and send them to Kingsport for
you guys to use. And those pews Gabe Stoniker
grew up on. And so they've made full circle. We've been using them for, what,
15 years? And now they're going to get
them back. So I told Tim, we need all the Murray boys here.
Next Sunday. No excuses. You got to be here. But the men could plan on doing
that next Sunday. Then we can work on getting our
fellowship hall fixed up with a kitchen and fix the nursery
area and whatever else needs to be done over there. So, all
right. Next Sunday. 49? In my distress, I cried unto
the Lord and he heard me. Children of Israel, when they
were in Egypt under the bondage of sin, cried unto God and he
heard them. He hasn't changed. He hears the
cries of his children. Might he put it into our hearts
this morning to cry out to him and then for him to hear our
voices and comfort our hearts. Let's stand together. Tom's going
to come lead us in number 49 in your hardback 10 note 49. Just the first four verses, just
the first four verses. My soul friends He my savior makes me whole. Hallelujah, what a savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, is let me to
the end jesus ? And sometimes failing ? ? He
my strength, my victory wins ? ? Hallelujah, what a Savior
? ? Hallelujah, what a Friend ? ? Saving, helping, Is While
the pillows for me My heart is praying. Be my comfort that helps my soul. Hallelujah, what a Savior. Hallelujah, what a friend. Saving, helping, Keeping, loving,
he is with me till the end. Jesus, what a guide and keeper,
while the tempest still is high. storms about me night or day
be my pilot here's my Hallelujah! What a Savior! Hallelujah! What a Friend! Saving, Helping, Keeping, Loving,
He is with me to the end. Please be seated. For our scripture this morning, turn
with me, if you will, to the 46th Psalm, Psalm 46, and we'll
read the entire Psalm. Psalm 46. God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will
not fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains
be carried into the midst of the sea. Though the waters thereof
roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the
swelling thereof, there is a river The streams thereof shall make
glad the city of God, the holy place of Tabernacles, of the
Most High. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. God shall help her. And that
right early. The heathen rage, the kingdoms
were moved. He uttered his voice, the earth
melted. The Lord of Hosts is with us.
The God of Jacob is our refuge. Come, behold the works of the
Lord. What desolations he hath made
in the earth. He maketh wars to cease until
the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow and cutteth
the spear and sundered. He burneth the chariot in the
fire. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among
the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. O Lord, our God, we thank you,
O Lord, that thou art God, that you are in control of all things,
We thank you, O Lord, for your mercy and for your grace. We
thank you for the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you
for this facility that you have given us. Father, the pastor
that you have given us to preach the word of God to us. Father,
we thank you for that and we pray your blessing upon him and
your blessing upon this house. Father, we pray this morning
for ears to hear. Father, we pray this morning
for eyes to see, to see Christ in the word, the living word.
Father, we pray this morning that you might point us to the
Lord Jesus Christ through the message that you have given our
brother Greg. Father, we need to see Christ.
We need to hear your word preached. Father, we pray also for the
sick among us. Father, we pray if it be your
will, you would put your hand of healing upon them, touch them,
oh Lord, and bring them back among us. Father, we pray also
for our country. Father, we pray for peace so
that we can worship you in peace. Father, that we might be able
to gather together in your name and worship you. Father, we pray
that your will will be done in all things for your honor and
for your glory. In Christ's name we ask it. Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing hymn number 44. from the Spiral Gospel Hymnal,
number 44. ? Precious Savior, friend of sinners ? ?
