A WAYWARD SAINT COMES HOME BY PAUL'S MESSAGE OF LOVE wayward s… · 2015 A Wayward Saint Comes Home By Paul’s Message Of Love 5 Christ, and toward all saints.” Here he is saying,

A WAYWARD SAINT

COMES HOME BY

PAUL’S MESSAGE OF LOVE

Bringing Life to the Book of Philemon

Thought for the book taken from the

Message delivered on March 8, 2015

Dawsonville, Georgia U.S.A.

©2015 by Ben Howard

All rights reserved. This book cannot be sold,

nor in any way be used for the soliciting of funds.

All scripture quotations are taken from

the King James Version Bible

Published by the Sound Of Liberty

7286 Hwy 53W, Dawsonville, Georgia 30534 U.S.A.

www.SoundofLiberty.org

[email protected]

A WAYWARD SAINT

COMES HOME BY

PAUL’S MESSAGE OF LOVE

Bringing Life to the Book of Philemon

I’m going to minister today from the Book of Philemon, which

is a very little book, a letter from Paul with only one chapter.

I’ve been preaching for over fifty years and I don’t recall ever

taking this one particular chapter and speaking on it. But I just

felt led of the Lord to read and speak on it today. At this point I

don’t know how the message will go. But I’m not scared of being

a failure. Being a failure is a given for humanity, and from time

to time we all do fail. But the problem for many is that when

they fail in certain things, they let it affect them for too long; not

realizing that being a failure is part of being successful. So when

we fail, we just put it behind us and go on serving God. And

sometimes the enemy will try to get us to feel like a failure, when

in fact we are not a failure. And our consolation is in the

scripture that says, “And we know that all things work together for

good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his

purpose.” (Romans 8:28) So our mentality is this: Our failures

contribute to our success. We have a sermon entitled, God’s

Success in All His Failures. (This message is included as a chapter

within the book called, Now That Which is to Be Done Will Now be

Done.) It shows us that if we look back, starting even before the

Book of Genesis, it looked as though God had failures. But it all

ends up successful in the eternal age. Before I begin reading, let

us pray.

2015 A Wayward Saint Comes Home By Paul’s Message Of Love 2

Heavenly Father, in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we

come to you praising and thanking you for your love, goodness, and

mercy upon us. Lord, we pray that you will continue to move for us,

as you have already blessed us this morning. We know that your Word

is what gives us lasting life; that’s where the life is. So I pray that you

will bless and anoint me that I may speak words that will benefit the

people for your glory. Amen.

Now the title of my message is, A Wayward Saint Comes Home

by Paul’s (letter) Message of Love. We are going to be reading in

the Book of Philemon about a wayward saint coming home. In

this letter, Paul is being a mediator between a runaway slave and

his owner. This slave’s name was Onesimus. He was converted

to the way of God and he was wanting to go back to his owner,

Philemon. In the letter, Paul was instructing Philemon as to how

he should treat Onesimus, as well as what Onesimus should do.

Let’s start with Verse One. It says, “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus

Christ (He was a prisoner of Christ in two ways: He obeyed

Him, loved Him, and he lived just to serve Him; and he was also

a prisoner in Rome for preaching the gospel.), and Timothy our

brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer,” Now

to Philemon, Paul is sending a message of love, mostly

concerning Onesimus, whose name means profitable. When

Onesimus left Philemon he went to Rome; and while there, he

met Paul who was in prison. We read in the last chapter of the

Book of Acts these facts concerning Paul’s imprisonment. I’m

telling you this so that you can make the connection here of how

Onesimus came to know Paul. While in prison Paul had his own

hired (rented) house in Rome for two years. There were those

that wanted to hear what he had to say, and no man was

forbidden. And that’s a miracle of God in and of itself that Rome

would permit such liberty. He was under house arrest for part

of his time in Rome while waiting to go before Caesar. They

probably had a soldier or two there guarding him; but for the

most part, Paul had freedom as long as he stayed within his


approved perimeter. He rented a house by special permission

and people came in to hear what he had to say—some believed

and some went away doubting.

Evidently amongst those that came to hear Paul was a man

named Onesimus. After hearing Paul speak, he became a

believer as he saw the truth of the gospel and was converted.

