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Category: Religious Sermon
Tags: FaithForgivenessGospelReconciliationTransformation
Entities: Apostle PaulJesus ChristOnesimusPaulPhilemonTimothy
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today's scripture reading is taken from the book of filimon 1 veres 1 to 28 I read Paul a prisoner of Christ Jesus and Timothy our brother to fimon our dear
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friend and fellow worker also to AAS our sister and apus our fellow Soldier and to the church that meets in our home Grace and peace to you from God our
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Father and the Lord Jesus Christ I also thank my God as I remember you in my prayers because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in Lord
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Jesus I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ your love has given me great joy and
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encouragement because you brother have refreshed the hearts of the Lord's people therefore although in Christ I could be bold and order you to do what you ought to do yet I prefer to appeal to you on the
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basis of love it is as none of as none other than Paul an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus that I appeal to you for my son onus on onimus who
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became my son while I was in Chains formerly he was useless to you but now he has become useful both to you and to me I am sending him who is my very heart back to
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you I would have liked to keep him with me so that he could take your place in helping me while I am in chain for the gospel but I do not want to do anything without your consent so that any favor
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you do will not seem F but will be voluntary perhaps the reason he was separated from you for a little while was that you might have him back
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forever no longer as a slave but better than slave as a dear brother he is very dear to me but even dearer to you both as a fellow man and as a brother in the Lord so if you consider me a partner
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welcome him as you would welcome me if he has done you any wrong or owes you anything charge him to me charge it to me rather I Paul I'm writing this with my own hand I will pay it back not
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to mention that you owe me yourselves your very S I do wish brothers that I may have some benefit from you in the Lord refresh my heart in Christ confidence of your obedience I
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write to you knowing that you will do even more than I ask and one thing more prepare a guest room for me because I hope to be restored to you in prayer prayers to in answer to your
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prayers aais my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus send you greetings and so do Mark aritus Deus and Luke my fellow workers the grace of the
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Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit the word of the Lord thanks to God I have a dear dear friend and his name is Phillip and we get to hear God speak
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through our brother please come up today uh Phillip can I pray for you holy God I thank you so much for my friend uh Phillip I thank you Lord for your spirit that is upon him uh for your
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heart of a servant that you've given him Lord Jesus and I pray Lord that our hearts would be open to everything that you intend to impart to us through your holy word and through your servant here Philip in Jesus holy name we pray amen
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amen good [Music] afternoon it's truly my privilege to uh be here with you this this
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afternoon and thank you for the reading of God's word in this letter to phiman this letter to
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fiman is a life-changing letter it's a letter from the Apostle Paul to phiman whose name by the way means
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friendly you can hear in my name some similarities Phillip by Leeman Philip means lover of horses by the way I actually don't love horses but I didn't name
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myself but this letter has Timeless Theology and it's applicable throughout Christian history it carries the themes of Love grace mercy
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forgiveness and Reconciliation the letter of Paul to philimon it's a narrative that illustrates the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to transform
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hearts and bring peace with God and with others and thus it can be a lifechanging letter for you too I want to spend some time today going
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through this letter we will not have the time to go through everything but I want to have you focus on some key points I want to give you a little bit of an outline of where we're headed so that you have a sense of the key areas we're
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going to look at the first question we're going to try to answer is why does Paul writes if I leave it secondly we're going to look at why why is it so vitally important this letter why is it so
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critically important we also want to get some sense of Paul's advocacy for onimus and that Paul is seeking to reconcile philimon and
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onimus for Love's sake and then lastly we're going to look at the application for today how are we going to take the word of God and apply it in our lives now today and going
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forward so we're going to start with the first seven verses and I'm going to point out some things along the way but I want you to keep in mind that first element that I said we would focus on which is why does Paul write this letter
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okay so if you have your Bibles and I said the last time I was here everyone should always have their Bibles when you come to church have the word of God in your hands or on your phone now I go to a church in Markham
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and this morning our pastor his name is khabib as he was quoting various scriptures people were flipping the pages in their Bibles and Habib said I love that sound and so always bring your Bible to
