Okay. Shalom, everybody. Shalom. We turn to the book of Philemon. And we are going to continue and conclude with this nice letter that was written by Paul to Philemon. Philemon was a man that got saved through the ministry of Paul, accepted the Messiah through the ministry of the apostle Paul. And Philemon is now receiving a letter from Paul, a letter that is very challenging and yet a letter that is very appealing, a very important letter that Paul was writing to him. And you remember what is the background of this letter. The background of this letter is that Philemon was a man that got saved, had been living in the city of Colossae and that as he was living in the city of Colossae, apparently he had been a well-to-do man that had slaves in the Roman Empire, slaves to have, it was not unusual.

There were apparently about 60 million slaves at Rome, in the Roman Empire, I should say, when the church had been founded. There were so many slaves and God graciously have saved not only the free people, but also the bonds, the slaves. And here is this slave by the name of Onesimus, took something from his master Philemon and fled away to Rome, He was seeking to mingle with the people to hide himself, perhaps, and to be liberated from slavery this way. Well, apparently he had been confronted with the apostle Paul, Shaul, his Hebrew name. And Paul shared with him the gospel, just like I am sharing the message of the gospel from time to time.

He shared with him about the love of the Lord Jesus the Messiah, about the fact that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And apparently, this runaway slave have been convicted, and he recognized that he needed forgiveness of sins. And he accepted Yeshua, our Lord and our Messiah, and have made him the Lord of his life. Well, now he had to straighten out matters. He wanted to straighten out matters, and here is the apostle Paul sending Onesimus back to Colossae with a letter in his hand. The letter that is in his hand is a letter that Paul is writing to the man by the name of Philemon in Colossae.

And you notice, it's a very beautiful letter. It's a letter that is really hard to speak to us all, because Paul asked him to write this letter, to read this letter, but not only he himself, Philemon, also his wife, also his son, if this person by the name of Archippus is his son, but also to the whole assembly that was in his house. This man, the local saints, were gathered together in his own house, meeting together, and the apostle Paul wanted them to read that letter. Because this letter is a letter of necessity to learn to forgive those that have wronged us. And it is so important, brothers and sisters, this is something that we are faced with every day of our lives.

People wrong us. Things happen to us that we are not happy about. And the lesson that we learn from this letter is the necessity to forgive others for the wrong that they have done unto us. And so we have actually covered up till verse 16. But I want to read from verse 10 just for the context. And then we are going to finish with this book today by the grace of God. And so the letter is read like this. In verse 10, Paul is saying: Verse 11, "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 my own bounds, whom I would have retained with me, that in your 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. Perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou should receive him forever, not now as a servant, but above a servant, as 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 has wronged thee, or ores thee ought, put it on mine own account. I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand. And I will repay it. All but I do not say to thee how that you owe unto me even thine own self besides. Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord. Refresh my bowels in the Lord. Having confidence in thy obedience, I wrote unto thee, knowing that thou will also do more than I say. But withal, prepare me a lodging, for I trust that through your prayers I shall be given unto you. There, salute thee, Apaphras, my fellow prisoner in the Messiah Yeshua, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, Lucas, my fellow laborers.

The grace of our Lord Jesus the Messiah be with your spirit. Amen. The most beautiful verses in this whole little letter is the verses that we are going to be led into from here on. I think these verses are so precious because it reminds us of where we came from. You know these brothers and sisters, a few years ago, it might be 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, 30 years maybe, maybe 40, maybe 50 years. In your life and in mine. We were unsaved. We were away from the Messiah. We haven't had hope. We haven't had direction in our life. We didn't know what's going to happen in the future.

We didn't have any hope. The only thing we hoped is that I will get gain in this world. I will get a good position in this world. I will be wealthy, perhaps, a rich man and a great man in this world. But we did not have any hope behind, beyond, I should say, this scene. But here came the Lord Jesus, Yeshua. And he reached down to us. He told us, listen, I know you. I know everything about you. I know where you have come from. And I know where you are heading to. I know that you have sinned before me. I know your condition. But I love you.

I love you so much, Jesus the Messiah said, that I was willing to give myself for you. I was willing to come down from heaven to enter into this world of sin and death. And I was willing to lay down my life for you. And you and I have seen that. And we have been drawn to him. It drew us because no one ever loved us like him. No one ever showed us the grace that we did not deserve like him. And by his grace, through the work of the Spirit of God, we have accepted him into our lives. And he became our Savior. He became our Lord and our Master.