We ask such to thee draw near ? let thy spirit dwell within us
with that love that casts out fear matchless savior let us
know thee as the lord our righteousness cause our hearts to lean unto
thee come and with thy presence bless Open now thy precious treasure,
let thy word here freely flow. Give to us a gracious measure,
tis thyself we long to know. Come and claim us as thy portion,
let us all find rest in thee. Leave us not to empty notions,
We would find our hope indeed. Please be seated. I'm going to attempt to sing
205 worshipfully, if you want to follow along. 205. Free from the law, oh, happy
condition. Jesus hath bled and there is
remission. Cursed by the law and bruised
by the fall, grace hath redeemed us once for all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Now we are free, there's no condemnation. Jesus provides a perfect salvation. Come unto me, Oh, hear his sweet
call. Come and he saves us once for
all. Once for all, O sinner, receive
it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Children of God, O glorious calling. Surely His grace will keep us
from falling. Passing from death to life at
his call, blessed salvation once for all. Once for all, O sinner,
receive it. Once for all, O brother, believe
it. Cling to the cross, the burden
will fall. Christ hath redeemed us once
for all. Thank you, Adam. by the sacrifice
of himself once for all. That hymn that we just heard
fits well with the message I want to try to bring this morning
if you would like to turn with me and your Bibles to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. That hymn summarizes
the meaning of this word, surety. surety. Psalm 119 verse 122,
be surety for thy servant for good. Let not the proud oppress
me. As every believers cry, Lord
be my surety. One thing that we've learned,
and I've shared this with you by way of illustration, in dealing with Financial institutions,
they don't like lending money to churches. First of all, churches historically
to financial institutions have been bad risk. They're unstable
investments. And secondly, no bank wants the
experience of having to foreclose on a church. They don't want
the reputation that that would bring to them. And thirdly, no
bank wants to own a church. Consequently, in order for a
church to be able to borrow money from a bank, someone has to step
up and put their name and their possessions on the line as surety. to make sure the loan will be
paid. A surety is one who bears the
full responsibility of the debt of another. And the scripture
speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ as our surety. We are otherwise left to ourselves
a bad investment. But the Lord has the wherewithal,
everything necessary to cover the debt that we owe God. And you and I do owe a debt to
God. In the day in which you sin, you shall surely die. That's the payment for sin. The
wages of sin is death. That hasn't changed. He's not
just talking about physical death. That wouldn't be so bad. We're
all gonna experience that. He's talking about spiritual
death. He's talking about eternal separation from God. That's what
God requires for payment for sin. And you and I are not capable
of paying that debt. And so just like when Judah stepped
up for his brother Benjamin and he said, I will be surety for
him, charge it at my hand if I bring not the lad back. So
the Lord Jesus stands before our father and he puts his name
and his possessions on the line. And he says to God, I will be
surety for him. Now, in order for us to have
the Lord Jesus Christ as our surety, he's got to be all. He's
got to take care of everything. You see, it's not like, well,
in a loan for a church where the church is going to pay the
payments, but just in case they can't, someone else will make
it sure, no, Now, surety spoken of as it relates to Christ means
that he takes on the full responsibility of the whole debt all by himself,
and we cannot add to or take away from that. And so every
sinner cries out, Lord, be my surety for good, for good. Let thy servant... Turn to me, let's turn to that
passage in Genesis chapter 42. The sons of Jacob have gone down
to Egypt to get provisions. There's a famine in the land.
And they met Joseph, but they didn't know it. And Joseph asked
them, do you have another brother? And they said, well, yes, we
have a brother at home, a younger, a boy, but we didn't bring him
with us. And Joseph said, Simeon will
stay here. You go back home and get your
brother and bring him with you. And so when the sons of Jacob
got back to where Jacob was and told him that the king kept Simeon,
and he wants Benjamin, Jacob refuses. Jacob says, no, you
can't take Benjamin. He said, Joseph has been taken
from me, Simeon's been taken away from me, and now you want
to take Benjamin away from me? He said, all these things are
against me. What he didn't realize is that the hand of God was working
all things for him. You ever felt that way? All these
things are against me. No, they're not. No, they're
not. You belong to the Lord, nothing's against you. You belong
to the Lord, all things work together for good for them that
love God and those that are called according to his purpose. It
may seem from our vantage point that things are not going as
they ought, but they're right on schedule. God provides for
his children. And that's what he was doing
for Jacob. He sent Joseph ahead of them in order to prepare for
this famine. in order to save his people. And so the Lord Jesus Christ
has gone before us. He's our forerunner. He's gone
into heaven and he's put his blood on that mercy seat. And
he's provided everything that we need to sustain us in life
and in death. So Jacob, thinks that it's all
against me. And notice in verse 37 of chapter
42, and Reuben spoke to his father saying, slay my two sons if I
bring him not back to thee. Deliver him into my hand and
I will bring him to thee again. Reuben says, you give Benjamin
to me and if I don't bring him back, you can kill your grandchildren. What a... Reuben later, Jacob
said, was weak as water, weak as water. Jacob knew he couldn't
trust Reuben. Reuben wouldn't even put himself
on the line. He put his own children on the line. And so Jacob says to his boys,
you can't do it. And look in verse eight of chapter
43, and Judah, Now Judah here represents the
Lord Jesus Christ who is of that kingly tribe, the tribe of Judah.