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church always have your Bible so let's look at these first few verses and let me highlight some components along the way in the first three verses what we see right right away is that Paul is a prisoner for Jesus Christ he is in he is
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in a Roman prison for the sake of the Gospel this H this is uh captured in Acts 28: 30 and 31 and what we see there is is that he was in that prison for 2 years and he was under a kind of house
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arrest during this time Paul wrote what are typically referred to as the prison Epistles he wrote Ephesians Philippians Colossians and this letter to phiman philimon himself is in colos or where
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Colossians is and that is 2600 kilometers from where Paul is in Rome in a Roman prison that 2600 kilm would be similar to the distance between here and Texas that's approximately the distance
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what we also see in these first three verses is that phiman is a beloved brother of Paul they have a vital kinship in the Lord and in serving uh serving the lord we also see that phiman has a church in his house and that he
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was likely quite wealthy to have a Church in his home and we notice as well the names apia and archus they were likely philman's wife and son it's in that church is in his house we also know
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something very vital and this is not in the first three verses it's in verse 19 but we will notice there in verse 19 I'm just sort of skipping ahead I'm going to come right back Paul led phiman to Christ and this is a vital point this is the thing that
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made them brothers in Christ co- labor fellow workers in in God's Vineyard as well you will notice again that the verse the in these first three verses you see the term beloved brother and fellow worker you see that in the first
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verse but this idea of love is all over this letter in verse one in verse 5 in verse 7 in verse 9 and in verse 16 you either see the word beloved for love Paul is expressing God's grace and
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peace to philimon and his family and Paul is laying the foundation to say something very important in the next four verses verses 4-7 Paul is praising God for philemon's
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love and faithful service a love and faith that is effective and we see that in verse 6 a love that Paul is going to call upon we see the word Fellowship in verse 6 and underneath that word in the Greek is
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the word coinonia coinonia and that word has this idea of partnership and fellowship loving Fellowship loving fellowship and partnership and worship is explicit in
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this letter so here is Paul he's writing to philimon and as he's considering ing phiman his beloved brother and collabor it as if Paul is saying phiman
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I love you I love you in the Lord you love God and his people you are blessing to them and we are in this together as brothers We are family and fellowship to love and serve God and his
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people so in these first seven verses Paul is really it's as if he's reaching a cross those 2600 kilometers and wrapping his arms around phiman and saying we are wanting Christ and we serve the Lord together but I'm in
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prison you have a home in your church so from those first seven verses and I'm moving along quickly what we get is this kinship between Paul and philimon but we still don't really know why Paul
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writes we know who fiman is we all know who the Apostle Paul is I want us to look now at verse eight and we start to get a hint of the purpose of this letter and I'm just going to read verses 8 through 11 I know
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that they've been read as part of reading the whole chapter but I'm just going to read them again I want you to listen very carefully therefore now I'm going to stop the next word here therefore is tied to everything that went before in
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other words Paul phiman kinship love Faith surface because of all of that therefore therefore though I have enough confidence in Christ to order you to do
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what is proper yet for Love's sake I rather appeal to you since I am such a person as Paul an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus I appeal to you for my son onimus whom I have fathered
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in my imprisonment who previously was useless to you but now is useful both to you and to me Paul is making an appeal and he's making an
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appeal for Love's sake for the application of God's love is the key principle underneath this letter the application of God's love the the execution the manifestation the
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application of God's love the word for appeal in the Greek is paraco paraco and it means to call near it means to invite that word paraco it it's you can
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potentially hear uh the the linkage to another word you may be familiar with a Greek word paraclet and this is one of the names of the Holy Spirit and we see that in John 14:16 a paraclet is a
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helper an advocate Paul is an advocate between philimon and onesimus and you note that this invitation is for my child onesimus now
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onesimus was not Paul's biological son Paul led onimus to saving faith in Christ onesimus is Paul's son in the
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faith you see what is happening here Paul is linking his relationship with philimon to his relationship with animus Brothers in love and faith Paul
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and filiman my son in the faith onimus he's drawing now it's like he's putting his arms around onimus and filiman and saying we're all one in
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Christ but in verse 11 just moving forward who is animus we know that he was led to Faith by Paul but who is animus we know that phiman leads a church in his house in colise but who is
