A picture of Grace…

Philemon 1:18 If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account;   The book of Philemon is a touching story of God’s grace.  Philemon had a servant named Onesimus.  Onesimus stole from his master and fled to Rome where he ended up in a prison cell with the Apostle Paul.  Paul led Onesimus to Jesus and proceeded to write a letter to Philemon,  his dearest friend, concerning Onesimus.  Onesimus carried the letter back to his master.   Paul in the letter encourages Philemon to receive Onesimus just as he would receive himself.  Then he tells Philemon,  if he hath wronged thee,  or oweth thee ought, put that on my account.  What a picture of God’s grace!  You and I have sinned.  Jesus knows this and yet says to God the Father, put that on my account!  That’s why I died,  to take away his sin.  It gets even better!  Not only did Jesus take our sin and have it put on His account, He took His righteousness and had that imputed to our account!  My, my, my!  Could you imagine going to the bank, someone has paid your mortgage, paid your vehicles off, and paid off the student loans!  Why we’d think there must be a mistake!  The banker says no, this fella said he wanted to help you because he loves you.  Immediately you would want to know… who is it!
Then the banker says look here, not only did he pay off all your debt, he has deposited all his riches into your account!  You’ve got to be kidding me!  Who would do such a thing?
JESUS!  Jesus paid a debt He did not owe because you and I had a debt we could not pay!  It was a sin debt.  Not only did He pay the sin debt, He in turn gave us His righteousness!  Oh, what a Savior!  2 Corinthians 8:9  For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.  I’m rich!  Are you?  If not, you can be, come to Jesus today.  Turn from your sin and trust in Him.  Your account will be changed forever!  Amen.  Pastor