He is the lion of the tribe of Judah. He is our king and Judah
speaks up to his father Israel, send the lad with me and we will
arise and go that we may live and not die, both we and thou
also and thy little ones. and 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,
and let me bear the blame forever. Can you hear the voice of the
Lord Jesus in that passage? Where the Lord's speaking to
the father, and he's saying, I'll bear the blame, I'll bring
him back. I'll be surety for him. Of my hand shall that require
him. The hand is a picture of work
in the scriptures. We work with our hands and the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ is his work of redemption on
Calvary's cross when he laid down his life for his people. And he says of my hand you require
him. Was his work sufficient? Was
it just a willy-nilly offering that was thrown out there for
man to consider and to decide for themselves? Or was his work
effectual? Did he actually bring his people
home? Did he satisfy the demands of
God's righteousness and justice for all those whom the Father
had chosen in the covenant of grace? Of my hand, you required
of me, Was the hand of the Lord Jesus successful? Was it effectual? Did he actually finish the work
of redemption? Did he actually accomplish anyone's
salvation? You listen to the gospel message
that's being preached by the world and then you have to say
no. No, he didn't get anything done. He provided something, but we've
got to do our part to get it finished, don't we? That's just
not true. Our Lord became surety. He put his name on the line.
He put his reputation and his possessions and his righteousness
on the line. And he said to the father, look,
that we may live and not die, both we and thou also by little
ones. This is the only way we're going
to live. The only way that we're not going to die. Christ Jesus
the Lord is our life, and we have no life outside of him.
We try to stand in the presence of a holy God without Christ
as our surety, paying the debt, having done everything by his
hand and by his word. The Lord will say, depart from
me, for I never knew you, you workers of iniquity. And man will say in that day
of judgment, just like those people gathered on the mall in
Washington DC, but Lord, but Lord, we've done many wonderful
works in your name. Oh, we've done this and that.
We prophesied in your name. We quit doing this and that.
We reformed our lives. I never knew you. You and I have
to have a surety. Christ is the only surety, the
only sure way of having our debt paid. For he's the one that paid
the price. He's the one that paid the price.
He bore the full penalty of God's justice for the sins of his people. And that's a mystery we can understand.
When the Lord cried in the garden, Father, if there be any way this
cup can pass from me, let it be nevertheless not my will,
but thy will be done. And he sweat drops of blood.
The agony of being separated from his father and suffering
spiritual death was more than he could bear. And yet he said,
nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. And then during
those three hours of darkness on Calvary's cross, when the
earth was black so that it could be felt and the presence of God
was removed and the Lord cried, my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? He understood. He understood
what it was to suffer the judgment of God for sin. Separated from
God, spiritual death. That's what he experienced. Spiritual
separation from the Father. You see, the truth is that hell
will not be sufficient to pay for our sins. That's why it's
eternal. That's why hell is eternal. What
the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished in those three hours on Calvary's
cross cannot be accomplished in all eternity in a lake of
fire. It cannot be. God's justice will
never be satisfied by any penalty that we pay. Why do men think
that the sacrifices and the services and the things that they do for
God in this world is somehow going to earn them favor with
God when hell won't earn them favor with God? We have to have a surety. I will
be surety unto him. By my hand, I will bring him
back and charge it to my count if I don't. Is it possible that
the Lord Jesus failed in what He came to do? What did He come
to do? He came to save His people. Could He possibly fail in doing
that? No. No. Here's Christ saying to the
Father, charge it unto me if I'm not successful in bringing
every one of them back. You know, a big thing in religion
is church growth. You know, I know the comment
I made in the previous hour. Some of you thinking what preachers
getting cynical in his old age. Maybe I am. But I I hope that
the Lord will be pleased to. Call to himself. Our friends
and family members and that that the Lord will bring them in faith
to Christ. I I pray for that. I preach for
that. I hope for that. But. If Christ is not our surety,
then we have no reason to believe. We have no reason to believe
that the Lord will have mercy on anybody, lest Christ be our
full satisfaction before God. That's what surety is. Turn with
