lives and hearts, to transform communities, and we've seen the power of the gospel to give grace to the guilty. And finally, in closing, we see the power of the gospel to restore hope and a future. Can you imagine what was going through Onesimus' mind as he carried that letter back to his master? I gotta believe he was shaking in his boots. He didn't know how Philemon would respond, but he was trusting Paul, and he was trusting the Lord, and he was trusting the grace of the gospel. Paul encouraged him to trust, to trust the power of grace, the strength of Christ, and the hope of reconciliation. Look at how Paul ends his letter in verse 21 with this confident hope. He says, confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I ask. He's confident that because Philemon is a new man in Christ, that Philemon will, respond appropriately, and welcome Onesimus back with open arms, no longer as a slave, no longer as a servant, but as a brother in Christ. Now what happened? Well, you know, I'm not sure we actually know. However, tradition tells us that Philemon did forgive Onesimus and that Onesimus later became a bishop in the early church. I hope that's true. We'll find out someday. But the gospel didn't just forgive Onesimus' past. It gave him a future. Let me close with taking us kind of back to the Hoover Dam in the desert and an illustration Think back to the Hoover Dam. Before it was built, the land downstream was unpredictable and dry. Floods destroyed fields, cities couldn't grow. But when the dam was completed, the power of the Colorado River was harnessed, redirected, and the desert began to bloom. What was once destructive became life-giving. And that's what the gospel does with a person's life. You all know who Chuck Colson was. He was a top aide to President Nixon during the Watergate scandal. Brilliant, ruthless, and widely known as Nixon's hatchet man, he was convicted of obstruction of justice and went to prison. He had every reason to be discarded and written off as corrupt and irredeemable. But in the wreckage of his pride and power, Christ found him. Colson came to faith in Christ through the witness of a friend and the reading of C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity, and he was a changed man. After prison, he founded Prison Fellowship, which has brought the gospel to countless inmates around the world. The man who once manipulated power became a servant to the powerless in prison. Colson later said, the real legacy of my life was not the gates of the White House, but the gates of prison and how God opened them for ministry. Friends, that's what happens when grace is unleashed through the proclamation of the gospel. God doesn't just forgive the past, he transforms the future. He turns Saul into Paul, he turns a runaway slave into a brother in Christ, he turns Chuck Colson into a minister of the gospel, and he does the same for you, and he does the same for me. May his name forever be praised. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for this beautiful and wonderful story