And he gave us joy like we have never had before. He gave us peace, shalom in our hearts like we could have never had before. Because we knew on the basis of the Word of God that he forgave all our transgressions. All our sins so great and so many. Jesus the Messiah paid it all. And here when we are reading such a book, such a letter as this, we are reminded of this immediately. Because that is exactly what Paul is doing. Paul is taking him, is taking this man back to the past. And he reminds him of what the Lord Jesus has done for him.

And he reminds him of the necessity to be a forgiving person. Because we, he, this is Philemon, he received the forgiveness of God. And so look at this. You remember when he was writing to Philemon in verses 8 to 16. He besieged him on behalf of Onesimus. He appealed to him on behalf of Onesimus. And so if you remember the last verses that we have read, especially verse 16. He says, look, he says, now you receive him as, not only as a servant, but higher than a servant. Higher than a servant. You receive him as a beloved brother. A brother that, that now he became a redeemed person, this Onesimus.

Onesimus have accepted the Messiah. And now Paul is saying to Philemon, listen, you have, you need to receive him not only as a slave, as a servant, but also as a brother. Now you realize that for a moment. When you, if you would have been here about 2,000 years ago, and you are a rich man. And you have all the wealth that you can have. And you have slaves around you here. And everything that you say to them, every word you say, they'll have to eat, to immediately act upon it. They were slaves. They were merchandise. You could do with them as you please. But now that slave, all of a sudden, embracing Jesus, Yeshua.

This slave that we're working in a barn. This slave that we're working in a kitchen. This slave that we're working in whatever area that you have given him to serve you. This slave that we're doing everything that you told him to do as a slave. And now he became a child of God. Now what do we do? All of a sudden, he became, when it's come to a standing before God, he had the same standing as you. He was a sinner. You were a sinner. He was the one that were doomed to eternal separation from God. You were the one who were doomed to eternal separation from God.

Now you have accepted Yeshua. But he also accepted Yeshua the Messiah. And so what happened? They became brethren. They became what we call in Hebrew, Achim. Brothers and sisters in Yeshua the Messiah. And so he's telling him, listen. He's saying to him, now, don't receive him only as a servant, but as a beloved brother. Now you know, Philemon had to come down from his high horse, if he had. By the way, he was a humble man, according to this letter. He was a godly man. But you know how it is with us. We have this inside pride. There is inside that which we think we are better and superior than other people.

And here he had to come down to learn what the Messiah had done, Yeshua. He came down. Though he was God, he counted not robbery to be equal with God. But he made himself of no reputation. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. The cross we read in Philippians chapter 2. And Philemon were called by the apostle Paul to recognize him as a beloved brother. To accept him and embrace him as a brother that is beloved, loved of God. This Onesimus, who was the slave, who stole something from Philemon, ran away and left him hanging loose without the one who was doing what he was supposed to do.

And Philemon could be very angry with him justly because he was running away from him. He was supposed to do what he was supposed to do in his own home. And yet, now he was supposed to receive him as a beloved brother. And so, we read, especially to me, he said in verse 16. But now how much more unto you, not only in the flesh, but also in the Lord. Not only in the flesh, but also now in the Messiah, in the Lord Jesus the Messiah. And so here, in the last verses now, as we are moving now to verse 17 to the end. Those three verses that are before us, verse 17, 18 and 19, are very precious verses.

I want to suggest that we learn from those verses the truth of imputation. It is something that is often Bible scholars use, Bible scholars use this word, imputation. The word imputation simply means to put something on someone else's account. To pay the price that someone else had to pay. This is what we learn from those next verses. Three things here. Let me read them one verse at a time. First of all, verse 17, Paul is requesting that Onesimus will be accepted as if Paul are being accepted by Philemon. Look what it says here in verse 17. If you count me, therefore, a partner. Receive him, this is Onesimus, as you receive myself.

Now you know what he does here? He teaches us the truth about reckoning him to my merit. In other words, what Paul is saying, when you receive Onesimus, think of it as you're receiving me. Look at this as if you're actually receiving me, the Apostle Paul. Now that is a very important truth that we learn here from that passage. Because do you know, beloved brothers and sisters, you and I today, as believers in the Messiah, in Christ, in Yeshua. When God look at us, do you know what he sees? He doesn't see you on a basis of your flesh or mine, on a basis of our flesh.