me to Proverbs chapter six. Proverbs chapter six. So, Judah. Charge it to my account. This thing I was going to say,
this thing on church growth. You know, the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ is exactly the same size right now. as it was before
Adam was created. And it is exactly the same size
that it will be in eternity. The number of God's elect was
set in the covenant of grace when God ordained an elect people,
a particular people to save. When Christ redeemed everyone
that the father chose and every one of them will be received
up into glory, And when the Lord Jesus went back to glory and
took his rightful place at the right hand of the majesty on
high, he took with him the names of those for whom he lived and
died. That's my hope. That's my hope. And this church
and every true church will be exactly the size that it's supposed
to be. Exactly. You have your Bibles open to
Proverbs chapter six. Back in religion, we used to
read this passage of scripture and think, don't become a cosigner
for anybody. Be careful who you cosign for.
If you decide to do that, that'd be wise, but that's not what
this is about. Look what the Lord says. My son,
if thou be surety for thy friend. Now I want you to think of this.
in terms of the father speaking to his son. Thou be surety for
thy friend. The Lord Jesus calls himself
our friend. He said, no longer I call you
my master for a master knoweth not what his servant, a servant
doesn't know what his master's doing. I call you my friends.
He made us his brethren. And he has struck hands with
the father. and become surety for us. My
son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken
thy hand with a stranger." We were strangers from God. We were strangers from the Commonwealth
of Israel. We were separated from God. We
knew not God. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
struck hands with the father in the covenant of grace and
said with Judah, I will be surety for them. Thou art snared with
the words of thy mouth. Thou art taken with the words
of thy mouth. Once you make a commitment, once
you make a promise, you can't go back on it. Do this now, my
son, and deliver thyself. When thou art come into the hand
of thy friend, go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. The Lord saying, you make a promise
to pay somebody's debt, you go pay it and deliver yourself from
that responsibility. But here's the gospel application
of this. The father saying to the son,
you make sure of our friends, the covenant promises that you
made to redeem your people, you're bound by them and you will fulfill
them. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus came into this world to do. Give not sleep to thine eyes
nor slumber to thine eyelids. He sent his face like Flint towards
Jerusalem. He had one purpose, one purpose,
and that was to save his people, to be surety for them, to redeem
them, to pay the debt that they could not pay. Deliver thyself as a roe from
the hand of the hunter. and as a bird from the hand of
the Father. What a glorious hope we have
in Christ. He is our surety. You're in Proverbs, turn over
to Proverbs chapter 17. Proverbs chapter 17. And here again, we used to read
this and think, don't become a cosigner with somebody or you're
gonna be responsible for their debt. Again, listen to the gospel. Chapter 17, verse 17. A friend loveth at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity. Our brother, the Lord Jesus Christ,
was born for adversity. The adversity of God's judgment
as he bore our sins in his body upon Calvary Street. the adversity
that he experienced in this world through the contradiction of
sinners denying him his glory. The adversity that he still experiences
from the unbelief and the rebellion of his people. A friend loveth at all times,
a brother is born for adversity. He is our friend and he loves
us regardless. Here's the truth about The Lord's
relationship with his people? Nothing you can do to change
his love for you. Nothing you can do to increase it. His love
is perfect. He's loved us with an everlasting
love. Nothing we can do to lose our salvation or to gain it. Christ is our surety. A man,
look at verse 18, a man void of understanding, strike at hands
and become of surety in the presence of his friend. You see, A freewill works religion
is man's attempt to strike hands with God and be his own surety. He's presenting something to
God for his salvation. Either a decision he's made or
a work that he's performed or something he stopped doing. He's
presenting something that he's done to finish the work of Christ
or to perfect his salvation before God. He's striking hands with
man. And you hear it all the time
in religion. Only an unbeliever would try
to convince another unbeliever that they were a Christian. And yet you hear that going on
in religion all the time. You know, if you pray this prayer,
you can nail it down and you can become a Christian. And then
they go around bolstering everybody's ego by trying to convince each
other that they're believers. There's only one, I can't speak
peace to your heart. You can't speak peace to your