But he knew that he had a problem that he needed to take care

of. He was a slave who had run away from his master and who

had been accused of theft. Apparently, his master (Brother

Philemon) had been converted under Paul at an earlier time, and

evidently he was a man of some wealth by the fact that he had

slaves (servants) in his household. Onesimus was one of

Philemon’s servants. He had run away from Philemon but he

now wanted to go back; but he was afraid to go it alone, because

a runaway was usually punished, especially if they had been

bought. We saw that in some of the Southern States here in

America concerning the African race when many were brought

over from Africa and sold as slaves. If they ran away they were

in big trouble. Onesimus was such a man; but he found Paul.

And upon finding that Paul knew Philemon, he sought his help

in intervening for him. He was now a wayward saint, but Paul

wrote a love letter, a message of love, to Philemon; and he used

the wisdom of Christ to help his new friend Onesimus. As we

read this letter, we can certainly see the wisdom of Christ

coming out in the personality of Paul. And by the way he wrote,

it’s obvious that he knew Philemon quite well; and now he knew

Onesimus well and was willing to mediate between them.

That’s what we see here in the Book of Philemon. To me, this is

a beautiful lesson on the love of Jesus Christ.

So having said that, let’s go on to Verse 2; Paul says, “And to

our beloved Apphia, and Archippus our fellowsoldier (here Paul is

naming other saints in the church), and to the church in thy house.”

That’s where they had their meetings. They didn’t have big

Cathedral’s with steeples reaching to the sky. They usually had


meetings in a home or the great outdoors. Many times the

groups were small. They were not some crowded organized

system that was called the church. Well, this man Philemon had

meetings in his house, where a few of the believers would come

together and study the Word and read Paul’s letters. So Paul is

saying, ‘the church that is in thy house.’ Verse 3, “Grace to you,

and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” This

scripture shows that Paul was neither extreme Oneness when it

came to the Godhead, nor was he a Trinitarian. But he knew that

God was a Spirit, and that there was only one person (the word

person denotes a physical body) in the Godhead which is the

Lord Jesus Christ. He said, “There is no other name given under

heaven whereby you must be saved, except the Lord Jesus

Christ.”

I like the way he started his letter, ‘the church that is in thine

house,’ and then, ‘grace and peace.’ This letter shows us the way

he looked at what the church was. Paul is letting us know that

in this day what we see out here in the world is definitely not

what he called the church; this is made so clear to us. It takes

God’s grace upon us in order for us to see this, and He has given

us His peace. Verse 4, “I thank my God, making mention of thee

always in my prayers.” Now here Paul was trying to present the

letter in a way that would address this man properly and maybe

touch that soft spot in his heart; because his slave had gotten

converted and Paul wanted to help him return, and he wanted

Philemon to treat him right and not punish him, for he could see

how profitable and good Onesimus was. So Paul used all his

skill and wisdom to convince Philemon of the value of this

wayward man as a brother in Christ.

So in reading this letter we could get the idea that what Paul

was doing is what we sometimes call, “buttering him up a little

bit.” In other words, he spoke real good to him. He says, “Every

time I pray, I make mention of you; I pray for you.” Verse 5,

“Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast towards the Lord Jesus


Christ, and toward all saints.” Here he is saying, “Your reputation

goes before you. You have a good reputation, you love the Lord,

and you love the saints. I’ve heard of your love and your faith.”

Verse 6, “For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because

the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.” He is saying,

“There are many good things in you.” But as we know, we have

no goodness of ourselves, only in Christ Jesus. We can all, in

different ways, look at ourselves as an Onesimus as he was

before he came to Christ. But what a change was wrought in

him through Christ! Even so now let’s be an Onesimus in the

likeness of the new Onesimus in Chirst.

Now Paul is going to make a request of Philemon. We might

ask, “Paul, why go through all of this uplifting first?” Because

when he made the request, he didn’t want Philemon to turn him

down. Paul was making a way for a wayward saint to come

home on his letter of love. That is what this letter is all about.

And one thing that really caught my attention was that Paul was

willing to go all out for Onesimus. Notice, this whole thing was

for only one person, but that didn’t stop Paul from doing this

job.

I think of some of the meetings that we had when I was in the

Philippines. Some of them were big meetings where hundreds

upon hundreds of people came (some of the photos can be

viewed on our website). But when I left the big meetings and

went out to small gatherings in little villages, some criticized me

for that. I had previously gotten letters from some of those on

other islands that were wanting me to come. They wrote to me

saying, “We want you to come to us, but we don’t want you to

be disappointed, because there is only a handful of us in this

village. But please come to us.” So I went to some of the other

Islands; even walking far distances to get to them. Paul did

similar things; he wrote this letter for one person, and God even

allowed it to be put in the Bible. I tell you, Jesus Christ died for

one person, and that one person was you—just one person! And


if you were the only person on earth, He would have done the

same. He didn’t have to have many people. He died for you

and for you and for you. But to you it has to be personal—“The

Lord took my place at Calvary and He took the curse off me.

