I just want to read one verse
to you out of this passage that I asked Brother Joe to read for
us, and that would be the 22nd verse of Hebrews chapter 7. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament that is a better covenant, if you are
acquainted with the book of Hebrews, and most of you are, you know
that here's what the apostle is setting forth, that that covenant
of grace, that everlasting covenant, and what I'll call the gospel
covenant, is infinitely better than the old covenant. The old
covenant consisted of this, obey and live. disobey and die. However, the new covenant is
a covenant of grace. It is a covenant, the stipulations
of which concerning the salvation of sinners, those stipulations
they have fallen upon our Savior only. He only is responsible
for the safekeeping and the safe bringing of all of God's children
home to glory. So I want to speak to you on
Jesus was made a surety. And I'll first of all answer
this question just exactly what is a surety. Well, the basic
meaning of surety is one who draws near to another and makes
himself responsible for the safe appearing of another. It's one who pledges himself
the honor of his name or his property or his very life for
the safety and well-being of another. That's what assurity
is according to the Scriptures. Years ago, my dear friend, Brother
Butler, whom I miss, I certainly appreciated and learned much
from his wisdom and his counsel. He and Scott Richardson were
born same day, same year, They were good friends, but he
told me that he spoke to a corporate lawyer. And that lawyer told
him the difference between a guarantor and a surety. A guarantor is, and I'll give
you an illustration of it because this best defines guarantor,
When our grandson, Ethan, wanted to buy a car, his first vehicle,
he, in order to get a lower interest rate, I went as his guarantor. That is, if he couldn't pay,
it falls on me. I'm his guarantor. That is different from assurity. Assurity isn't one who takes
this approach, well, if you can't pay, I will. Here's what assurity is. Assurity
says, all of your debts, don't worry about them. They're mine. They're mine, totally. You see, our Lord Jesus, He wasn't
a guarantor. Well, what you can't pay, I'll
make up the rest. That's the Armenian Gospel. That's
what that is. Now, our Lord Jesus was not a
guarantor. He was a surety. because long
before this world was ever created, back in old eternity, in God's
election of grace, in the Gospel covenant, God gave to the Son
a people to be redeemed, to be justified, to be glorified, and
our Lord Jesus, He assumed all of the responsibility for the
appearance of those people before the Father someday. He didn't
say, what they can't pay, I'll pay. He said, they are unable
to pay. They have no ability to pay.
I assume all the indebtedness that all of my people owe. He's
our surety. our shirt. Now let me give you
an illustration of this out of the Old Testament. Go back to
the book of Genesis and we'll go to chapter 42. the book of Genesis chapter 42. And I won't get into this very
deep here because we're going through the book of Genesis on
Wednesday nights and we'll have more details on this portion
of Scripture in the next several weeks, but just to kind of bring
you up to date what this is all about. Joseph now, he's in second
command over Egypt and of over all the granaries of Egypt. Through
God's providential dealings with him, God has brought him to a
very exalted position. And he gave to Joseph understanding
of the dreams that Pharaoh had had. And basically the dreams
were this, there's going to be seven years of abundance, and
then seven years of famine. So Joseph went around and he
bought up all the grain he could buy up and he stored it. And
then there came seven years of famine. People were hungry. Nearby nations, they were hurting
for food. And in order to get food, they
had to go to Joseph. Well, meanwhile, back in the
land of Canaan, things were okay during the seven years of plenty. But then they hit a rough patch
because there were seven years of famine. And as they began
to get into it, well, their supplies ran low. And so Jacob, he sends
his sons, his 10 sons, he keeps Benjamin at home, but he sends
his 10 sons into Egypt to buy grain. Well, Joseph is the one
that they have to appear before, and he disguised himself, and
also he spoke Egyptian, so they didn't recognize him. and they
told their story, how that they were Israelites and they needed
to buy grain, and would he sell them grain at a fair price. Well, Joseph recognized them,
though they didn't recognize him. So he said to them, he said,
I believe you men are spies. They said, no, we're not spies.