own heart. Only God can do that. Only God can do that. A person
devoid of understanding tries to be surety for someone else. Tries to convince someone else
that they're saved. Don't hear me trying to convince
you that you're saved. You come to me and say, you know,
I don't know if I'm saved or not. I don't know either. How am I
going to know if you don't know? You know, I'm not gonna tell
you about all the wonderful things that you're doing to convince
you that you're saved. We don't do that for each other,
do we? A man devoid of understanding
tries to become surety for another man. Only the Lord can speak
peace to our hearts. If we doubt Him, our salvation
or anything else, we take it to Him. Lord, you're gonna have
to comfort me in this. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
six. Galatians chapter six. Here's the religion of this world. Some
of us spent many years part of this. By the way, my own personal
experience was that I had a moral reformation at the age of 20
years old. And it changed me. It changed
my, I quit doing a bunch of stuff that I used to do. I became very
outwardly moral and very religious, very religious for 20 years and
was looking at that moral reformation as the hope of my salvation.
It happened in 1974. If those of you that are old
enough, remember the Jesus movement of 1974. It's very similar to
what's happening right now in Washington, D.C. It's just a
moral reformation. That's all it is. And it had
an effect on my life. And everything changed for the
next 20 years. It wasn't until I was 40 years old that I heard
the gospel. God saved my soul. But for those
20 years, ah, we traversed land and sea to make one disciple
and turn him into twice the devil that we were ourselves. We tried
to convince people if they prayed this prayer or if they got baptized
or if they did this and joined the church or did that, or if
they spoke in tongues or whatever, that was evidence that they were
saved. And we were going about being surety for one another.
Why did we do that? Because we didn't know Christ.
We didn't have Christ as our surety. The only surety we had
was the encouragement of each other. We had to convince one
another that we were saved. I told you in the first hour
that I shared, somebody sent me a video of what's going on
in Washington the other day, yesterday. And I responded with
my answer. And you know what their first
response back to me was? Well, I know I'm saved. That was their
first response back to me. I know I'm saved. Every time
I find myself trying to share the gospel with someone who's
religious, that's the first thing out of their mouth. Well, I know
I'm saved. And I want you to call me brother so that you can
be my surety. I don't call. We need to be careful that we
don't go about trying to get surety from another man, don't
we? You have your Bibles open to
Galatians chapter six. Yeah, I was going to say something,
but I'll sign on to it. Verse 12, as many as desire to
make a share, a fair show in the flesh. That's all that 20
years of religion was. A desire to make a fair show
in the flesh. Look at me. Look what I've done. Look at my life. Don't you want
to be like me? They desire to make a fair show
in the flesh and they become surety for one another. They
build one another up. They tell one another how, you
know, most religious gatherings are nothing more than mutual
admiration societies where everybody's just trying to tell everybody
else how wonderful they are and tell everybody, you know, well,
I know you're saved and you tell me I'm saved. That is striking
hands with a friend without any understanding, trying to be surety
for one another. Christ is the only surety that
we have. He's the only one that can speak peace to the heart.
But men go about trying to make a fair show in the flesh. They constrain you to be circumcised. Now just replace circumcised
with pray this prayer, join this church, go out with me and evangelize
the world. And they constrain one another
to their works so that they can bolster their own assurance of
salvation. Why do they do that? Why did
we do that? Why did I do that? Because we
didn't know Christ. We didn't have the only surety
that there is. We were trying to pay a debt
that we couldn't pay. We didn't know the debt had already
been paid in full. Christ had already struck hands
with the father, that he had already said to his father, charge
it to my account if I don't bring every one of them back to you. For neither they themselves who
are certain. Why do they do that? In order
to not suffer the persecution of the cross of Christ. You see,
if Christ is your only surety, then everything else you do, you're doing it as an unprofitable
servant. See, children of God don't go
around boasting in their good works. Yeah, we are his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus on two good works, which he has ordained
that we should follow. We should walk in them. But as
soon as a work is seen by the performer as a good work, it's
no longer good. As soon as you see something
that you do as a good work, you just took the good out of it.
