Let's take our Bibles again and
turn to the book of Proverbs 11. Proverbs 11. And I'd like to look at one verse
of Scripture today. Proverbs 11, verse 15. Proverbs
11, 15. Here's what God's Word says,
"...he that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it. And he that
hateth suretyship is sure." Well, you know when you first read
that, It almost sounds contradictory, doesn't it? He that is surety
for a stranger shall smart for it, and he that hateth suretyship
is sure. Well, there's no doubt, and this
is the reason that the book of Proverbs can be misconstrued,
misunderstood. Humanly speaking, there's a natural
understanding to the book of Proverbs. It's a book of parables
that the natural man can take and he can understand some things
that are being said here. And he thinks in his mind that
he understands the fullness of it, but now you know and I know.
that the only way that a man or woman is going to understand
the spiritual message of this book is if the Lord reveals it
to him. You know that. Now, when it comes
to being a surety, now let me just go ahead and just get it
on out in the open and we'll say that we do understand the
natural thinking of man. You know that if a man or woman
is surety, cosigner for anyone, especially a stranger, you better be real cautious about
what you're doing because what you're actually doing And I'm
going to tell you this, I've done just like you do, especially
if you've got kids. Now, there ain't no way in the
world you're going to tell me that you've not helped out your
children whenever, you know, here they were, they're trying
to get going. They, you know, they've got to have, they can't
get credit because they don't have any, you know, record of
credit. They can't get a, how do you
get started in this? Well, Dad, could you help me
out a little bit here? but for a stranger, somebody
you don't know, somebody you really don't have any control
over. Being a surety for someone that
you don't know, you don't know if they have the ability to pay
it back, you don't know. You go out there and you cosign
for somebody. Let me tell you what you've just
done. You are now obligated to pay a debt that obviously they
never could afford. If they could have afforded it,
they wouldn't have needed you. If they had the money, if they
had the ability to pay it back, the bank would not have said,
well, you're just going to have to get a cosigner. They don't
have the money. They don't have the ability.
And more than likely, they pretty well proven historically that
they're not going to make good on it anyway. That's why the
bank doesn't trust them. So humanly speaking, all right,
we got that part of it out. All right? I understand. Somebody
would say, well, I tell you what, I really can't help you out there. I can't sign that note because
I'm going to tell you something. I just, well, you're probably
wise to think that through. But no believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ can read this passage of Scripture without heartfully
thinking upon the blessed surety of the sheep, the Lord Jesus
Christ. What we're going to do is we're
going to look at this passage for a few minutes concerning
God's honor, God's glory. God's grace, God's mercy toward
those that He's everlastingly loved. You see, the message never
changes. It's the same message. That's what we're looking for.
Show me the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in every passage. What did the Lord say to the
two on the road to Emmaus beginning with Moses and all the prophets?
He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures those things concerning
Himself. This is what you that believe.
This is what you want to hear. Don't tell me a bank story. Don't
tell me about going down to coast signing for a car. Don't tell
me that that's not a good idea. You know it's not a good idea.
Okay? What I want you to do is Let's
see Christ in this. Let's see the Lord Jesus. He,
as the surety, has eternally stood as the sponsor. There's a good word. For those
that the Father gave into His hands, I will undertake for you. I will bear all the burden. Whatever is required, I'm going to make good on it. Those whose names have been written
in the Book of Life Himself, I am your surety. I'm your sponsor. Settled in eternity, the Lord
Jesus Christ stood up at the call of the Father to be the
one who would answer for the debt. Before the sinner ever
fell, Almighty God knew the end from the beginning. Man will be created. He was already
known in the mind of God. I've always loved you. Before Adam was ever created
by God before any of God's elect were ever created. He said, before
I formed you in the belly, I knew you. The Lord Jesus Christ stood and agreed to the obligation,
the duty of those that the Father had purposed to save. That's
a surety. I'll answer. all that they owed
to the justice of Almighty God, to the law that they were going
to break. They hadn't even been born. Just like those two boys, Jacob
and Esau, two boys, having not even been born yet, but that
the purpose of God according to election It might stand. It will say, Jacob have I loved,
he shall have I hated. The Lord Jesus Christ coming
at you. That's what we talked about a
minute ago. I will obey for them. I will die for them. I am their
surety. And the Father always looked
eternally to the surety. What am I going to do for Marvin
Stoniker? I'm going to look to Christ.
That's what the Father first trusted in Him. I'm going to
look to Him. You agreed to answer for Him. I'm looking to You.