We're sons of a man by the name of Jacob back in the land of
Canaan. And they said, our older brother
is dead. They thought he was, but didn't
know, didn't realize he was talking to him. And they said, and we
have a younger brother, and he's back home with Dad. And Joseph
said to them, Again, remember, they don't recognize him. He
says to them, if you're really on the up and up, I want you
to go back and bring your younger brother, your youngest brother.
I want to see him and then I'll know that you're telling me the
truth. And just to make certain you do come back, I'm going to
keep one of you. And he said, I'm going to keep
Simeon. And they said, okay. So they
go back to the land of Canaan and they tell dad what has happened. So let's break into the reading
here in chapter 42, chapter 42 and verse 36. And Jacob, their father, they've
told him the whole story now. Chapter 42, verse 36. And Jacob their father said unto
them, Me ye have bereaved of my children. Joseph is not, that
is in his mind, Joseph was dead. Remember these same brothers
brought back the coat of many colors covered with blood. And
they said, Joseph is dead. So he believes that. He says,
Joseph is not in, Simeon is not, because he's locked up there
in Egypt. And ye will take Benjamin away? And then he said, all these things
are against me. And that's a very foolish statement
to make for a child of God. Just hold your place and go back
to chapter 28 and verse 15. Chapter 28 and verse 15. He said, all these things are
against me. That's a wrong conclusion. It's wrong for Him to think that
and it's wrong for you who are the people of God today to think
that. If God be for us, who can be
against us or what can be against us? Now look here in chapter
28 and verse 15. God said, and behold, I am with
thee. and will keep thee in all places
whither thou goest, and will bring thee again unto this land. For I will not leave thee until
I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." These things
are not against you, Jacob, because God made a promise to you. And
He's going to fulfill that promise. They're not working against Him,
they're working for Him. He doesn't understand it over
here in chapter 42. He can't see it here in chapter
42. But later he will realize nothing
was against him. And I'll just say this to all
of you who love Christ Jesus, the redeemed of the Lord. You've
been begotten by the Holy Spirit. You've been born into the Kingdom
of God. Nothing is against you. Nothing. So you just don't know what I'm
going through. Nothing is against you. Because
God is for you, and the God who is for you, He absolutely controls
everything that touches your life. That's just the truth. We'll go back over here to chapter
42. So Jacob is upset. And in verse
37 now, Reuben spake unto his father. Now Reuben is the oldest. He's the firstborn. To him belongs
the birthright. He is the priest of the family. And Reuben spake unto his father
saying, you can kill my sons if I bring him not. to thee."
In other words, I'll be surety for him. Dad, I stand right here in front
of you and I take an oath. I will bring Benjamin back. You let him go with me and I'll
make absolutely certain that he comes back to you. And he's
saying I'll be surety. He says, deliver him into my
hand again, and I will bring him to thee again. But Reuben, according to what
Jacob says in chapter 49, he was as unstable as water. That's
what the scripture says about Reuben. And the Spirit of God
led Jacob to say with a definite answer. He said, my son shall
not go down with you. You will not be surety for Benjamin. For his brother is dead and he is left alone. If mischief
befall him by the way in the which he go, then shall you bring
down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. These things are against me.
Notice in verse 37, notice who he puts up as collateral. He doesn't say, kill me. kill
me if I don't bring him back." He said, kill my two sons. Thanks,
Dad. Thank you very much. You're throwing
us under the bus and you'll live. Why he isn't qualified nor fit
to be a surety. Well, time goes on. They get deeper into the famine.
Look at verse 1 of 43. The famine was sore in the land
and it came to pass when they had eaten up the corn which they
had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, go again
and buy us a little food. And Judah Judah spake unto him, saying,
The man did he did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not
see my face, except your brother be with you." Now, Joseph and
Benjamin are the two sons of Rachel. Rachel died giving birth
to Benjamin. So actually, Benjamin is Joseph's
only full brother. Okay? So Judah reminds Jacob
of the situation and that they're not going to get any food. If any of them go back and they
don't take Benjamin with them, they're not getting anything.