But he sees us as he has seen the Messiah, his son. When God receives us, when God the Father receives us, he receives us as if he is actually receiving his dear son, the Messiah. We are seen by God in Christ, in the Messiah. Let me show you a verse. Turn to me to Ephesians chapter 1. I show you this verse, very interesting verse. Ephesians chapter 1. It says here, verse 5 and 6, tell us this. Paul is saying to the Ephesians, and by the way, the Ephesians were dead in trespasses and sins, like you and I by nature. And he's saying to them, having predestined us unto the adoption of the children by Yeshua the Messiah, to himself according to the good pleasure of his will.

And now notice verse 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved. Do you know, dear brothers and sisters, that God made us accepted in the beloved. We became acceptable to him because of that beloved one, the Lord Jesus the Messiah. We could not be accepted on our own merit because we have no merit. The only thing that we can bring to God is our sin nature, our sin and our sin nature. But God made us accepted in that beloved one. You remember when he said, when he opened heaven in Matthew chapter 3 and in Matthew chapter 17.

This is my beloved son in whom I have found all my delight. And so we have been accepted in that beloved son of God. When we have been, when we have been presented to God, God is looking at us through the eyeglasses, if you will, if you will, of his beloved son. He look at us and he sees us as he sees his son. Now, if you will, if we will look at ourself and we will, we will open our hearts before others and we'll expose what we really are. We know what we really are. But God doesn't look at us anymore this way. He looks at us, he looks at us accepted and suited for his presence on the basis of the finished work of his beloved son, Jesus the Messiah.

And that is precious because we always feel like we are short of what we need to be and what we need to do. We always feel that we are just not suitable enough. God said, listen. He says, I know that. I know that about you a long time ago, you're not telling me something new about yourself. I know your heart more than you know. In fact, the psalmist said, search me, O Lord, and know my heart. You know why? Because the psalmist himself does not even know his own heart. But God knows our hearts. And God says, I have accepted you in the beloved. And you know when those people who do not have assurance of eternal security need to read this verse.

Because this verse gives us an assurance that our salvation is solid. Our salvation is sure because Jesus the Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach paid for that price. We are accepted in the beloved. So Paul is saying to Philemon, Philemon, when you are receiving now Onesimus, Philemon verse 17, receive him as you receive me. And you remember he asked him in verse 17, if you count me as a partner. The word in the Greek here for partner is the word for kononia. Kononia simply means to have things in common. That is what kononia in the Greek means. Kononia to have things in common. And you see, Paul and Philemon had one thing in common.

And the common thing that they have had with each other is that both of them were saved on the base of the grace of Yeshua the Messiah. Both of them were part of the body of Messiah. Both of them have been received on the basis of the finished work of Yeshua. And so he said to him, receive him as you receive me. Receive him as you receive me. That is very precious, beloved brothers and sisters, to the heart. It is very encouraging to read such a passage. I am just going to read one more passage. In 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 21, the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians and he said, "He has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." You know what?

When God looks at us, he sees us as righteous. But how we are seen as righteous? We are only being seen as righteous on the basis of the finished work of Yeshua the Messiah. That is what we learn here from this passage. So we learn the word for reckoning to him my merit, Paul is saying. Whatever I am to you, I want you to reckon it unto him. Whatever I am to you, you are receiving me, I want you to receive him as you receive me. And I want to tell you today, if there is anybody here without the Messiah here today, I want to tell you this very simple truth.

If you don't know the Lord, you are not saved, you are not forgiven. But if you come to him, and you honestly say, Lord, I am a sinner. I have nothing to bring to you except my sin nature. I am a fallen creature. You know me when I was born in sin, like David said, in sin did my mother conceive me. And Lord, I want to be forgiven, I want to go to heaven. I am confessing my sins, and I am accepting you as my Lord and Savior. I know that Yeshua died for my sin and sins. And you know what the Lord says? If you honestly have done so, I am accepting you.