And He did it just for me.” Some people will say, “There are so

many people in the world better than I am, why would He

choose to die for me? There are many who know a lot more,

who are more sociable, and who are better fit to be a witness;

why did He choose me when there was all these people that

know how to talk good, educated people that know how to get

through the world? Why would He choose someone that

doesn’t know these things?” By doing it this way, He gets all the

glory. Give all the glory to Jesus, and tell of His love, His

wonderful love.

We see a good portion of this love in Paul. He sees this

situation here, and he is going all out just for this one person.

That is the way it is with us, we are going all out for this gospel.

And that’s the way it was with Philip in the Book of Acts,

Chapter 8. The Holy Spirit spoke to Philip and told him to go by

the way of Gaza, which is desert. So Philip left Jerusalem and

headed off into the desert and came upon a man. He was a man

of Ethiopia, a eunuch. He wasn’t part of the Jewish society and

he didn’t know the Savior had come. The man invited Philip to

sit with him; and Philip accepted. He was reading in Isaiah,

Chapter 53. I love that chapter! It tells about the Lord Jesus, the

lamb who was slain for our sin and diseases, and how He was

led as a sheep to the slaughter and He opened not His mouth.

That’s what this eunuch was reading about. As Philip came up

to the chariot to sit with him, he asked him, “Can you help me?

Please tell me who this prophet is writing about. Is he writing

about himself or someone else?” Philip took that one scripture

and began preaching Christ to him. The man gave his heart to

God and Philip baptized him. That is when the Spirit picked

Philip up and he was found over in another city preaching the


gospel. All of this for one man—because one man was

interested. That is the way God does things many times—

unconventional. He deals with individuals. He doesn’t have to

have a big group, just one person. There are churches where the

preachers will say, “I would love to have you come, but we have

only a handful.” It doesn’t make a bit of difference. How about

one? How about a whole book here dedicated to one person?

That’s what we are reading here. Paul was wanting to help fix

things between Onesimus and Philemon as they both were

Christians now. And Paul went all out to get it done.

Verse 7, “We have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the

bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother.” Paul was pouring

it on heavily (as the saying goes), because he wanted to get all

the rough edges off first, before he asked Philemon his request.

Now Paul is saying all this, yet he still hasn’t given one slight

hint of what he was wanting Philemon to do. See, that is going

to come later. Paul loved his new found brother, Onesimus, and

his friend Philemon, so much. But Onesimus was wayward in

the things of his stewardship to Philemon. But things had

changed; they were both Christians now and both were in the

Kingdom of God. Here Paul is calling on Philemon to do

something that could be difficult. Sometimes things get this

way, even in the body of Christ when we let our minds have free

reign. Sometimes we have to make adjustments in our way of

thinking by letting the mind of Christ think through us; and in

doing so we have to bring our minds in captivity to the law

(love) of Christ.

I preached a message in Glen Daniel, West Virginia, some

months back entitled, How to Adjust with the Thinking of the Mind

of Christ, showing that we have to cast down imaginations,

because to be carnal minded is death, and that is our own

thinking. Sometimes we may still think with our own mind,

even if we are part of the wife of the Lamb, because we are not

translated yet. This is what the Word means in Ephesians 4:13-


16 where we are inside the body of Christ, yet we are told to

grow up into Him, and that to be spiritually minded is life and

peace. That is what we are yielding ourselves to in Christ; His

very own mind. We want to just leave our mind out and just

take His. We do it by hearing this message, studying the Word,

and living by revelation. We do it by our dedication to Him.

And that is how we grow inside the body of Christ. That is what

we had in the message last week, We Reach Our Fullness in Christ.

That is a process, we grow in grace and in the knowledge of the

Lord. We grow up into Him. We reach our fullness. That is

what it is all about.

So here are these two brothers, Philemon and Onesimus.

Verses 8-9 says, “Wherefore, though I might be much bold in Christ

(He is saying, “Now what I am going to say is going to sound a

bit bold on my part.”) to enjoin thee that which is convenient. Yet

for love’s sake,” He is saying, “I know this is going to sound like

I’m meddling into your business, but this is something that is

important. This may sound a little forward, a little bold, but

listen to what I have to say.” (See, this was Christ in Paul.) Paul

said, “We stand in Christ’s stead.” When we see Paul, we see

the expression of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul wasn’t the Lord

Jesus Christ, but we see the expression of Christ in him. And

that’s what we see when we look at the wife of the Lamb today.