So verse 4, if thou wilt send our brother with us, we will
go down and buy thee food. But if thou wilt not send him,
we will not go down. For the man said unto us, ye
shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. If
you don't bring your youngest brother with you, you won't even
be able to get into my office. And Israel said, Wherefore dealt
ye so ill with me as to tell the man whether he had yet a
brother?" Why did you even tell him you had a brother? And they said, the man asked
us straightly of our state and of our kindred, saying, Is your
father yet alive? Have ye another brother? And
we told him, according to the tenor of these words, Could we
certainly know that He would say, bring your brother down?
We didn't know what He was going to say. And Judas said unto Israel
his father, you 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. Now look at verse
nine. I will be surety for him. I appear before you right now,
Father, and I give you my pledge. I will bring him to appear before
you again. You trust me with him. He said,
of my hand thou shalt require him. If I bring him not unto
thee and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. For except we had lingered, surely
now we'd return the second time. Hold me accountable. He didn't
do like Reuben. Hey, if I don't bring him home,
kill my two sons. No, Judah said, hold me accountable. I'm the one, Father, standing
before you, pledging my oath to you. I will bring him home
safe and sound. Surety. You can entrust his welfare
to me. Now, of course, in this, Judah
is a beautiful type of our Lord Jesus. While Reuben volunteered
to be his surety, his offer was rejected. The Spirit of God forbade
Reuben from being surety for Benjamin. And then when Judah
brings up the subject again, Jacob says, okay, you be surety
for Benjamin. Judah. Out of that tribe came
our Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't come out of the tribe
of Reuben. He came out of the tribe of Judah. And He volunteers. Now, if He doesn't bring Benjamin
back, He's going to bear the blame. He said that. But you know something? Our Lord
Jesus, He volunteered to be surety for all of His spiritual Benjamins. And if He doesn't bring all of
those that the Father gave Him in covenant grace, if He doesn't
bring them to appear before the Lord God at last, all the blame
will fall on Him. And I'll tell you this, there
is another who's responsible here. There's another who's going to
also bear some blame. Not just Judah, but Jacob. Because Jacob enters into this with his eyes wide open, and
he commits the care of Benjamin. to Judah. And if Judah doesn't bring Benjamin
back safely from Egypt, yes, the blame is going to fall upon
Judah, but it's also going to fall upon Jacob. Because Jacob
was the one who said, I trust you. I trust you. And listen to me. Our Lord Jesus,
He's the surety of the everlasting covenant, the gospel covenant.
If He doesn't bring all of God's elect children, as I said, all
of God's Benjamins, if He doesn't bring them all safely home to
glory, redeemed, justified, sanctified, and glorified, our Lord Jesus
will bear the blame but also the Father will, because it will
bring shame to the Father. After all, our Lord Jesus is
said to be the elect of God. Isaiah chapter 42 verse 1, Behold
My servant, whom I have chosen, My elect, God said. He's My elect. Who chose Him to be the surety?
God chose Him. God appointed him. And our Lord
Jesus willingly and voluntarily took this responsibility upon
Himself, but not without the Father's approval. And not without
the Father's predestinated will. Our Lord Jesus is the surety
of the New Covenant. He came into this world on a
mission. He was commissioned by the Father. In fact, we read in Psalm 89,
God said, I've laid a help upon one who is mighty. See over here
in our text, go back over here to that text again. In Hebrews
chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. Look at verse 22 again. By so
much was Jesus made a surety. Well, here's the question. Who
made Him a surety? Who made Him a surety? Well,
to go back to that story over there in Genesis 42 and 43, who
made Judah a surety? The Father. The Father Jacob, he said no
to Reuben. Yes to Judah. Who made the Lord Jesus Christ
to be the surety of the New Testament or the New Covenant, the Gospel
Covenant, the everlasting covenant of grace? The Father did. The Father did. So, in defining
this word surety, it means one who draws nigh and makes himself
personally responsible for the safe appearing of another. Like Judah said to Joseph later
on, he says, if I don't keep Benjamin safe, I'll bear the
blame forever. Our Lord Jesus will never bear
the blame. He will never fail to bring all
the elect home. He said, my sheep, my sheep,
the Father gave them to me. They're my sheep. They hear my
voice. I'll make sure they hear my voice.