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onimus and by the way there's this lovely play on words here the name onimus means useful or profitable but you'll notice in verse 11
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that Paul says that he was usess but now he's useful both to me and to you so in verse 10 when Paul says the word the name onimus and then in verse
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11 he says he he uses these words useless useful there's this lovely play on words that's happening here in a way what he's saying is onimus was useless but remember his
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name it means useful and he's now going to be useful to me and to you but this leads to a question Paul is putting his arms around philimon and onesimus but he has said
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onimus was useless why why was he useless in verse 12 and we'll come to it in verse 12 we see that Paul is sending onimus back to philimon he's sending him back to
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philimon and we know from Colossians 4: 7 to9 that philimon received this letter from Paul and that onimus was there in colos so it's not
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that Paul is in Rome onesimus is in Rome and Paul has sent the letter ahead and then is sending filiman Paul has actually sent this letter with a group that is going to
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cols and the it says in Colossians 47 that tius had this letter and so imagine this here is phiman he's received this letter and onesimus is
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there TI tius has given philimon the letter and he's starting to read so Paul has sent philimon back now we're still trying to answer this question why why does Paul write
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this letter now at the beginning of this sermon I mentioned to you that this is a life changing letter A Life altering letter and now we're going to see more as to why when you look at verses 15 and 16
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what you see is this for perhaps it was for this reason that he was separated from you onesimus was separated from philimon for a while that you would have him back forever no longer as a slave but more than a slave a beloved brother
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especially to me but how much more to you both in the flesh and in the Lord what we see here is that onimus had run away from phiman he was a slave and in
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ancient Rome a slave was property of the owner and to run away was actually a crime we're going to see more here as well though if you look at Verse 18 if
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you have your Bibles it says and this is Paul writing but if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything charge it to my account and what that helps us
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understand is that onimus had stolen from pH Lon and run away Phim sorry onimus was a
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fugitive and we start to get a sense as to why Paul writes there had been separation between philimon and onimus and this is why Paul says he was
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useless to to you he stole from you and he ran away he was useless his name is onesimus means useful he became
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useless but he encountered the Apostle Paul in Rome and the Apostle Paul led him to Christ and now he's useful again and so what we see is the reason
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that Paul is writing we wanted to answer that question why does Paul write reconciliation Paul encountered onimus in Rome and was sending him back to philimon Paul is pleading for philimon
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to accept onimus back that's the reason that he writes now this next section is vital for our understanding of why this is life-changing it may not resonate with us in our world today because we're
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2,000 years on and by the way when Paul writes this letter he's about 60 years old and it's around ad. 62 the Roman Empire is still in full effect but let's say let me just share this with you and I've already shared it
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but I want you to get the gravity of this Onis has stolen from phiman and run away do you remember the two thieves that were crucified beside
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Christ to steal capital punishment imprisonment beaten phiman had every right if onimus came back to have him imprisoned or
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beaten or killed he was a runaway slave who had committed a crime and in that economy of that day that was normative I was reading just this
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morning that in in those days 10 to 20% of the population of Italy and Asia Minor and those areas were slaves and various typ of slaves some were actually quite well off some were
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treated terribly but in this case onesimus having stolen from phiman and run away was actually worthy of death and Paul is advocating for
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him and what was the thing that made him useful he was now a believer in Jesus Christ his life had changed he was no longer a runaway slave and you
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notice that Paul says charge it to my account charge it to my account do you see why this letter is so vitally important can you imagine phiman reading this letter and there's
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onimus and likely he saw anismus before he started reading the letter and he's thinking that's the guy who stole from me and you can just imagine his heart becoming hard it probably was hard
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already because onimus had left and by the way in those days those who were in these positions of of having slaves paid a lot for them it was a great loss for a slave to leave and even
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more so for them to steal from you and leave so here's fiman reading this letter and by God's grace his heart begins to
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soften his heart begins to soften so let's look quickly now we've seen why Paul writes we've seen the gravity of why he writes why it's so important if he just sent onimus back no