The Word says, “We reach the fullness of the stature of the man

Christ Jesus.” Paul goes on to say, “Yet for love’s sake, I rather

beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged.” He’s saying, “I’m

getting old. I’ve been here a long time and I have climbed a lot

of mountains and crossed a lot of streams.” He didn’t spare

anything. Then he said, “I want to make a request of you.” Now

watch as we go. “being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also

a prisoner of Jesus Christ.” “I’m not only old, but I’m a prisoner

for Christ’s sake. So please consider what I’m saying on behalf

of Onesimus, our beloved brother in Christ.”


Remember in the message entitled, A Message to Facilitate the

Furtherance of our Joy and Faith, that many waxed bold seeing

Paul’s condition and how he was brutally treated and put into

prison. As Paul continued to encourage them, telling them, “Just

keep pushing on,” some that were lax and half-hearted

Christians became much bolder (Philippians, Chapter One).

They stepped up to the plate after they were inspired by Paul’s

example of his love for Christ and the Word for the saints. I

jokingly told someone the other day, “If I do something half-

heartily I have a good excuse, because part of my heart is

damaged from a severe heart attack.” But seriously, I go without

regards to my condition. People say, “You can’t do this,” and

“You have to be careful.” Well, maybe so; but I am here today

and I want to lend my voice to what God is doing, without fear

and without favor. And I am going to do it with all the wisdom

that God gives me. I am not going to come in here and say,

“Every one of you are going to hell. And you are this and you

are that. I’m ashamed of you and the way you do. You need to

straighten up your life.” That was not Paul’s message; he had a

message of love. Now the message of love didn’t mean that he

let things go; because he was bold enough to speak when he saw

something that really needed to be dealt with. But he dealt with

it in a way where you could actually see Jesus Christ in the way

he did things.

Now here is a brother that Paul knew, and he also knew that

this situation shouldn’t be the way that it was. His thinking was,

“Both of these brothers love what I preach. They both love the

Lord, but Onesimus left and he is reluctant to go back, fearing

what Philemon may do to him.” So Paul stepped in to bring

them together. A Wayward Saint Comes Home by Paul’s Message

of Love. Paul brought a message that they could walk in. And

it’s the same today, as we have a message that we can walk in,

bringing us to the place where we are changed in a moment, in

the twinkling of an eye. Jesus said, “Walk in the light.” And


Paul said, “You are saints of light, and you have been translated

out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light.”

And as we have walked in the light, God has brought us into a

message that fits perfectly on Paul’s foundation; fitting

seamlessly together. It’s called the last trump of God. It brings

us all home. It brings our hearts and minds together as we are

baptized into the body of Christ. So now it’s clear to see that

more and more we are letting Christ think through us, as we

yield ourselves to Him. And in Him we have found our home,

the place we belong, where we are treated with love and respect.

Recently, I saw a movie about a little girl named Julia that had

no home of her own. She was put into one foster home after

another, until finally she was put into a home where they loved

her and treated her as their own. After being in this home for a

few months she began to feel like she belonged. She was a

troubled little girl after she had been in so many homes that

really didn’t want her. And the sad thing about it was, she knew

it. Different people kept her, because the government paid them

to do it. She was lonely and didn’t have any friends. But she

was given a little rabbit that she loved; it was her only friend.

Finally she was placed in a home where there was love; and here

she gained a brother that tried to be her friend. But by this time

in life she had become very troubled and would not give herself

over to be a friend to the family. Luckily, the family was very

patient with her (and her little rabbit). They just kept on loving

her until she began to feel that she had finally found where she

belonged. But then she overheard the husband and wife talking,

saying they were going to have a new baby; just when they were

getting ready to adopt her. They were saying they had to go into

town and make certain arrangements concerning Julia. And

because of a previous situation that she had come through

where she was taken back to the authorities and left, she had it

in her mind that she would now be taken out of this home. So

she got up that night and with her little rabbit she slipped out of


the house into the woods and disappeared. The next morning

upon finding that she was missing from her bed, the family

called all the neighbors and began to search the woods until she

was found, cold and scared. As they brought her back home,

they told her how much they loved her and that they wanted her

to be their daughter and to be a full member of the family. And

when this happened, she became so happy and hugged them all

and asked, “Can my rabbit stay with me?” They said, “Of

course, your rabbit can stay.” Then she asked, “Is this where I

belong?” And everyone said, “Yes, yes, this is where you

belong!” I tell you, “You may have been cast into foster homes

here and there—from this church to that church, until Christ

found you in the denominational wilderness, cold and scared;

but this is where you belong—in this message, inside the body

of Christ. That’s where we fit. That’s why we kept moving until

we met Him in this trumpet message. As we journeyed, it was

acceptable to God that we settled down for a while in some of

these places, as the light was on that portion of the Word, even

though they weren’t our permanent home and we couldn’t

claim them as our home. But now the light of the Word has led

us to our portion of the Word—possession of the little book of

Revelation, Chapter 10, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh.

