All right, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Proverbs chapter 27. Proverbs 27. Proverbs chapter
27 and verse 13 says, take his garment that is surety for a stranger
and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. Now, as I said, I think last
time I preached out of the book of Proverbs, it's an amazing
to realize that there's times when the Spirit of God is pleased
to take a verse of Scripture, at times out of the Psalms, at
times out of the Proverbs, and say the exact same thing that
He said in a previous passage of Scripture. Now this is the
next verse that we come to in the book of Proverbs. But turn
over to Proverbs 20, verse 16. Proverbs 20, verse 16. And listen
to what the Spirit of God said there. Proverbs 20, 16. Take his garment
that is surety for a stranger and take a pledge of him for
a strange woman. Exactly. the same words. Now, you know what that means
to me? Selah. Pause here. Understand what's being said. This passage of scripture is best understood, to my understanding, If we look at a courtroom, imagine
a courtroom, and whether there's anybody else in that courtroom,
there's four people for sure in that courtroom. Well actually, in our case, spiritually
three, but I'll tell you about that in a minute. But there's
four different positions, let me say it that way. Four different
positions. There's a judge, There's a sinner, someone that
has inquired a debt, a debt that he can't pay. There's a surety that's in the
room for the debtor. And then there's a creditor.
that something was gotten from, or money, or whatever it was,
that's owed repayment. A judge, a debtor, a surety,
and a creditor. Now the one that's doing the
speaking in this passage of scripture is the judge. He's made a judgment
based on all the evidence that's brought forth. Somebody ran up a debt. He's failed to pay. The creditor's
owed whatever borrowed money, whatever. He wants his money. He wants what's owed to him.
There's someone there who is a surety for the debtor. And the judge makes this judgment
call. Take his garment, that is surety
for a stranger, and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. Now, what has happened is a surety
has made himself liable for a stranger. What he's done is he's pledged
his garment. And not being able to pay the
debtor, not being able to pay, the judge says, OK, you're going to pay. You pledged
your garment, and now you're going to pay. Now, if that scenario
right there was, humanly speaking, I began to think of someone,
I just got to thinking about someone here in town, you know,
if someone went to a place of business that someone had bought
something from, some furniture, borrowed money from a bank, But
if he'd come and he'd said, look, have you got anybody that has
purchased something from you, borrowed money from you, that
laid on their debt, delinquent? You got anybody like that? Yes,
we do. Well, OK, I'll make it good. I'll stand for whatever it is.
And I'm willing to do it, and I'm able to do it for a stranger. Now, if you had someone do something
like that, you'd think that probably would be about the most foolish
thing somebody could do. I mean, as a general rule, let
me tell you what Proverbs 11, Proverbs 11.15, Proverbs 11.15,
first part of that verse right there, Proverbs 11.15. Here's
what scripture says. He that is surety for a stranger
shall smart for it. My margin says he gonna be sore
broken. If you, when you pledge your
surety for someone, now I've said this before, all of us as
parents, we've helped our kids and we'll do what we can, but
I'm talking about someone that is a stranger. And I'm going
to tell you what this stranger is in just a minute. Tell you
who it is and what he is. This stranger, just the wording,
looking it up in scripture, I mean, in the concordance. Here's what
stranger means. Unreliable. Unreliable. Strange woman means unfaithful.
Unfaithful. If you make yourself liable for
someone that's unfaithful, unreliable, someone that's loathsome, you
make yourself sure for them, you're going to pay. You're going
to pay. Because they won't. And here's
this scenario. And humanly speaking, we'd say
I'd never want to be found in that situation. But do you know
that when we look with the eyes of faith and we behold the glorious
mercy of Almighty God, set forth in the glorious gospel of God's
free grace and compassion to undeserving sinners, rebels,
rebels against God, strangers, alienated from the household
of faith, We are the debtor. We're the
debtor. We're the debtor. The stranger. Who is this stranger? Well, I
can tell you, he's none other than the everlastingly beloved
bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's him. That's us. We're
the debtor. The one chosen in him before
the foundation of the world that we should be holy, and without
blame, before Him, before God, in love. We are the debtor. How did we get there? Well, in the garden, God spoke to Adam. Now here we are, we're all in
Adam, we all came from Adam. If you want to know our heritage,
we all had one original humanly speaking father, Adam. And God gave Adam this word,
this word, this law, this law. Of all the trees of the garden
you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, Thou shalt not eat. For in the day thou eatest thereof,
thou shalt surely die. What demand was upon Adam? What was the demand? Obedience. Obedience. That's the demand. OK. All of
this, you dress this garden. I put you in this garden. You
have all of this except one truth. When Adam ate of the fruit forbidden
of God, he owed God a debt now. A debt was owed. The debt was
owed to the creditor, the law of God, the word of God. And now what's his state? Now
what is his state? Well, turn to Ephesians 2. Where
are we now? We're the debtors now in this
courtroom. We're the debtors. Ephesians
2, 10 to 12. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 10,
for we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus under
good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. Wherefore, remember that ye being in time past Gentiles
in the flesh who are called uncircumcision, that which is called the circumcision
of the flesh made by hands at that time. Ye were without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world."