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letter phiman would have had every every right to have him crucified imprisoned beaten or just not receive him back and leave him out in you know homeless and
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destitute but by the grace of godall Paul had led onist to Christ and was sending him back in a place of repentance because think about this 600 km between Italy or Rome and colis
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can you imagine onimus traveling for days and wondering what's going to happen when I stand in front of phiman will he forgive me tikus has the letter tikus will give
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the letter to filiman will he even read it and if he reads it what will he do so let's look now at how Paul
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advocates for onimus the rationale that he gives to philimon as to why he should forgive onimus and I'm going to move around seven reasons why seven reasons
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that Paul gives to philimon and this is reconciliation for Love's sake the love of God shed abroad in onesimus his heart in phan's heart through an
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advocate a mediatorial Advocate and I can't help but say that Jesus Christ is a mediatorial advocate for you and me between the God the father and us and
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he died on an Old Rugged Cross shed his Precious Blood for you and for me Paul typifies Christ in this
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story and you and I are like onimus amen going to come to that again so in verses 10 and verse 16 Paul
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appeals to philimon he doesn't command philimon he appeals to him and he's asking philimon to forgive onesimus and to restore him to a new relationship that is better than
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before before he was a slave Paul is saying now make him a beloved brother isn't that what Jesus did for you and for me we are created in the image of God but as Sinners we're separated from from the very God who
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created us but through Christ we are we are children of God and beloved children not only for this life but for the life to come we are saved into a better relationship than before that's what's happening here
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that's what's happening here this letter to philimon is one chapter it's 25 verses it's 13 sentences it is the gospel of Jesus christall this
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letter reflects the whole Bible and what Jesus has done for us and what God did through him to reconcile a people to
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himself and so the first of my seven points is in reconciliation God is moving to change our relationship to a better place and that reconciling a stranged
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people it may require a mediatorial Advocate to reconcile to people who are at enity with with each other it may require an advocate also that Advocate needs to be
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someone who can make an appeal and not command have you ever had two people that you know who are not not getting along you cannot command them to be reconciled good luck with that but you can appeal to them you can
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invite them you can call on them to be reconciled the second point is that Paul indicates that onesimus has been transformed and this is another reason why philimon should consider forgiving
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him and render Mercy Grace in love to onimus who was useless but is now useful again he's changed because you can imagine if Phile if onimus came back there was no letter
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and let's say in Mercy phiman had said okay I'll take him back every night phiman would have been lying in bed thinking is he stealing from me when I get up in the morning is he still going to be
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here but because of Paul's letter philimon knows that onimus has changed pH phiman if he forgives onimus onimus and welcomes him back he can sleep well at night there's a new onimus
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in his home he knows and we see this in verses 10 and 11 that onesimus is a different person and so for an advocate seeking to Res reconcile fellow believer Bel it's expected and it's mutually profitable
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it'll be profitable to philimon if he forgives onimus and they are reconciled into this new relationship that is better than before anismus will be useful and profitable third Paul sends onimus back
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to face filiman although Paul could have kept onimus in Rome and he mentions that in verses 12-4 but he realizes and he says as he writes I could have kept him with me but I'm sending him back to you and so
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reconciling parties means you have to acknowledge the rights of the parties in other words phiman sorry Paul didn't actually have the right to keep onesimus with him in other words he should have sent
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him back and he says so he said I've sent him back to you I would have loved to have kept him with me because he's useful to me and to you so I could have kept him here but you have the right to determine what happens with onimus so
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I've sent him back so Paul is acknowledging the rights of philimon fourth Paul re Paul indicates to filiman receive onimus as if it was my heart in verse 12 and Paul says in
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verse 17 accept him like me he is reconciling the two parties and he's doing this in an incarnational way didn't Jesus die in your
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place that's what Paul is saying accept him back as if it was me my heart I'm sending him like my heart so if you would accept me fileman accept him
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right reconciling estranged Believers requires incarnational fellowship and Trust Paul is saying if you value me value him in a way to use a theological term
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Paul is saying to philimon impute my righteousness to him treat him as if he was me and since I'm in good standing with you treat him the same way right that is what Jesus has done
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for you and for me his righteousness has been imputed it has been credited to your account and now before the father you and I if you're here and you're a believer in Jesus Christ are holy and