That's right. The child of God says, I am an
unprofitable servant. What's unprofitable mean? It
means good for nothing. It means useless. It means easily
replaced. God can replace me and you with
something better just like that. And that's what every believer
believes about themselves. They don't go about boasting
in what they're doing or trying to bolster the assurance of another
unbeliever by telling them that they're saved and calling everybody
brother and insisting that everybody be. No. No. That's a fair show in the flesh.
And that's all done because they don't have Christ as their shield. You see that, don't you? It's
so clear. Some of you have had the same
experience I've had. And why? To avoid the persecution
of the cross. You see, if Christ is everything, then that exposes me for what
I am. Nothing. Nothing. Men are not going to
have that. They're going to boast in something
that they've done. A prayer they prayed, a work
they performed, a change in their life. They'll go, well, look
at me. I'm not doing this or that anymore. I can tell you by personal experience,
when I had that moral reformation at 20 years old, I mean, instantly
things changed. Everything in my life changed. I grew up the son of a sailor
and I was a sailor. And the term curse like a sailor,
That's just the way I grew up. I didn't think anything of it.
It's the way everybody talked. You couldn't speak without talking
that way. And when I had my moral reformation,
just like that, just like that, I stopped talking like that.
Just like that, I stopped using the name of the Lord in vain. And for the next 20 years, I
was more guilty of using the Lord's name in vain by denying
Christ his glory in salvation as a preacher than I was as a
cursing sailor. Don't look to a moral reformation
as your salvation. And don't try to encourage someone
else to believe that they're a Christian and give them assurance
of their salvation by telling them, you know, about God has
to do that. This is a fair show in the flesh
to avoid the persecution of the cross. For neither they themselves who
are circumcised keep the law, but desire to have you circumcised
that they may glory in your flesh. That's what religion is all about.
It's all about glory in another man's flesh. Look at look at
my disciples. Look at what he's done. Look
at the change in his life. And they speak peace, peace to
one another when there is no peace. Why? Because they don't
know Christ. They don't know the one who stood
before his father and struck hands with him and said, I'll
be sure to I'll be sure to for them. Turn with me to the book of Hebrews
chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7. Verse 17. For he testifieth, that's the
father, is testifying about his son. Thou art a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. That's a quote from Psalm 110.
So the father is saying to his son, you are a priest forever. All those Old Testament, don't
try to be your own priest. And don't make a priest out of
a man. I could tell you about my 20 years in Catholicism before
that. And, you know, we made priests
out of men. We thought a man can intercede
for me. No, he can't. No, he can't. Christ is that priest forever. For there is barely a disannulling
of the commandment gone before for the weakness and the unprofitableness
thereof. The Old Testament types and shadows
never saved anybody. The law never saved anybody for
the law made nothing perfect. And that's what God requires.
God requires perfection and he will not settle for anything
less. And the law made nothing perfect. But the bringing in of a better
hope did by the which we draw nigh unto God. What's the better
hope, Christ? He's the perfect man. And in
as much as not without an oath was made priest, for those priests
were made without an oath, but this with an oath by him that
said unto him, the Lord swear and will not repent, thou art
a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, but by so much
was Jesus made a surety of a better testament. He's talking about the time when
the Father struck hands with the Son, before the moon and
the stars and the earth were created, before Adam was fashioned
out of the dust of the earth, when God in the covenant of eternal
grace agreed with the Son that He would provide Him a people
and Christ would be their surety. And the Spirit would come and
make them willing. And that was an oath. And all
those types and shadows of the Old Testament pointed to the
fulfillment that Christ would have. He is the surety of a better
covenant, a better promise, a better testament. What's a surety? One
who makes a debt sure. Sure. That's a surety. One who bears the full responsibility
of the debt of another. I want to close telling you a
story. It's very odd. And yet when we
understand it in light of the gospel, it makes sense. In Genesis
chapter 38, Judah, Judah, the same one who became surety for
Benjamin. Judah had a son. His name was
Ur and his wife's name was Tamar. And the scripture says in Genesis
chapter 38 that Ur was a wicked man and God killed him. And so
Tamar was given to Ur's younger brother to bear a child and bring
seed and keep the name of the brother. That was the Old Testament
way of keeping the name going. And the younger brother refused
and God killed him. Judah had another son, Telah,
and Judah refused to give Tamar to Telah to bear a child, which
by the law he was required to do. But I guess he thought, you
know, this woman's bad news. He's already killed two of my
sons, you know, and I'm not getting my third son. So Tamar, you remember
the story, Tamar dresses up as a harlot and Judah's traveling
and he sees Tamar and he makes an agreement with her to go into
her. And they decide there'll be a,
What will be the price? What will you pay me? And he
told her a kid from the flock. And she said, what will you give
me? Because the flock's not here.