Here Paul is saying, “I’m aged now, and I’m a prisoner of Jesus

Christ, and I have a request.” Verse 10, “I beseech thee for my son

Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds,” Watch now. You

talk about a mediator. Jesus Christ is the mediator between us

and God. But sometimes we need a mediator between each

other; meaning that we, in our service to the wife, facilitate by

assisting or edifying other members to grow in grace and faith

and to be of good courage in God’s work. So here is Onesimus.

He had met Paul in Rome where he was teaching everyone that

came. And when Paul heard his story and had this information

about him being a servant of Philemon, he said, “I know this

man Philemon.” Paul might have even seen Onesimus before at


the home of Philemon, because before he was in prison he would

stay in the homes of the saints as he traveled from place to place.

And we know for a fact that he said, “The church in thy house;”

even naming some of the brethren in that fellowship. Evidently

Paul had been there and preached. So it was very possible that

Onesimus might have even heard him speak. He was once a

runaway slave but he came home on Paul’s message of love. So

I say to any wayward one today, “Come home on this message

of love!”

Verse 10 again, “I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have

begotten in my bonds.” Paul is showing us here how much he

loved this man; he knew by revelation that he belonged to

Christ. When we look at Acts, Chapter 28, as I previously

mentioned, many came to Paul in his hired house; even some of

the Jews came. And after Paul told them about Jesus coming,

some of them went away with great reasoning. Some believed,

and some believed not what he said. But Paul kept right on

testifying. That’s how Onesimus got involved; for this is the

place that he met the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s when he told Paul,

“I’m a runaway slave. I know I need to go back and make things

right.” And he may have taken some things when he ran away.

But Paul set in motion a plan to help him; starting by writing a

letter. He threw himself right in the fight and got the job done.

It became his mission at this particular time to bring these two

brothers together, because they both loved the Lord. But

Onesimus might have been embarrassed or he might have been

afraid that he would be thrown into prison; for some reason he

didn’t want to return. And Paul said, “I will write a letter on

your behalf.” So Onesimus went home on this letter of love.

Verses 11-12, “Which in time past was to thee unprofitable but now

profitable to thee and to me: Whom I have sent again: thou therefore

receive him, that is, mine own bowels.” In other words, receive

him—he’s part of me. Now watch. Seldom would anyone

throw themselves out on the line for anyone. But Paul could see


Christ in Onesimus; that’s why he wrote this letter to Philemon.

Paul put himself out there saying, “To receive him is to receive

me.” Verse 13, “Whom I would have retained with me (I’ve kept

him here with me, and he is very profitable.), that in thy stead he

might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel.” He was

saying, “Philemon, I know you would like to do this for me. I

know you would like to help me every way you can, so I’ve

retained your servant, knowing that you couldn’t be here; and

he has been ministering unto me in your stead.” Paul was

writing a letter that was going to be hard to lay aside and ignore.

Then Verse 14 says, “But without thy mind (Onesimus still

belongs to you. I need your approval, your mind, on what to do

about our brother.) would I do nothing; that thy benefit should not

be as it were of necessity, but willingly.” “I know if I wrote and told

you that I would like for Onesimus to stay a bit longer, you

would do it out of necessity. You would just do it because you

felt like it was a requirement on your part.” See, we want to do

things from the heart. It’s not someone saying, “I know I have

to go to meeting this morning, because it’s my duty.” That’s

good, but there’s something that’s better. It is, “I want to! It’s

not just a necessity, but I want to get in the presence of God. I

love to hear the Word of God. I love to meet with the saints.”

Paul says, “I don’t want you to do this just out of necessity. I

don’t want to make you feel bad if you don’t do it. I want it to

be voluntarily. I want you to do this because you want to.”

Verse 15, “For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou

shouldest receive him forever.” He is saying, “All things work

together for good. Who knows why he felt the need to get away;

maybe he needed to see what was on the other side of the

mountain. Yes, he needed to get away and you lost him for a

little season, but now you’ve got him forever!”