I am accepting you and I am forgiving your sins because the price has been paid. Jesus the Messiah died on the cross for you. And that's what we learn from these verses. And we learn this wonderful truth in verse 17. The truth that we immediately now notice in the second verse, it's adding to it. In the next verse, I should say, verse 18. Here we learn the other side of this, of verse 17. The other side of verse 17 is not only reckon to him my merit. This is verse 17. In verse 18 we learn the other side is reckon to me his demerit. In verse 17 reckon to him my merit.

In verse 18 reckon to me all the wrong that he have done. And look what he says in verse 18. If he has wronged you, Philemon, if he have wronged you, or owe you anything, put it on my account. Put it on my account. You know what we learn here? The truth of substitution. You know, let's say you owe somebody $10,000. And you can't pay it. You just don't have enough money to pay this $10,000 that you owe to someone. And can you imagine that you do not know what to do? I owe such a great sum of money, and I am not able to pay this money. Well, there are penalties that involve in a situation like that.

And if you can't pay it, there will be penalties. And here comes somebody out of the blue, somewhere from far away. And he says, you know what? This person owed this person so much. I am going to pay it. Put it into my account. I am going to pay it. I am going to pay the price that he owed you. This is amazing. That is exactly what Paul is saying to Philemon about Onesimus. If Philemon, if Onesimus, verse 18, did something wrong to you, and if he owe you anything, Philemon, put it on my account. I am going to pay it. I am going to pay it.

Brothers and sisters, again, I want to dwell on it a little bit. Do you know how much debt we owed to God? If you ever just sit in your own home quietly and think how many wrong things we have done in our lives. Just sit quietly. You don't have to tell anybody about that. Just between you and your Lord. And just think about the wrong things that you and I have done to God. We were his creation. We were created for his pleasure. What we did in our lives to hurt the heart of God. We can never measure the amount of wrong that we have done.

The amount of wrong that we have done to other people also. Whether they know it or whether they don't know it. And so how can we pay it? How can we pay this great wrong that we have done? Thank God that he didn't wait for us to try to pay it. Because we would never make it. We would never make it. We would never make it. And so here we find out the truth of substitution. That someone, someone became our substitute. Someone paid the price that we could never pay. We could never pay. We could never pay. Let me show you this. In the prophet Isaiah.

Turn to Isaiah for a moment. Isaiah chapter 53. And we know that verse. This is one of the most precious verses. I should say even chapters. Chapters in the Bible. The precious chapters that deal with the Messiah of Israel. The Redeemer who would come to this world. And we'd become a substitute. We'd become the one that would take or pay the debt that we could never pay. Isaiah 53. And I'm reading the verses. The famous verses from verses 4 to 8. Isaiah 53. Surely he has borne our grief. And he carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken. Smitten of God. And afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions.

He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed. And he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep before a shearer is done. So he opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment. And who shall declare his generation? For he was cut off out of the land of the living.

For the transgression of my people was he stricken. You know, Isaiah is speaking about the substitute. The one that was going to come to take upon himself the sin and sins of the nation of Israel. That's why he said for the transgression of my people, Isaiah's people, the Jewish people, the people of Israel was he. He came to bear the sin of the nation, but also the sin of the nations of the world. And he became a substitute. As he says, he bore our grief. He carried our sorrows. He says he was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for peace was upon him.

And with his stripe, it's a single stripe, the cross, we are spiritually healed. He's speaking about the substitute here. He's speaking about the one who said to God, put it into my account. All the wrong, all their sins, all their iniquities, put it on my account. I will pay for that. That's what he was saying, beloved brothers and sisters, here, when the apostle Paul is writing to Philemon, he says to Philemon, Philemon, if he have wronged you, if he have done something against you, if he have done anything to you and against you, if he owe you anything, Philemon put it on my account. I'm going to pay.

I'm going to pay this to you. I'm going to make sure to make things right. Now you see, Philemon, when he received that letter, must have been moved to see how the apostle Paul is appealing to him and how he actually depicting the work that the Lord Jesus, the Messiah have done. He reminds him of the price that Yeshua, our Lord, our Messiah, has paid in order to give redemption, to make things right with God. Now here it is for us today also, brothers and sisters. Think with me, when somebody wronged us, when somebody has done something to hurt us, how are we reacting to this?