I'll make certain they hear the gospel message, the good news
of substitution and satisfaction. the bloody death, the imputed
righteousness of our Lord Jesus. He will save His people from
their sins. And He shall not fail. He cannot
fail. And therefore He shall bear no
blame, but rather receive all the glory. And in bringing all
of the elect home to glory, home to God, He glorifies the Father. And He glorifies Himself. And
the Spirit is glorified. And the Benjamins are saved.
The Benjamins are saved. You know who has more to say
in the Scriptures about suretyship than anybody else? Solomon. Look over in the book
of Proverbs chapter 6. We'll get Proverbs chapter 6.
Look at verse 1. He says, My son, Proverbs 6 verse
1, If thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken
thy hand with a stranger." In other words, and the word with
can be translated for. In other words, you've shook
hands in committing yourself to be
the surety. And I say this reverently. In the covenant of grace, it's
as though the Father and the Son shook hands. This is the
way it is. In old eternity, God agreed to
save. A Savior was chosen. And then
a people chosen in the Savior. And the means of redemption was
established. The soul that sinneth shall die.
To be surety for all of God's elect, you must die. And die
He did. He says this, look at verse 2. Have you stricken hands before
a stranger? Well, then you're snared with
the words of your mouth. You know what the word snared
means? Here's what it means. You're
trapped. You're in this now. And our Lord Jesus, He entered
into this covenant. bearing full responsibility for
the salvation of all those that God gave Him. And with His own
words of promise, He snared Himself. He's, as it were, trapped, but
it's a willing trappedness. This is something He won't get
out of, He can't get out of, and He didn't want to get out
of it. when he was ready to go to the cross of Calvary
to die. Peter was ready to defend him.
In fact, he cut off the right ear of Malchus, the high priest's
servant, and the Lord reattached it. And the Lord Jesus said,
put your sword up. Don't you know, if I wanted to
get out of this, I'd call 10,000 angels. They'd be here just immediately. But how shall the Scriptures
be fulfilled? He gave His Word and the Son
of God can't lie. His very name is truth. And in the covenant of grace,
he pledged his own life's blood to save his Benjamins and bring
them all safely home to the Father. Therefore, Solomon says in another
place, Proverbs 22, 26, Be thou not one of them that strike hands,
or of them that are sureties for debts. In other words, You
better think long and hard before you become surety. Because you're responsible. Nobody
else. Nobody else. You're legally bound
to repay everything the debtor owes. Look at Proverbs 11 and
verse 15. Proverbs 11 verse 15. He that is surety, Proverbs 11
and 15, he that is surety for a stranger, he shall smart for
it. And he that hateth suretyship
is sure. In other words, you say, well,
I don't want to enter into suretyship. Well, you're free from all obligation
then. But if you're going to be surety
for a stranger, You're going to smart for it. So what does
that mean? Ever hit your hand on something?
And we used to say, and sometimes I still do, oh, that smarts.
Ever use it in that way? That's one of the meanings of
the word smart. Not only means intelligent, but
it's painful. Oh, that smarts when I bump against
the wall or something. By our Lord Jesus, when He became
surety for us, and He's always been surety, mark it down. He's going to smart for it. And
it's going to cost Him. Because our debt cannot be repaid
to God unless He suffers and bleeds and dies. That's the wages
of sin. Death. He was bruised and wounded for
our sins, but He knew our circumstances. He knew what the consequences
of sin would be, and He became surety on purpose to pay all
our debt, which only He was capable of paying. Only He understood the infinite
debt that we owed to God, And only he could pay it. Only he
could satisfy God. And in the covenant of grace,
his own words snared him. He gave his word to the Father. Look at John 6. Look at John
chapter 6. I tell you, when our Lord, when
He became sure that He took the whole of our debt, all of it,
upon Himself, there wasn't any possibility we could ever pay. And you know what? God has never
looked to us at any time for payment. He never has. He's always looked to our Judah. He's always looked to the Son
of God. This is His responsibility. And people say, you know, we're
responsible to God, and there's a sense in which that's true,
but there's another sense in which I'm not responsible to
God. My surety is. He obligated Himself
to lay down His life for the sheep. Look at John 6.37. The Savior said, All that the
Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me
I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, who commissioned
me, who appointed me to be the surety, that of all which he
hath given me I should lose not a one of them. but raise him up the last day, and present him to the Father.