Paul left no stone unturned. When Philemon read this letter,

can you imagine? He could have said, “Ole Paul is closing all

the doors. He’s making sure that I don’t have an excuse.”


There’s a saying, “If you put a rabbit in a fenced in area and stop

up all the holes, there is no way that rabbit can get out.” We

know if there is a hole left open, the rabbit will find it and get

out. What Paul is doing is stopping up every hole. Paul is

saying, “You may turn down my request, but you are going to

turn it down without an excuse, because I know this brother and

he has ministered to me and he wants to come back. It may be

that he left you for a season that you should receive him forever;

for this may be God’s doing. And God is always right in

everything He does!”

Continuing on with Verse 16, “Not now as a servant, but above a

servant,” Paul is saying, “When he left he was just one of the

servants looking after the cattle and working in the fields, or

maybe he was a servant inside the house, keeping the house and

bringing to you things that you might need.” When he left as a

servant (slave) he slept in the servant quarters that the slaves

slept in, and many times those quarters weren’t as elaborate or

up to par as the house was; it probably just had the bare

necessities. He probably didn’t eat at Philemon’s table. And

after the servants served everyone, then they could eat. But it

would not be this way with Onesimus anymore. That’s the way

it was when he left; but it is different now. He went away as a

servant, but he came back as a brother.

Verse 16 again, “Not now as a servant, but above a servant, a

brother beloved, specially to me (He’s trying to get through the

hard-shell and get to the man’s heart.), but how much more unto

thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord?” In other words, “He is

going to be such a changed man. He is going to be better for

you—better to have around and trustworthy. And he’s better

for the Lord, too. He is someone that the Lord is using.” Paul

was lifting up Onesimus pretty good. Onesimus had something

to live up to after this, didn’t he?

Verse 17, “If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as

myself.” Now don’t tell me that Paul couldn’t turn the charm on


if he needed to. How about that? This brother went home on a

letter of love that Paul wrote, on a message of love. That is what

we go home on. We go back to where we left from. We were

slaves out in the world, but here is a message to bring us home

on the letter of love, on the message of love. Hallelujah! Do you

see it? “But how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the

Lord?” He’s saying, “This man is going to be so much more to

thee and much more unto the Lord.” And that is what we are—

more unto the Lord; because we heard a message and it brought

us home. When we got home we weren’t afraid of getting

rebuked or put into prison, but we were welcomed—just like the

prodigal son that went astray. His ole denominational brother

didn’t want anything to do with him. When the father saw him

coming back, he killed the fatted calf and got the people together

and they started playing music and took the best robe and put

on him. The father put a ring on his hand and began to say, “My

son, who was lost, but now is found.” He began to welcome

him. Do you know what the denominational brother said? He

said, “You have never killed a fatted calf for me. You have never

made merry with me so that I could have a party and have my

friends over, and I’ve been here all along and have done what

you said to do.” Now comparing this with carnal minded

church goers—“I’ve read and I’ve went to church and I’ve given

my tithes, but you haven’t done that for me! But here my brother

comes that has been out there wasting all his living and you are

acting like you are proud to get him back.” Yes, he was thrilled

to get him back! The prodigal son may have lost ‘his earthly

inheritance’ because he took his half and went with it; but when

he came back he wasn’t caring about an inheritance. His new

inheritance was to be there with the father; to be there in the

father’s house as part of the family. The denominational brother

didn’t like it, but too bad!

Let’s get Verse 17 again, “If thou count me therefore a partner

receive him as myself.” Verse 18, “If he hath wronged thee, or oweth


thee ought, put that on mine account;” That is something, isn’t it?

If he has done something to you and you are blaming him, just

blame me. (This is a good reminder of what Jesus Christ did for

us there on the cross by taking our sins upon Himself and paying

all of our sin debt for us.) God gave Paul a lot of wisdom and

knowledge—like when he said, “These whose names are in the

Book of Life.” He noticed their lives and what God was doing

in, and for, them. And those that are part the wife of the Lamb,

their names are in the Book of Life. That’s why we have accepted

this message of the last trump of God. And as it goes forth it is

setting our hearts on fire as we have eaten the little book and we

can’t help but prophesy. That’s telling about it. Before the

service began today, we were looking at the scripture in Psalms

142 where it tells us to use our voice to praise the Lord. We have

a voice; let’s use it for the Lord. We can walk down the street

saying, “Glory to God, I love Jesus!” That is wonderful if it is

coming from your heart. (But if you are doing it for a show, then

don’t do it.) If the praise of God is in your heart, don’t be

ashamed of it; because He is the greatest thing that has ever

happened or could happen to you—“Jesus, you are the best

thing that ever happened to me!” And it happened to this man

Onesimus, who was a slave (just like we were a slave to sin and

denominations); but Paul is saying, “It’s going to be different

now.” How many know that we are not a slave to a

denomination, we are not a slave to the world, and we are not a

slave to some kind of traditional religion? We may sound and

look unconventional, but we come to Him with our hearts open.