But there's many ways to react. And I know the natural way to react is simply to resist that person, and not to forgive that person, to perhaps remember what he or she have done to us, and to seek to push them out of our lives, and not to forget what has been done to us, and to keep it in memory. And for some reason, and for some reason, to hoard it, and for days, and weeks, and months, and years, things are just the same. We do not want to make a break, or I should say make relationship right. What has happened, we keep it, and we seem to hoard it, and lose out the joy of being like the Messiah, like the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

Paul wants us to be different. The Lord Jesus, the Messiah, wants us to be different. I know it is easy to say it from the pulpit, from here. I know it is easy. It is easy. We all experience those things, and we all seem to have a hard time in forgiving others. But that is what we are taught in the Bible from our blessed Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. To have a spirit of forgiveness is not only releasing somebody else, and giving them freedom to continue on. But it is also releasing our own soul, and having peace in our heart. And not holding it, and going to sleep with it, going to work with it, dealing in our own home with our wives and our children with that.

And harboring and talking to others about that. And it ends up to become this little ant, to become a monster. And it becomes big, and great, and greater, and greater. And we lose out. And we lose out in our own fellowship. And there is no joy, there is no peace, there is no harmony. And one thing for sure, it is not like the Lord Jesus the Messiah. We are exhorted in the Scripture so many times to forgive our brothers and our sisters. To forgive those that have wronged us, like the Lord Jesus have forgiven you and me. If you and I will stand before the Lord today, and we will be standing with an open heart before him.

And he sees and he knows everything about us. Can you imagine if you will have to tell us, "For this I am not going to forgive you." Or "For this I am not going to forgive you." And I will have to be, you and I will have to be cast out. We will have to be taken away from his presence because he cannot look upon sin. And we will lose out in a way, from the way that he has for you and I. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, here the Apostle Paul is appealing to Philemon. Not only to receive Onesimus as he received himself in verse 17.

But all the wrong that he has done. All that which he owed Philemon. He says, "You put this on my account." This is the truth of substitution. I'll read you one more verse that is found in 1st Peter chapter 3 and verse 18. That I think needed to be read also here in context. 1st Peter 3:18. The verse is read like this. "For Messiah has once suffered for sins." That's number one. "The just for the unjust." That's number two. "To bring us to God." That's number three. Notice this, the way it's read. "For the Messiah also once suffered for sins." This is the truth of propitiation. "Then the just for the unjust." This is substitution.

"That he might bring us to God." This is reconciliation. Three difficult words. I know I, as a Hebrew individual, had a hard time when I was listening to those brethren who teach me. Those brethren who teach those truths in the scripture. But the word propitiation is that God was satisfied through the death of the Messiah. Messiah once suffered for sins in order to satisfy a holy God. That's propitiation. The just for the unjust. He was the just one and we are the unjust one. This is the truth of substitution. Substitution. And then to bring us to God. That is the truth of reconciliation. Bring us who were far from him to turn ourselves back and to bring us back to God.

To bring us to God. We've come to him by faith in our Lord Jesus the Messiah. So this, this is the verse that really goes very well from verse 18. "If he had wronged you, or if he owed you anything, put this on my account." And so now I'm moving on into verse 19. And in verse 19, Paul was willing to pay for Onesimus' wrong. He says in verse 19, "I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand. I will repay it. Don't worry. I will repay the debt that Onesimus have done to you, Philemon. I'm going to repay it. I'm going to repay it." And in other words, Paul is saying to Philemon, "Listen, listen, accept this brother.

If wronged you, accept him. I'm going to pay you. I'm going to give you back or to do something for you on his behalf. Just accept him as you are accepting me. Put it into my account. I'm going to pay back the price or whatever you want to do to Onesimus." So he was actually dealing with his heart and his conscience. He's really appealing to him. Now, of course, he know very well that what can he pay for Onesimus' wrong. Paul, by the way, was in jail. He was in Rome. He was in jail. He could not leave Rome anyway, but he's hoping. He is anticipating to leave Rome and to come and to see Philemon.

So he couldn't pay. He had nothing, by the way. He had nothing. He was jailed. He was held by a prisoner. He was a prisoner. He was actually, they allowed him to, if you read the Acts chapter 28, he was allowed to live in his own hired house. But he always was in chain to a soldier. He was a bond man. He was a, he was a, he was a, he was a in jail, but he was a bond slave for Yeshua, the Messiah. There was nothing wrong that he have done. But he was there in jail on behalf of his love for the Lord and love for the people of God.