You've got to go get it and bring it back to me. It's his daughter-in-law. But he thinks she's a harlot.
And he's making a deal with her. And she says, I need a surety
that I'm going to get what you get, what you, I need a pledge
is what she said, which was a surety. And he said, well, what do you
want? And she said, I want your signet. That was a signet ring,
which was used to seal covenant promises. I want your braces,
your bracelets, and I want your staff. And so she took those
three things as pledge. He went home, not knowing that
Tamar is now pregnant. And he gets back to Judah that
your daughter-in-law is pregnant. And Judah says, burn her. And she brought, they brought
Tamar to Judah. And Tamar said, do you know who
these belong to? And Judah says, she has been
more righteous than me because I gave her not my son, Shelah. And she bore twins. And one of
those twins name was Phares. He's mentioned in Matthew chapter
one. Phares was the great grandfather
of Boaz. who with Ruth gave birth to Obed,
who gave birth to Jesse, who gave birth to David. So the child
of this union is in the lineage of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the point of the story. She wanted a pledge. She wanted
something to assure her that she would number one, live. and get what they had agreed
upon. And she had his signet ring. What is that symbolic of? I'll tell you what it's symbolic
of. It's symbolic of this right here. It's the covenant that's
been sealed by the promises of God. And we're like Tamar. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
gone into harlots. We're so much like Jose and Goma. We've committed harlotry and
denying our God through unbelief. And the bracelets, they're symbolic
in the Song of Solomons as grace. Grace, there we have it. What
is grace? It's looking to Christ alone
for all the hope of our salvation and all the hope of our righteousness,
all the hope of our justification before God. That's grace. Not
believing that you don't have any righteousness of your own
and you can't be surety for yourself and you can't look to another
man to be your surety. Only Christ can be your surety.
That's grace. Only God's people believe that.
And the staff. Thy rod and thy staff, they do
comfort me. What was the shepherd's staff?
That's what the shepherd used to bring the sheep close to himself,
doesn't he? And she had that. She had that
which symbolized the word of God. She had the spirit of God,
the grace of God, and she had the love of God, which continued
to draw. How do we know that we have Christ
as our surety? We believe his word. And we know
that it's all about Christ. We know that our salvation is
all of grace. And every time we hear the gospel,
the Lord takes his loving staff, puts it around us and brings
us to himself. And he speaks peace to our hearts
as our surety. What did David pray in Psalm
119? Lord, Be my surety for good, for good. And let thy servant not be ashamed
by the proud. He's not talking about the proud
out there in the world. He's talking about the pride
in our own hearts. Our heavenly father, bless your
word. Glorify thy son, we ask it in
Christ's name. Amen. 125 and a hard back 10. Now let's
stand together 125. I hear the Savior say, Thy strength
indeed is small. Child of weakness, watch and
pray, Find in me Thine own. Jesus made it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. O for now indeed I find, Thy
power and light alone, Can change the leper's spots and melt Jesus made it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. For nothing good have I I'll wash my garments white in
the blood of Calvary's Lamb. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow. And when before the throne I
stand in Him complete. Jesus died my soul to save. My lips shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all, all to Him
I owe. Sin hath left a crimson stain. Who's doing this?