Jesus said, “They that come to me I will in no wise cast out.”

Some may think that Paul was wasting a lot of time on one

man. No, he was not wasting time. The same thing could be

said about us as we talk much about the little book of Revelation,

Chapter 10; because Revelation 10:8-11 shows the wife of the

Lamb taking possession of the little book and eating it up. This

shows the intimacy between Christ (as the Spirit of the body of


Christ) and us (the elected members) as we are baptized into

Him. This coming together took place only after Christ came in

spirit form as the Mighty Angel and we bring our bodies and

present them unto Christ as per Romans 12:1, “I beseech you

therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies

a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable

service.” This fulfilled Ephesians 5:30-32. Thus Christ takes on

flesh and bones, making us the body of Christ or Christ the wife

as shown in Revelation 19:7-8, clothed in fine linen, clean and

white, which is His very own righteousness in this final stage of

marriage. This is the fulfillment of Ephesians 4:13-16, and the

dead members are raised and we are changed in a moment, in

the twinkling of an eye as this last trump sounds. (1 Corinthians

15:51-52) And after our testimony is complete (we the living)

and the raised dead are caught up to meet our Lord Jesus in the

air. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) And just as Paul dedicated an

entire little book in the Bible to help Onesimus to be accepted

and to be able to go home, we can see that God dedicated an

entire little book to the Lamb’s wife that is her letter of love that

will get her back home! The Book of Philemon has been here all

these years dealing with one person, as the little book is dealing

with one person, the stature of the man Christ Jesus, as a many

member body. The Book of Philemon was for one, but that seed

that was planted has multiplied, it has grown and produced

revelation for us, and now we can receive of that revelation that

Paul was giving in this letter to Philemon.

Verse 19, “I Paul have written it with my mine own hand, I will

repay it: albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine

own self besides.” His eyesight was bad and he couldn’t write

much with his own hand. But here he’s telling Philemon that he

had written this letter with his own hand. Paul was saying, “No

one wrote this for me. I took the pain to write it myself because

it is personal.” And when you are dealing with the Lord it is

personal to you. This is personal. It is not something that is just


‘in general.’ God is big enough to be personal to each person.

Though the number may be as the sands of the sea, yet He

knows where that one grain of sand is which has gold in it. Yes,

He knows exactly where that gold grain of sand is located. I

want to make mention here a point that Paul brought up in Verse

19 that surprised me. After he told Philemon, “If Onesimus

owes thee, I will repay it,” he said, “albeit I do not say to thee

how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides.” He is

saying, “Now listen to me, Philemon, before you get out of shape

about what Onesimus might or might not owe you in a natural

debt, just think for a moment of what you received from this

gospel that God used me to bring unto you. He has even made

you a partaker of my grace. (Philippians 1:7) So before you bill

Onesimus for something in the natural, think of how much it

was worth to you to receive or be a partaker of my grace.” This

tells me not to mess with Paul; for he knows what he is doing.

Verses 20-21, “Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord:

refresh my bowels in the Lord.” Paul says, “Let me have joy; let this

brother come back. I know that he left you, but he found the

Lord; it is a different story now. At least give me this, let me

have the joy of knowing Onesimus has come back and that he is

progressing in the Lord.” “Having confidence in thy obedience I

wrote unto thee, knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.” Well

Paul, if you had that much confidence in him, why did you

butter him up so good? Why did you go around the mountain

when you could have gone over the hill? See, he wanted to

present it in a way just like God presents things to us. Many

times He doesn’t just throw it out here and say, “Take it or leave

it.” No, He explains and He presents it in a way that we may eat

thereof. The Word of the Lord is good. Like honey in the

honeycomb, have you tasted that the Lord is gracious? I love

Him and I want to walk with Him throughout eternity; not as a

necessity, but as a pleasure. We serve God because that’s what

is in us.


