Alright brethren, let's turn
here now to Hebrews chapter 7. As we sang those two hymns, did
you pay attention to the words to those hymns? As we were singing
those, I thought, those hymn writers believed that message
we heard in the first hour. Both those hymns were telling
us that God is able. what He's able to do, pointing
us to Him. You know, this world's religion
is trying to get men to take it into their hands and do it
themselves. The gospel is teaching men to
trust God is able and to believe Him and rest in Him. Now, let's
see that again here. I just want to look at one verse
in Hebrews 7 verse 22. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament, a better covenant. Christ our surety. Christ our surety. What is a
surety? What is a surety? Well, earthly
speaking, In the banking world, a surety cosigns for a person
who's taken out a loan. That's what a surety does. When
the surety cosigns the loan, he immediately becomes jointly
responsible to pay back the loan. A person has taken out a loan
and he has a surety that's going to sign with him. And when that
surety signs, that surety immediately becomes He has a co-responsibility
to pay for that loan. If the person borrowing the money
is late on the payment, the surety has to pay it. If the person
borrowing the money defaults on the loan, the surety has to
pay it. But with God, Christ is our surety in a far, far,
far greater way than that. Far greater way than that. Before
God created this world, God's own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
was made surety of God's everlasting covenant of grace on behalf of
all God's elect. Before he made anything, before
he made anything, Christ was made surety surety
to fulfill God's everlasting covenant on behalf of all God's
elect before God made anything. You know, when we talk about
the sovereignty of God, we tend to look at His power and His
ability to rule in the heavens and in the earth, as the scripture
says. But if you really want to see God's sovereignty, look
back to eternity and look to the fact that God determined
the end from the beginning and then brought then created the
world, spoke it into existence, and then brings everything to
pass to fulfill that covenant exactly like he determined from
the beginning. Now that's sovereignty. That's
sovereignty. Christ is our eternal surety. He is our eternal surety. Christ became surety of God's
everlasting testament before the foundation of the world on
behalf of His people. God chose His Son to be surety. God the Father trusted His Son
first. He trusted His Son. He chose
a people, elected a people, and trusted them to His Son. He trusted
them to His Son. And before the foundation of
this world, the Son of God voluntarily entered covenant with the Father,
struck hands with the Father, became surety for all God's elect
to fulfill that covenant for His people, to fulfill everything
in that covenant for His people. The Lord Jesus would perform
everything God the Father required of His people. That's the kind
of surety He is. That's what He entered into agreement
to do, to fulfill everything God required of His people. Christ
sent a covenant to bring all God's elect to God the Father,
perfect. in His perfect righteousness,
in His perfect holiness, without any fault whatsoever, and present
them all to the Father. Christ agreed. to be surety for
us to do that, to do everything required in the covenant for
His people and to bring us to God and present us faultless
to God as His new creation created in His righteousness and His
holiness alone. That's what He agreed to do as
the surety of His people. Go over to Genesis 43. We see
a type of it right here in Genesis 43. You remember whenever Joseph
required, he's now over all the storehouses in Egypt and his
brethren that had sold him into Egypt, they need food and they've got
to go to Egypt and get food and they don't know who Joseph is,
they don't know that's his brother. And Joseph said, he said, the
only way I'm going to deal with you is when you come back you
bring Benjamin with you, the youngest brother, bring him with
you. Jacob didn't want to let Benjamin go. He was afraid something
happened to him. And here's what Judah said. Genesis
43 verse 8, Judah said to Israel, his father, send the lad with
me and we will arise and go that we may live and not die, both
we and thou and also our little ones. I will be surety for him. of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever."
Now that's a picture, that's a picture of what Christ did. The honor of the suretyship to
which Christ bound himself to the Father. That word surety
means to draw nigh, that's what it means. And the Son of God
drew nigh to God the Father on behalf of all God's elect Benjamins. Before the foundation of the
world, Christ substituted himself in place of God's elect. That's
right, when he became our surety, he substituted himself in place
of all God's elect by becoming our surety. He interposed Himself
between God, our creditor, and His people who would become debtors
to God, unable to pay what we owe. Christ promised to pay our
debt to God's holy justice. Before we ever incurred the debt,
He agreed to pay the debt, to justify His people, to make us
righteous before God's holy law. perfectly righteous, to call
us, create us entirely new in body, soul and spirit, to keep
us and raise us and present us faultless to the Father, Christ's
inner covenant, do all that for us. And in it all, He promised to
glorify the Father. He promised to manifest God's
glory. He promised to come as a man and be the express image
of God in a visible body. and to manifest God's righteousness
and all His holy attributes and do this in a way that will give,
so that those He saves will give all the praise and all the glory
and all the honor to God. And this is how I pleased the
Father to give Christ all preeminence for all fullness to dwell in
the Lord Jesus. And Christ said in eternity,
if I do not bring them to you, I will bear the blame forever. So in eternity, before the foundation
of this world, Christ struck hands with the Father. He entered
covenant with the Father to be the surety of this better testament,
this everlasting covenant, this covenant of redemption, this
covenant of grace, this covenant of mercy. That's honor God bestowed
upon His Son. And the Son promised to honor
the Father in this. And you and me get to reap the
benefit. We get to be saved by what God the Father, God the
Son in a covenant to do. So Christ is the eternal surety. He talks here about Melchizedek
being made after the similitude of the Son of God. And Christ,
what's described here in Melchizedek is true of Christ. He's the King
of righteousness. He's the King of peace. He's
without beginning of days, without end of life. Verse 16, Hebrews 7, 16 says,
He's made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after
the power of an endless life. For he testified thou art a priest
forever after the order of Melchizedek." You see, this was all done in
eternity. He's the eternal high priest.