And so he said to him, I've written it with my own hand. By the way, when he said I've written it with my own hand, apparently some suggest that one of the problems that Shaul had, that Paul had, he had a problem with his eyesight. And that's why some time somebody had to write for him the letters. But Paul in this case said to Philemon, I really wrote it myself. I wrote it myself. And I wrote it with my very own hand. His own hand is a very personal letter to you Philemon. I'm going to repay you. I'm going to pay the debt that Onesimus owe to you.

And then he says, and he remind him in verse 19. He said to him, "Albet," he said, "I do not say to you that you owe unto me even your own self besides." Apparently Philemon really owed the Apostle Paul a great debt. It could be that it is directly or indirectly through the Apostle Paul that Philemon became a child of God. And you notice that when a person was channeled or we use as a channel to share the message and others got saved. In a sense, now it's not that he owed him anything. It's the Lord's work. It's the Spirit of God who works. It's the Spirit of God who works.

But the Lord uses vessels. The Lord uses vessels to share the word. And others, in a sense, look back and they remember. You know, I remember when brother so-and-so, sister so-and-so shared with me the Gospel. And I got saved. And once I was heading to eternal separation from God. Now I'm headed to eternal relationship, to eternal salvation with the Lord Jesus the Messiah. And so he owed him a great debt. He owed him a great debt. I heard the other day that Billy Graham, when Billy Graham got saved, it was that he got saved through a simple individual who had a desire to tell him when he was young about Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah.

And he only went to, I think, a store or wherever, a school, a class, wherever he was. And he went there and he told him about Jesus. He told him about the Savior. And he got gloriously saved. And when you think about the ministry of that brother, over the years and the generation, thousands upon thousands of people have heard the Gospel. Many have heard the word of God and the preaching through the radio, through the great, the big crusade. And many, many heard about the message. And many were led to accept the Lord Jesus the Messiah. God used this man as a channel. He is not perfect.

Paul is not perfect. You and I are not perfect. We are always a failing people, it seems to be. We always fail in one way or another. But the Lord uses us to share the word and to be a vessel to lead others to the Lord. And there is a responsibility. There is a sense of thankfulness that comes from our hearts for these brothers and sisters that have labored to share with us and labored to work with us and lead us to the Lord. Well, let's go into the conclusion of this letter. The conclusion in verse 20. Paul wanted Philemon to refresh his bowels. You notice he says, "Yeah, brother." He called him brother.

He says, "Brother, let me have joy from you in the Lord. Refresh my bowels in the Lord." He wanted Philemon now to refresh him. What does that mean to refresh? To give an encouragement to this older brother. To give something that he can be rejoicing with. You know, we need that as well. You know, a man like Paul needed encouragement also. Even though he was encouraging everybody, sharing the word with everybody. And he also need to be refreshed. Philemon was refreshing all the brothers and sisters that we read in verse 7. He was already giving refreshment to others. But Paul said, "I want you now to refresh me as well.

I need to be encouraged also." You want to give me joy? I want to see you behaving like Yeshua the Messiah. You want to give me joy? I want you to forgive Onesimus for the wrong that he has done to you. Refresh me as well. Brothers and sisters, this is something that we need to do all the time. To seek to refresh our brothers and sisters. To give them a word of encouragement. To show a behavior that is suitable to the Lord Jesus the Messiah. That is really refreshing. When we behave other ways. Lack of forgiveness. Lack of care. Lack of sensitivity. That is not refreshing.

It's only putting upon one an additional load of heaviness. A cloud that is coming upon us. But when we see believers behaving in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. That is really refreshing. This gives us joy in our own hearts. And so Paul is saying. Refresh my bowels. The word here for bowels is the inner beings. Are my heart. My bowels. My inner being. Refresh me. When you behave in such a way. Refresh me in the Lord. In verse 21. In verse 21. Paul said to him. Having confidence. In thy obedience. I wrote unto you. Knowing that you will also do more. Than I say.

Paul is saying. I know that you are going to do that. But you are not going to do only this. You are going to do far more than just that. You are not only going to forgive Onesimus. You are not only going to receive Onesimus. As a beloved brother. You are not only going to allow him to be accepted. Recognize that he is a child of God. A brother beloved. Just like you. And I know that you are going to do far more than just that. You are going to do far more than what I have asked from you. Philemon. Now I want you to see.