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righteous and perfect forever amen not because of works of righteousness that we have done but because of his great love amen because of his great love amen so you and I can
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approach the throne of grace Hallelujah boldly B on the Merit of Jesus Christ not our own amen but his and that is what Paul is doing for
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onimus he saying impute his righteousness impute my righteousness to him the next point and this is very interesting is that Paul reflects on God's Providence
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it's very interesting Paul is now he's given all of these reasons right and then he says maybe God allowed onesimus to steal from you run away and
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counter me get saved and come back in better State than before what do we call that the Providence and sovereignty of God and how God can use things that are done that are bad or
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wrong or negative and turn them for good and I don't know about you but he's done that in my life and there are classic stories all over scripture that reflect that one of the
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most classic stories is the story of Joseph and his brothers yes they meant it for evil God used it for good and so that's another reason that Paul gives to philimon to say the way that this
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went might have been very much in the sovereignty of God he's giving him that reason right he wants philimon to be thinking of all of these reasons so that it will soften his heart he will treat onimus like a brother he
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will welcome him back Mercy forgiveness and Grace remember philimon has every right to have onesimus imprisoned or worse every right but there's a difference between the law and
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Grace and thanks be to God hallelujah that we are no longer under the law we are under grace amen two more points of the seven Paul offers to repay the debt
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onesimus owes in verses 18 and 19 it says but if he has wronged you in any way or owes you anything charge it to my account and notice he writes what would almost be like a promissary note he says
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I Paul have written this with my own hand I will repay he's saying I'm going to repay it if he's stolen from you I will pay it back Jesus Paid It all all to him I owe
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am do you know that song Jesus Paid It all all to him I owe you know that song you know that song that is what Paul is doing
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he's saying like Jesus Paid It All For You phiman yes I will pay you back on onimus half behalf you lost some money I will make it
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right charge it to my account that is substitutionary atonement theologically he's saying I am the substitute and I will pay it
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back treat me treat onimus as the way you treat me and whatever he owes you I'll pay it and that is what Jesus did for you and for me he took God's Wrath that we
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deserved and he paid the price in our place hallelujah hallelujah and think about this Paul is in prison he's in house arrest in Rome and
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he's offering to pay for fin what love for Love's sake reconciling at strange Believers requires mediatorial sacrifice you see
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Paul is willing to sacrifice for onesimus just as Jesus sacrificed for you and for me Jesus had no sin right what was he doing on a cross right he was sacrificed for you and for
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me amen and Paul is sacrificing for onesimus it's not Paul's debt it's onimus is debt but Paul's going to pay
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it he's mediatorial sacrif ice for Mutual benefit and lastly Paul reminds phiman that he led him to Christ in other words filiman you're saved not because of Paul because Paul
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can't save anyone but Paul had shared the gospel with him and the Holy Spirit had regenerated phiman and so part of what Paul is imparting here is I had a part in
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leading you to your salvation and in a way he's saying and he does say it you actually owe me right I just said I will pay for animus but you sort of owe me a little
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bit too but they're two different things one is money one is eternal life and I think in a way Paul might have been thinking that uh phiman should wave the debt
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right the phiman so that although he was olded he would say you know you you know what yeah if it wasn't for Paul I might not know Christ and so it's okay Paul you know don't send me that check
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it's all right I got this because I get it I get it so there's seven reasons that Paul gives to filiman to receive onimus back and why does he give him so many reasons
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it's because with phiman is well within his rights to take onesimus his life and and this is a letter philman's reading this letter and Paul leaves no reason
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un I feel like we should switch places actually you're finishing all my sentences she knows where I'm going it's awesome de it's awesome no no I love that I love that so Paul appeals he Advocates and he offers to atone for
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animus he offers to atone for animus is sin there's a wonderful verse that says No Greater Love does a person have than to lay down their life for their friend that's what Paul is
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doing he's laying down his life he's willing to sacrifice to reunite onimus and phiman into a better relationship than before and you'll notice he says he'll be your brother in the flesh and in the
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Lord which means they'll be brothers forever not just in this life but for eternity this is a whole other level of reconciliation this is not just a conflict that gets reconciled in this