No ending to it. No ending to him being our high
priest. He's telling us here in Hebrews, that old covenant
was just a picture of this. And those old covenant priests
were just a picture of this, but they all died and the son
would have to replace them. Then that one died, then the
son would have to replace that one. He said, this priest don't
ever die. He's a priest forever. That's
Christ. Now get this good news right
here. I'm trying to show you all this was established in eternity.
Now get this good news. It means before we sinned in
Adam and became guilty, and came forth into this world guilty
and corrupt and sinful, we already had a surety. We already had
a Savior. That's true of all God's elect
people. The need for surety is due to
a debt that's owed. That's why you need a surety
because there's going to be a debt that's going to be owed and that
surety is agreeing to pay for that debt. And by that one transgression,
when Adam sinned in the garden, we all sinned there and we became
guilty. And why did God do that? Why
did He set Adam up as the one head who made us sinful? As a
picture of Christ who is the one head who makes His people
righteous. That's why He did it. And so
by Adam's sin, we were made guilty. We didn't do the work that made
us guilty. They'll say, that's not fair.
Well, you better like it. Because the only way you're going
to be made righteous is by somebody else doing all the work for you. It's similar, aren't they? We became guilty by the work
of another. We're going to be made righteous
by the work of another. Our hand didn't touch it. So we owe God what's impossible
for you and me to pay. Now you consider before we start
saying, well that's not fair, here's what we owe God. Here's
what we owe God. We owe Him perfect obedience
to the law. And God says way back under in
the garden when Adam sinned, we already became guilty. So
that's out of the equation. Giving Him perfect obedience
to the law is out of the equation because we already became guilty
back there in the garden. We owe Him perfect obedience
from a perfectly holy nature. And we're born into this world
with a corrupt nature. So that's out of the question.
It's not enough that God just creates a new holy nature in
you in regeneration and then from then on you fulfill the
law. What about all that time that
came before that? You've got to be holy from the womb. Perfectly
obey God from the pure heart. So we can't pay that. We owe
eternal death to justice because we broke the law. We can't pay
that debt, can we? Eternal death under the fierce
fury of God's wrath. No sinner can pay the debt we
owe to God. We can't. It's impossible for
you and me to please God and save ourselves. That's an impossibility. Utterly impossible. And yet,
before we became sinners, before sin entered in, all God's elect
had a Savior in Christ our surety. Before the foundation of the
world, when Christ struck hands with the Father and became surety
of God's elect, right then, in God's purpose, He died for the
ungodly. Hear me now. In God's purpose,
right then, when He entered in as surety, He died for the ungodly. How can you say that? Because
Revelation 13.8 says He is the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. That's right. The works were
finished from the foundation of the world. That's why God
didn't destroy the world when Adam sinned in the garden. Job
33.24, God was gracious to his elect for the sake of our surety.
And this is what God said, deliver him from going down to the pit,
deliver him from going to hell, I found a ransom for him. Before
he ever sinned, before you ever sinned in Adam, God looked at
his son and he said, I found a ransom, deliver him from going
to the pit. He didn't destroy you, didn't
destroy this world, didn't just wipe it all off into oblivion. because he had a surety set up.
See, this world was made to glorify God. It was made to show how
God saves sinners through the righteousness of his Son. That's
what this world was made for. Then thou spakest in vision to
thy holy one and said, I have laid help on one that is mighty,
I have exalted one chosen out of the people with whom my hand
shall be established, mine arm shall also strengthen him. This
is Christ. You know, with an earthly surety,
when you got an earthly, somebody's cosigning there being an earthly
surety, the lender is going to only look to the surety after
the borrower fails to pay. You know, if you're the one borrowing
money and you've got a cosigner, well, the surety's not going
to be looked to unless you default. Then they'll look to the surety.