Father, here are all our Benjamins. I promised I'd bring them home,
and here they are, washed in my blood, robed in the gorgeous
garments of salvation. several years ago, many years
ago, really. I grew up in Bassett, Virginia.
We had one grocery store in town. That's all we had. And it was
called Hanes Grocery. Everybody in Bassett went to
that grocery store. And I can remember it. There's
a lot of things I've forgotten, but I can remember this. He had
Robert, what was his name, Robert Haynes. He's been dead for several
years. But he had back of him, here's
the cash register right here, and he'd wait on you. He had
in back of him, he had a string Tied to two hooks, it was a long
ways across. People would come in and charge
their groceries. It wasn't MasterCard, it wasn't
Visa. Some people had cash to pay,
but a lot of people, and my dad and mom included, they would
only pay, they could only pay their bill on payday. Daddy worked
at Bassett Furniture Company. and he got paid on Friday and
he'd get his check cashed and he'd go in sometime Saturday
and pay whatever the total grocery bill was for the last week. Now
if, if we had lived in old Scotland, every charge of groceries would be called
a score. That's what they did back then.
They had a slate board of some sort, and if you couldn't pay
and you charged it, they'd put the amount that you owed on a
slate board, and that'd be your score. So all those tickets,
like when Mom or Dad go in and charge something, there's the
bird ticket, there's the bees, go all the way to the end of
the bees, there we are, birds. And every time go in, I think
Daddy got paid every other week. And every time they charged groceries,
it was a different, you know, put another ticket on top of
the ticket. And then Daddy would get paid
and he'd go in and he'd say to Mr. Haynes, I'm here to settle
up with you." And as I said, if he'd been in old Scotland,
he'd say, add up all my Scots. And they'd do that or add up
all my scores, add up all my scores and tell me what the Scot
is. The Scot was the total. Add up
all my scores. and tell me what the scot is.
And then dad would say, how much do you say? $20, let's
say. And he'd pay. And then Mr. Haynes would have said, if he'd
lived in Scotland years ago, you're now scot free. Let me
tell you something. All of our sins are scores against
God. And all of them were added up.
and our Savior paid the grand total of the scot. And you and
I are scot-free. We don't owe anything to the
justice of God. The justice of God, you see,
has never, ever looked to us for the payment of the debt.
Never has been our responsibility. It's the responsibility of our
surety. He took care of everything. And
we enjoy this great salvation through Him. See, our scores
were imputed to Christ. And He paid the full amount.
And we're scot-free. God doesn't look to us for anything.
You say, well, isn't it required of us to live as the people of
God? Well, sure. but not for salvation. That's been taken care of by
our surety. And someday He will appear before
God with all of us. What a white-robed group it's
going to be. And He'll say to the Father, Here they are, I and the brethren
which Thou hast given Me." Aren't you glad salvation is not in
any way at all dependent upon you? It's fully dependent upon
the Savior. Whoever abides with us. We're
going to sing for our last song, number 75, Abide With Me. Abide
With Me. Number 75. I know this one of
Joe's favorites. One of my favorites too and it's
a good good song to end with. Number 75. Let's stand and we'll
sing all the stanzas. Unite with me, fast falls even
time. The darkness deepens, Lord, with
me abide. When other helpers Hail, and
come first to me. Hail, all the helpless, so abide
with me. Straight to its closest, our
lives we'll make. Earth's joys were thin, winds'
glories pass away. Change and decay in all the realm
I see. O Thou who changest not, abide
with me. I need Thy presence every passing
hour. God, what Thy grace can for the
tempter's power? Who, like Thyself, my guidance
taken be? Cloud and sunshine, oh abide
with me. Hold Thou Thy Word before my
closing eyes. Shine through the gloom and point
me to the skies. And morning breaks, and birds
make shadows flee. And I'm in death, oh Lord, but
I'm with thee. And you're dismissed. I forgot to tell you a picture.