Now, who are we? Being born in Adam, we're revealed
to be the unfaithful, unreliable. Now, here we are, crown of our
head, sole of our foot. putrefying sores, possessor of
a dead heart, dead, spiritually dead heart, bent on rebellion
and hatred toward God, refusing to bow. Adam didn't obey. Now we can't obey. Dead, guilty,
broke, and arrogantly defiant. That's the debtor. That's the
debtor. Now that's what we are. Born in this world with a carnal
mind that's enmity against God. That's us. In debt to the law of God, the
creditor. Failures to obey God's command. Deserving to be cast into hell,
but without assurity, we will be. The law of God said, this do
and live. And man didn't do. And now he's unable. He's under the penalty, in debt
to the law of God. And the law demands payment. God's Word is sure. He's a just
God. And the law cannot save Him. The law, by the law, is the knowledge
of sin. That's what I know. Can't justify me. Why? I'm guilty. You can't tell a
man he's just when he's guilty. The law is not going to do that.
Can't make me righteous. All it can do is expose the depth
of my debt. And the payment, the wages of
sin is death. Oh, but the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, but there's a surety. A blessed surety. The people of God, the elect
of God, possessed a surety before they were ever created. A surety who stood for them, answered
for them. Eternally, the sheep the debtors,
they were chosen in Christ the surety before the foundation
of the world. Scripture says concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ, Proverbs 8 31, he said, I was ever before him,
one brought up with him, and our delights were with the sons
of men. Here's these that shall come
forth, his bride, his beloved. I've always loved you, betrothed
you unto me in righteousness and judgment. And here she is. He's the gift from the Father.
They're his by his own purchase, by the shedding of his own blood
that the Father saw, beheld before the foundation of the world.
Before they were ever created, the Father saw. The payment made. He's going to make good on it.
He's going to make good on it. And the father trusted him. He knew. He knew that she'd fall
into debt. He knew it. He knew that she's
going to have to be redeemed. He knew that her debt was going
to have to be paid. He knew that. I'll stand for it. I'm going
to make it good. I'll pay it. Oh, and the bride
now, born in debt to the law, owing a debt, guilty, deserving
punishment. And the surety, the surety, he
pledged his garment. I'm going to pledge my garment.
for what she owes, made himself answerable to the creditor, to
the law of God, who now deserves, demands payment. All right, here she is. She's
guilty, caught, convicted. If she has no surety, she's going
to be cast out, punished, deservingly. And the surety says, I pledge
my garment. The judge says, take his garment. That is surety
for a stranger. Take a pledge of him for a strange
woman. Now, if it was just a piece of
clothing that we were talking about, that'd be one thing. But this garment that's been
spoken of in verse 13 concerning the garment of the surety has
great significance. A garment in scripture spoke of the conduct. I'm going
to show you a couple of scriptures here are character of the owner. How? You know, the scripture
says that concerning our righteousness and ourselves, what's it say
about it? Filthy rags. Filthy rags. Now, let me just read this Psalm
109, 17, 18. I'll read this scripture. As
he loved cursing, so let it come upon him as he delighted not
in blessing, so let it be far from him. It's speaking about
us, men in general, men born in Adam. As he clothed himself,
here's what men think is their righteousness before God. As
he clothed himself with cursing, like as with his garment. So let it come into his bowels
like water and like oil into his bones. You want to stand
before God in your best, in your works, in your will, in your
choice? You want to stand before God?