That's not how it was with God. God never did look to you. He
never looked at me and you. He looked to Christ from the
beginning. He looked to Christ from the beginning. That's the
best news, brethren. That just makes me happy. Oh, that's sad. You know, you
think about it. How was all these Old Testament
believers, how were they saved before Christ came and actually
shed His blood? Because Christ was assured them
from before the foundation of the world. It was done. It was
done. Remember when Paul wrote to Philemon?
He wrote to Philemon and he had a servant named Onesimus and
Onesimus had wronged Philemon. Stole something probably, ran
off. But God directed his steps. I love this too. We're thinking
we've got to get out here and beat the bushes and try to find
God's saints, his elect that's lost. That's fine if you get
a chance to talk to somebody, talk to them. But here's how
sovereign God is. Onesimus took off running from
Philemon And God directed his steps straight
to Rome to Paul who was in prison. And Paul preached the gospel
to him in prison. And God saved him. And he wrote to Philemon
and he said, if he has wronged you or owes thee aught, put that
on my account. I, Paul, have written it with
my own hand. I will repay it. That's what
he said of Onesimus. Brethren, that's what Christ
did in eternity. Christ said, whatever, however
they wrong you, and whatever they gonna owe you, put that
on my account. I'm signing it with my own hand.
I'll pay it. That's what Christ did in eternity. He didn't say if they wronged
you, though. He said when they do. That's the difference. He
didn't say if they wronged you. He said when they wronged you.
All the sins of all God's elect were put on Christ's account
from before the foundation of the world. Christ said, I've
lifted mine own hand. I will repay it. You know, go
to Ephesians 1. This is why you read this right
here in Ephesians 1. This is why this is written.
Ephesians 1 verse 3. This is why it says, Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings. That means everything Everything. We're at in heavenly places in
Christ according as He chose us in Him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. We were born guilty in Adam,
guilty in ourselves, corrupt in our nature, totally ungodly,
yet in Christ our surety from before the foundation of the
world, before the eye of God, we were holy and without blame
before Him in love. In Christ our surety. That's
right. If you go back over there to
Romans 8, and you read where Paul said, all things work together
for the good of them that are called, and you read all those
things, whom he did for no, you read all those things, they're
all in the past tense. When he chose his people in Christ,
and Christ became surety for his people, right then God called
us, he justified us, and he glorified us in Christ. And he ain't even
made the world yet. I'm trying to shut you up to
Christ. I'm trying to show you this thing
is of God. Salvation is of God. I'm trying
to make it so... I mean, we're not even talking
about the world being made yet. And he already did this. Well,
here's the next thing I want you to see. An earthly surety
pays the debt in money. If you got an earthly surety
and He is your cosigner and He is your surety, He is going to
pay the debt in money. Christ paid far more than money.
Our Lord Jesus Christ paid His precious blood. He paid His precious
blood. The wages of sin is death. The
wages of sin is death. We owe eternal death. And not just any death, we owe
eternal death under the justice of God. I don't even, I can't
even imagine what that would be. I can't even imagine what it
would be. I see it on the cross by faith, but I still can't even
imagine the fullness of it. God will by no means clear the
guilty, and we're the bankrupt, solvent, Guilty sinner. Debtors. God said
life is in the blood. He said without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission of sin. This is why the Lord
Jesus Christ... See, the wisdom of God is amazing. Think about this now. God is
a spirit, invisible. He creates a world of men and
women, these human bodies, And in the Son of God, whose Spirit
takes a human body like His brethren, without sin, perfectly holy,
that's why He was formed in the womb of a virgin, wasn't born
of corrupt seed like us, and He comes forth And he lives from
the womb all the way to the death of the cross, perfectly obeying
God, fulfilling God's holy law for his people, pleasing God
in everything he did. All the while he established
his church, sent forth preaching the gospel, and then he goes
to the cross and he bears all the sin of His people and bears
the fierce fury of God's wrath and poured out His blood until
He died. You know you weren't redeemed
with corruptible things as silver and gold from the vain tradition
of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of
a lamb without spot, without blemish. foreordained before
the foundation of the world, but manifest in these last times
for you. And it's by Him that you believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He arose as that glorified
God-man, and then He sends you and me the Gospel. We're just
flesh and blood. That's how we are by nature.
But then He sends the Spirit into you and creates spiritual
life in you. And He's made us one With God
who is spirit, and us who are flesh and blood, now he's made
us one in the God-man mediator. Isn't that amazing? Jesus paid
it all, all to him I owe. I think that verse would be better
sung, all the debt I owe. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owed. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. He gave Himself for our sins. That's what the Scripture said.
He gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from
this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father,
according to that surety ship engagement He entered into before
the foundation of the world. And it's to Him who is the glory
both now and forever. redeemed how I love to proclaim
it, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, redeemed through His
infinite mercy, His child and forever I am. He paid with His
blood. Do you ever just think about
that? I don't like to hear men talk about the cross as just
a legal transaction. I know that it was a legal, it
was judgment taking place. I understand that. But I love
to hear how Our Savior loved His people.
And He was the price. He was the price. Nothing else
would satisfy that debt. He gave Himself. His own life. Now, lastly, brethren, Christ
our surety lives forever. as the high priest of his people.
And you know what that means? That guarantees that not one
for whom he died shall perish. Remember, he not only promised
that he's going to come and pay what we couldn't pay, he promised
God, if I don't bring them to you again, let me bear the blame
forever. He's going to bring everyone
to the Father. All those God chose and trusted
to Him. Look here in Hebrews 7.24, This
man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood,
wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that
come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for them. By His intercession, that's how
He sent the Gospel to you. By His intercession. He sent
the Gospel to you and He revealed to in your heart that He's your
righteousness. He revealed this glorious good
news in your heart that this is what He did. And that He's our complete acceptance.
He said, all the Father gives me shall come to me, and them
that come unto me I will in no wise cast them out. I came to
do my Father's will, he said. This is my Father's will of all
which He has given me. I shall lose none, but raise
them up again until last day. And he says to you, and I got
sheep. He told the Jewish elect that he called out into the fold.
He said, I got other sheep that are not of this Jewish fold.
I got some sheep in that elect fold too. I'm calling them. And
they're not going to be a Jewish and a Gentile fold. They're just
going to be one fold and one shepherd. That's what he's doing
right now through this gospel. If you never believed on the
Lord Jesus, I pray today, I pray the Lord would I pray he'd just
fill you with this good news, with his spirit, with his life.
When he does that, there's no mulling it over. There's no,
well, let me think about it a while. You almost persuaded me. No,
no, it's not that. You will be fully persuaded.
When he does it, you'll be fully, isn't that right, Robbie? When
he does it, you're persuaded. And for you that believe, I want
you to answer this question. Answer these questions right
here. Can Christ be made sin again? No way. Can He be made a curse again?
No. Justice won't let that happen.
Can He die again? Nope. They cannot die again. Can the law lay one charge against
Christ ever again? No. The same is true of you. If you
believe Him, the same is true of you. Because He satisfied
justice. He paid it all. That's why. Look here in Hebrews 7.18, you're
not under the law now, brethren, you're under grace. You know
what that means? God's not going to charge you.
Instead of charging you now and condemning you, He'll correct
you and He'll draw you right back to Christ. Let's show you
this good news all over again. That's why I say to you, brethren,
when your brethren sin, when they fall, don't condemn them.
speak to them and remind them of this gospel again. That's
what the Lord does to you time and time again. He draws you
back to Christ and fills your heart with His grace all over
again and shows you, fills you with joy. And that's what keeps
you walking after Him and walking by faith and trusting Him and
hating your sin more and more. But look here, you're under grace
now. Hebrews 7.18, there's verily
a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness
and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect.
That law couldn't make anything perfect. It wasn't given to make
anybody perfect. It was given to picture Christ. But to bring
it in of a better hope did. Christ did. By which we draw
not of God. He made his people perfect. Romans 5, I want to read this
to you. I don't want to pass this up. Go to Romans 5 and look
here at verse 6. Romans 5 and look at verse 6.
When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the
ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die, yet perventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. But God commendeth His love toward us, and while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if,
when we were enemies, We were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son. Much more being reconciled, we
shall be saved by His life. And not only so, we joy also
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom we've now received
the atonement. He's made you be reconciled to
God. Look back now at Hebrews 7.22. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. Look at chapter 8 verse 6. Now
hath he obtained a more excellent ministry by how much also he
is the mediator of a better covenant which is established upon better
promises. Verse 10. This is the covenant
I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
I'll put my gospel into their mind. I'll put my laws in their
mind. and write them in their hearts,
and I'll be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.
And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man
his brother, saying, Know the Lord. For all shall know me from
the least to the greatest, for I will be merciful to their unrighteousness. Hadn't He been from the first
day till now, He will the rest of your days. I'll be merciful
to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. How sure is this Better Testament?
How sure is it? We're going to take this bread
and this wine. And you remember what Christ said about the wine?
He said, this is the New Testament in my blood. You don't get more
sure than that. This is the New Testament. This
is salvation by grace written in my blood. Signed, sealed,
and delivered to God in my blood. Can't be turned back. Done. Finished. Accomplished. Now, let's remember him. Let's
remember him. Remember him at his table. Brother
Ravi, could you pass the elements out?