That Paul does not justify Onesimus wrong here. He doesn't say Onesimus was right in what he did. No. The very fact that he sends him back. To confess before Philemon the wrong that he had done. Only prove that Paul does not justify Onesimus. But when wrong being righted and corrected. We need to learn to accept it. And to forgive this individual for the wrong that he had done. And so here. This is the climax here. This is the climax of the whole letter here. Verses 17, 18, 19, 20, and 21 of this letter. And the conclusion of this letter to Philemon. Is verses 22 to 25. And here at the salutation and the conclusion.

Paul was anticipating to come to Colossae. He says in verse 22. But with all. Prepare me also lodging. For I trust. That through your prayers. I shall be given unto you. Pray for me. Just like I'm praying for you Philemon. Get ready for me a place to lodge. Because I'm anticipating. I hope and I desire. To come to your home. To come to be with you. So get things ready. I trust that through your prayers. Meaning that he's a challenge Philemon. To pray for him as well. Through your prayers. I'm going to be given unto you. I will be loosened from jail. And I'll be able to come to visit you Philemon.

See Paul anticipated this. At least he desired. That he didn't know if it was going to happen. But he says you pray for me. And in the will of the Lord. Lord I'm going to be restored. And brought to you. Through your prayers. He prayed for Philemon. And he asked Philemon to pray for him. In our classes the last Friday. We have been talking about the importance of praying. For the people of God. If we will pray. For each other more. How much difference that will make. In the life of our fellowship. It had been said. And I repeated. What we cannot tell our brothers and sisters about God.

We can tell God about our brothers and sisters. That's a good formula. What we cannot share with our brethren. Because things are not always the way they should be. We can share with God. And we can tell him. And God will listen. And he will help us. And he will deal with issues that existing. Among the people of God. And he will lead us to forgive. And to forgive again. And to forgive again. And to forgive again. Just like the Lord Jesus forgave our sins. He forgave us all our transgression. And he set us right with God. Through the blood that he shed for us.

And so he is concluding. Verse 23, 24, 25. There salute thee Apaphras. My fellow worker in the Messiah Yeshua. Marcos. Aristarchus. Demas. Lucas. My fellow laborers. Notice he mentioned some names here. He gave us Apaphras. He gave us Marcos. Aristarchus. By the way, Aristarchus is also mentioned in Colossians chapter 4. He is mentioned there as well in that chapter. Meaning that you can see that he is connected with the assembly that is found in Colossae. And then Demas. And then Lucas. My fellow laborers. Notice that. They are fellow prisoner. Apaphras. And fellow laborers. They were laboring together in the work of the gospel. It is a teamwork. It is not one man show.

It is a teamwork. Always Paul brought in others into the ministry. It was a working together. It was a teamwork. It is wonderful to see how he always thought of bringing others into the picture. Those are fellow prisoners. Those are fellow workers. Those are fellow laborers with him. And the final verse of this book is the chesed. The grace of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. Be with your spirit. Amen. And for this to happen. For this to happen. That is the forgiving spirit that he expected from Philemon to him. It only can happen. Through the chesed. Through the grace that God give to us. We cannot do it on our own.

It is as the grace of God provided for us. That it is enabling us to act in this way. And so dear brothers and sisters. Just to conclude. To sum this up. If you and I will remember again and again. What Yeshua have done for us. The fact that he came from heaven to give his life for us. The more we remember that price that he paid for us. The more it will enable us. To forgive our brothers and sisters. The wrong that they have done to us. And if we will succeed to do that. It will help us spiritually. It will strengthen us. It will make us a victorious believers.

We will be able to move on with peace. With shalom. With grace. With chesed. With the strength. That comes from an attitude such as this. May the Lord help us. To be in some small measure. Like Yeshua our Messiah. Can you say amen to that? Amen. Close your Bibles please. And let's pray. Father we thank you. Thank you so much that we have grace available for us. Thank you for Yeshua. Who came from heaven to forgive our sins. Father the debt that we owed him. We could have never paid. And so we are thankful for the substitution. The just. He Yeshua. The unjust us. In order to bring us to thee.

We are grateful for this today. We pray that. That we all will learn. And will seek to be a forgiving people. People that will forgive others. And set them free. And so we are grateful for the ministry meeting today. Commit ourselves to thee. And ask it all. In Yeshua's name. Amen. Amen. Let's stand.