Here's what He says you're clothed with, all of us by nature. We're
clothed with cursing. We wrap ourselves in our self-righteousness
and say, I stand before God. I've made my choice with the
Lord. He said, you're clothed with
cursing before me. Thank you. You can approach me. Concerning the character of a
believer, now this is how the Spirit of God moved Peter, Peter
5, 5, 1 Peter 5, 5. Likewise, ye younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another and be clothed with humility. Humility. Before others, yes, but before
God. I'm not worthy of the least of
your mercies. Lord, have mercy on me. That's what that publican said,
that Pharisee bragging, I do this, that, and the other, and
I'm not this, I'm not that, I do this, I do that. I'm not like
him, I'll tell you that. I mean, I know I'm not perfect
in myself, but at least I had done what he did. At least I, you know, I've done
some things, but I've never stooped to the depth of what he did. That's a Pharisee. That's a Pharisee. We don't know the depth of what
we've done. What we consider to be just like, you know, that
was just a little white lie. Well that little white lie? Judged
with that little white lie? A man or woman will spend eternity
in hell if that's charged to their account. A white lie? Be clothed with humility. For
God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Oh, but
when we come back to this passage right here and we consider the
surety who pledged his garment, his garment which represented
his glory, his righteousness. I want you to hold your place
and turn to Exodus 28. Exodus 28 verse 31, 32. Exodus
28. whenever the garment for Aaron
the priest was to be made. The Lord moved, instructed Moses
to set forth this truth, thou shalt put in the breastplate
of judgment the Urim and Thummim, thou shalt be upon Aaron's heart
And they shall be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before
the Lord. And Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children
of Israel upon his heart before the Lord continually. And thou
shalt make the robe of the ephod of all blue. And there shall
be a hole in the top of it. In the midst thereof, it shall
be a binding of woven work round about the whole of it, as it
were the whole of a habergeon, that it be not rent. I had to
look that up, what a habergeon was. It appears that around the
collar, the robe of the priest was one piece. It was woven in
one piece. And around the top, it was like
a corset, very strongly woven. You just couldn't tear it. Whenever the Lord at Calvary,
they were going to take it, first of all the soldiers were going
to take it and tear it up. But they said, no, let's cast
lots for it. No, don't tear it. What that set forth. was the
glorious, unbroken, unrentable perfection and glory and righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ that is imputed to his people. That righteousness that as the
God-man mediator, as a man, the God-man, holy man, He earned
a righteousness before God that is charged to His people. That's His garment. That's what's
set forth by His garment. That was declared in His Word
that God is magnified above all of His name. He said, now, this
debtor who owes a debt to the creditor, to the law of God,
because you broke it, and you owe. And you, who are the surety,
the Lord Jesus Christ, what did you pledge? I pledged my garment. I pledged my glory as the servant
of Jehovah, the representative of my people, their head, their
husband, the one who will stand at the
surety. I'll answer for them. And whatever
he owes, I'm going to pay. And I pledge
my righteousness, my glory, myself. And the judge says, take it and
give it to him. You take it. Take his pledge. Take his garment that's surety
for a stranger. Take his pledge for a strange
woman. What did it cost him? What was due? The debtor. That's
what it cost him. Whatever the debt was, whatever
the wages was, we were in debt to the law of God. What did we
have to pay? Death. That's the only payment. Any
plea bargaining? None. None. Wages of sin is death. And he bore the guilt of his
people. He bore all their guilt. Whatever
he's done, that's mine. I'll take it. I'm sure of it. And who I am, I give to him. I'll stand for
it. Take it. Give it to him. Give
it to him. And now you're liable. Now you're
liable. Scripture says he laid down his
life for the sheep, willingly. Bore their dead, bore their sin,
took the judgment that was due them, and he hung before God Almighty.
And the Spirit of God reveals that God forsook him. God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why? Because they were due, and
you bore it. You took it. You took it. You
made yourself surety. And what's due them, you gonna
pay. You gonna pay. And the sword of God's justice
was plunged into the very being of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
he died under the judgment of God, and he redeemed them. Boy,
they paid their debt, and he died, he died, buried. And now, there's no condemnation to them
which are in Christ Jesus. who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. I'm guilty. He's my surety. I put no confidence
in my flesh. The Lord who has answered for
me, By the grace of God, I trust
Him. I believe Him. I believe Him. I offer unto Him
the only thing I've got, the sacrifice of my praise and thanksgiving. Thank You, Lord, for saving my
soul. Thank You, Lord, for making me whole. Thank You, Lord, for
giving me Thy great salvation so rich and free. Amen.