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life and that's it it this is a Reconciliation and think how God has used Paul to lead philim to Christ to lead onimus to the Christ and then to lead them back together amazing this is amazing grace Amazing
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Grace just a quick quote from a commentary from a uh speaker Alexander McLaren listen to this quote Paul's intervention on behalf of onimus in these truths are the
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shimmering hints of the greatest truths of Christianity the shimmering truths of the greatest truths of Christianity the shimmering hints of the
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greatest truths of Christianity the greatest truths of Christianity grace mercy forgiveness love peace with God and peace with others earlier on you prayed about wars
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in this world and conflict in this world conflict on our streets difficulties you cannot watch the news on any day and not see this is a broken World am and let me tell you the only solution is
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God that he is the way the truth and the life Jesus is the way Jesus is the truth Jesus is the life and I want to just say this briefly the reality in which we live was
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created by God he's the one who defines what is true amen the world does not define what is true God does he created this world so just to wrap up for Four Points
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of application Okay so we've looked at why Paul wrote we've looked at why it was so vital because of the threat to onimus his life we've looked at seven reasons why Paul that Paul has given to fiman to
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forgive onesimus and now I want to look just briefly at four main characters in this narrative and I want you to ask yourself if you can see yourself in each of these individuals or in any of these
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individuals first of four onimus sinned against God and philimon and was separated from both deserving of
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death in Exodus 2015 the eth Commandment reads you shall not steal sometimes in our world today we don't think that stealing is a big deal listen to 1 Corinthians 69 and 10
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so you have that command of God in the so-called Ten Commandments and by the way there's 430 statutes and precepts and yes there are the Ten Commandments but there are many other directives from the Lord in the Old
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Testament but listen to 1 Corinthians 69-10 this is Paul writing to the church at Corinth so he's writing to a church or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of
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God do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral nor idolators nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor thieves nor the greedy nor those
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habitually drunk nor verbal abusers abusers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God did you notice that right in the middle of that list was
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thieves thieves God takes stealing seriously if you have your Bibles turn to Romans 6:23 and you know this verse if you don't have it hand if you don't have a
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Bible handy it says the wages of sin is death you see onimus had stolen from phiman but that is actually also a sin
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against God it's not just a sin against phiman it's a sin against God and God takes our sins seriously if you're here today and you're not
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saved you are the onimus before his salvation if you're here today and you don't know Jesus Christ as your savior and Lord you have an
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opportunity today to know Jesus as your savior you might be thinking I know that I'm a sinner I know that I'm separated from God and deserving of God's penalty
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but I want to be reconciled to God to be cleansed of my sin I want to know God forever and live rightly the same God who says the wages of sin is death also says but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in
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Christ Jesus our lord amen think about this the same God that says that there's a penalty for sin he has made a way Hallelujah to address
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it can't use another quote says the cross is the ultimate evidence that there is no length to the love of God he will not refuse an affecting reconciliation God's love can reconcile
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you with God famous verse Romans 10 verse 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be
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saved for with the heart a person believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in Salvation if you are like onesimus before his salvation today
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your life can be changed Hallelujah if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you can be saved saved from
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what saved into a personal relationship with the god of Heaven and Earth you will have peace with God saved from the penalty of sin in this life and the
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next God has made a way God has made a way so in silent prayer even now from your heart you can confess your belief that Jesus is Lord and that he died for your
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sin and that Jesus was raised from the dead and according to the word of God you will be saved for Love's sake for Love's sake God is listening will you call upon
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him I appeal to you I appeal to you call upon him I invite you call upon him even right now call upon Him Jesus save my
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soul Jesus make me whole Jesus I know you died for me cleanse me from my sin I want to know you and live for
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you that can be you today second a second application a second person here is onesimus after his salvation so if you're a Believer here today you may be like onimus after his
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salvation but note animus after his salvation was estranged from phiman if you're here today as a Believer but you are in a position of estrangement from another believer you are in conflict with