Verse 21, “Having confidence in thy obedience I wrote unto thee,

knowing that thou wilt also do more than I say.” He is saying, “I

know that you are not just going to do what is necessary, but

you are going to do a whole lot more.” The Bible says, “Be good

to all men, but especially to them that are of the household of

faith.” Do you love Him a whole lot more than you did

yesterday? That is what we do, we love Him more today. As

the song says, “It gets sweeter as the days go by. It gets sweeter

as the moments fly. It gets richer, fuller, deeper, sweeter;

sweeter as the days go by!”

Verses 22-24, “But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I trust that

through your prayers I shall be given unto you.” Paul is saying, “Fix

a little place for me; if I get out of here, I am going to come by

your house.” See, it is going to make it even harder on Philemon

to refuse Paul’s plea to honor this request and accept the brother,

knowing that Paul may come by. “Therefore salute thee Epaphras,

my fellowprisoner in Christ Jesus; Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas,

Lucas, my fellowlabourers.” Paul laid this in there in such a way

that when we see someone out of the way, we can with

confidence say, “Come on brother, though you have been slack

and though you have been half-hearted; we are at the end time.”

We don’t have time to try to straighten out a lot of nonsense.

Many people want to go back in their lives and try to

straighten up this or that. They say, “If I could just go back and

straighten that out.” Well, Jesus is the Great Un-doer! I

preached a special message called, Jesus Christ the Great Un-

doer! And it is one of the chapters in our book entitled, Christ

the Wife: A People without a Country. This message lets us know

that there are many things in our lives that we wish we would

have done differently, but to relive any day is impossible; but in

Christ the Great Un-doer, we become a new creation with a new

beginning. Today is a new day. Yes, you’ve made mistakes and

you’ve stumbled, but Paul said, “Perhaps it was for a good


reason.” Sometimes God does things to humble us down a little

bit.

Paul finishes up by saying in Verse 25, “The grace of our Lord

Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.” I didn’t know when I read

the Book of Philemon whether I would speak on it or not. But I

have really enjoyed reading it. To me this message has put life

back on this little book that Paul wrote to Philemon to facilitate

the return of his servant. It was also at this time that Paul used

Onesimus, not only to deliver this letter to Philemon, but also to

help deliver a letter to the assembly at Colosse. We find in

Colossians 4:7-9, Paul saying, “All my state shall Tychicus declare

unto you, who is a beloved, and a faithful minister and fellowservant

in the Lord: Whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that he

might know your estate, and comfort your hearts; With Onesimus, a

faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They shall make known

unto you all things which are done here.”

So A Wayward Saint Comes Home by Paul’s Message of Love. Do

you love Jesus? Jesus said, “You can’t love God whom you have

not seen unless you love your brother whom you have seen.”

And unless you love His wife, who is here now manifesting the

Lord Jesus Christ, you can’t love Jesus Christ. That’s a fact. So

what will we do? (Singing): “We’ll walk in the light, the

beautiful light, come where the dewdrops of mercy are bright.

Shine all around us by day and by night, Jesus the light of the

world.” He’s still the light. He’s the Painter of painters, the

Painter of Light! If anyone has eyes to see, ears to hear, let them

now see and hear. And if they have a mouth, let them say,

“Halleluah! Jesus! Lord, I love you. Though the world may

turn you down, though the world may reject you, we love you

and you are our very own life! We are dead and our life is hid

with Christ in God.”

Father, we come thanking you for your love, goodness, and mercy. I

pray that you will take these words and use them for your glory. There

may be just one, or many, who needed this message today. And as it


was said to Esther, “Perhaps the Lord has raised you up for such a time

as this.” Lord, this message has been laying here since the days of Paul,

and I have read this little book with one chapter many times and

wondered about it. But perhaps you have reserved it for a time just like

this. I pray that you will take it and use it for your glory. And may

God bless each one, we pray in the precious name of the Lord Jesus

Christ. Amen.


AUDIO/VIDEO SERMONS AND BOOKS

All sermons by Brother Ben Howard are recorded on Cassette

tape, CD's, DVD's, and Mp3 formats. Also, there is a collection

of published books that are available for download or by

request as well. Please feel free to visit us at our website often

as new materials are constantly being added, or write to our

postal address below.

Sound Of Liberty

7286 Hwy 53W, Dawsonville, Georgia 30534 U.S.A.

www.SoundOfLiberty.org

[email protected]

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A WAYWARD SAINT COMES HOME BY PAUL'S MESSAGE OF LOVE wayward s… · 2015 A Wayward Saint Comes Home By Paul’s Message Of Love 5 Christ, and toward all saints.” Here he is saying,