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another believer you can reach out to that other person to seek reconciliation but what's happening in this letter is that there's a mediator there's a
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mediator and it may be that if you're in conflict with another believer and you're not sure how to approach them you need someone like Paul that can bring you together that can help you to be reconciled
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not command it but who can make that appeal and that's the second character in this story of the main characters pray that God will provide someone like Paul another Christian in
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your circle of friends or family who knows you and the other person who is trusted by you both who can demonstrate to the other person how you've changed and seek to reconcile
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you and you can read the letter of phiman to be reminded of all the ways in which Paul seeks to convince phiman third you may be someone right now as a Believer
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who's trying to reconcile to people you may be like Paul and you saw the ways in which he tried to reconcile phiman and onesimus and you can look at this letter and now
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you're not in that place of conflict with the other believer you're Paul trying to connect two Believers and I won't take the time to go through those seven things again but I hope you'll remember them and you can
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always open the word of God and read through and take note what Paul does you may be in that place of Paul to reconcile others and by the way I will mention one or two things one is you may
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need to encourage the offended party that you will vouch for the other person that you may help to pay the debt or to make things right whatever that
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might be you see this type of advocate Y is personal it's substitutionary it makes atonement it's not bringing two people together but you're at arms length
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you're in the midst of it just like Jesus was for you and for me he did not hold us at arms length he came and actually became a man fully God and fully man to reconcile
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God and man think about that through the Incarnation to reconcile God and man God became a man fully God fully man to reconcile the parties you can't get more personally involved than that through
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the Incarnation and lastly the fourth character so there's animus before his salvation there's animus after but estranged from another person there's Paul trying to bring the parties together there but forth there's
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phiman you may be an offended party and you believe you have every right to hold someone who's offended you another believer accountable for what they have done to you you might be that offended party in
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this letter we don't know what phiman did in the end it doesn't you know at the end it doesn't say and phiman forgave onimus but I can tell you based on the the full counsel of God's word what God's expectation is of his people when they
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are intreated or there is an appeal for forgiveness how many times shall you forgive your brother right that's in Matthew 18:21 then Peter
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came up and said to him Lord how many times shall my brother sin against me and I still forgive him up to to seven times Jesus said to him I do not say to you up to seven times but up to 77
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times and we are to forgive the way that God forgave us and so although we don't know what philimon did because it's not in the letter we know what God's expectation is and so if you're in that space like
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phiman of having been offended sinned again Ed by another brother or sister in Christ and there is an appeal for forgiveness the other person has changed they are
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repentant forgive them render Grace render Grace and by the way even in the space of philimon
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sometimes this happens someone offends you and in your mind they're in the wrong and you don't do anything you just sort of say well if they come and you know they apologize I'll forgive them in Matthew 18 there's another
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layered principle here and this is Matthew 18:15 I'll just read it quickly it says now if your brother sins Go and show him his fault in private if he listens to you you have gained your brother f Leman could not know where
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onesimus was but if you're in conflict with someone else and they've offended you you can go to them too it doesn't have to be that they must come to you or there must be a third party you can go to them
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too God was the offended party and yet he provided the means for your salvation imagine if God as the offended party had said well I think I'll wait until they show up and seek forgiveness well no he sent his son to
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die for our sin and so I close with this quote this is by Jerry Bridges God did not wait for a change of heart on our part he made the first move he did all that was necessary to secure
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our reconciliation including changing our hearts even though he's the one who is offended by our sin he is the one who makes amends himself through the death of Christ end quote he took the initiative Paul wrote
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fiman to save onimus life if you're arange from a brother or a sister pursue or bestow forgiveness for Love's sake
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Amen Let me just close this portion in prayer Heavenly Father we thank you so much for your precious word and for the awesome narrative in this letter from Paul to filiman that
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reflects your reconciliation with us and one another Lord I pray that for all of us here and all those observing online that you would help us Lord to live for
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you and to be conduits of your grace in this world in Jesus name amen