Boy, that's comforting to me. All that was required of God's
sheep, the surety, agreed to and did, I do only always those
things. It pleases my father. This is
my beloved son, whom I'm well pleased. You hear him. And that
which he accomplished by his absolute obedience to God's law,
that obedience charged to God's elect. That's their righteousness
given them in Christ, the righteousness of God. Well, here's what we know concerning
the one who is the surety. He that is surety for a stranger
shall smart for it, shall be broken. I'll tell you this, we've never
been strangers to him, but he was a stranger to us. We didn't know Him. We didn't
love Him. Romans 5, 8, But God commendeth
His love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, rebels,
children of wrath, even as others. Almighty God and the person of
His blessed Son died for us. Strangers! How could we be strangers
to him when he's everlastingly known us and loved us and chose
us and purposed to save us? How could we be strangers to
him who is omniscient, who knows all things? But I'll tell you
this, we came into this world rebels against him, conceived
in sin, came forth from our mother's womb speaking lies. We didn't know Him? No. Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? Who art thou, Lord? Who are you? He that is surety for a stranger
shall smart for it. And was our Lord not our surety? Yes. Did He not smart being made
the surety? What did He say to His disciples? Matthew 26, 26, Jesus took bread
and blessed it and break it. And He said, as He gave to the
disciples, He said, take, eat. This is my body broken for you. The surety. He that is surety
for a stranger shall Smart fight. Shall be broken. Made sin for
us who knew no sin. He, the Lord Jesus, made in our
nature to pay the debt that was owed to God's law. He did smart in that day, that glorious day. His bride is going to be made no spot, no blemish, perfect,
no blemish, no blemish, no blemish, no spot. And He shall eternally
bear the scars of His substitution. He came out of that grave and
he told Thomas, he said, touch my hands. Put your finger right
here on my side. Yeah, there's scars in heaven. That's what O. W. Hale wrote.
Scars in heaven. He'll eternally bear the scars
of his substitution. He did smart. Be that is surety
for a stranger shall smart for it. And here his bride will be
spotless, white as snow, no blemish. He that is surety, and he that hateth suretyship
is sure. The word surety, unless we understand
what these words mean, that Scripture appears to have a... I can understand this part so
far. He that is surety for a stranger
shall smart for it. I see. I see the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ in that. And the word surety, he that
is surety It means the security, the sponsor. He that is the security,
he that is security for a stranger is going to smart for it. But
surety ship, surety ship, that's an entirely different word. It
means to strike hands. You got my hand on this. Whenever someone strikes hands,
that means, maybe not anymore, but it used to mean, you've got
my hand on this. You know what he's saying? Buddy,
you've got my word. You do your part, and I'll do mine. I'll make good
on my word. You make good on your word, I'll
make good on my word. You've got my hand on that, brother. I don't need to sign a piece
of paper. You've got my word on it. Sure, it's a ship. Striking of
the hands. Handshake. We're in this together. Me and the Lord have got a good
thing going. You know, He died to make salvation possible. Now,
all I've got to do is accept it by my free will and we'll
have this. That's suretyship, striking the
hands, making an agreement, entering into an agreement where you do
yours, I'll do mine. He that hateth suretyship is
solid, sure. Suretyship is nothing more than
free-willed false hope. That's all it is. Let me tell
you the way that it is. I've heard this before. It is
not new with me. I did all the rebelling, and
he did all the saving. I did all the hating. I did all
the resisting, and he in indescribable mercy, as the surety for a stranger,
he smarted because he loved his own. He died for them, paid their
debt, put away their guilt. Suretyship means that I'm going
to get some glory out of this thing because I kept my end of
the bargain. That's suretyship. Striking hands,
shaking on it, nothing on man's part is added to the salvation
of God's elect. Ephesians 20, 25. The scripture said, I said Ephesians
meant Exodus. Here's the Lord. He's talking
about an altar. This is what he said. If thou wilt make me
an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone, for
if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. The
Lord would have them make an altar. He said, you build it
out of the rocks just like they come out of the ground. Don't
you shape them up. Don't you think that you're going
to take your hammer and your little chisel and you're going
to say, well, I'll tell you one thing. My altar looked better than your
altar. You know why? Because I cleaned it up. I made mine prettier. I made
mine fit together better. My rocks fit better than your
rocks. I had to knock a few edges off of them. That's suretyship. That's shaking on it. He that
hateth suretyship, being in any way a part of the accomplishment
of the salvation of God's elect, is sure and confident. The reason a believer hates surety
ship is because surety ship is nothing more than the attempt
to rob God of His glory and give me honor. That surety ship. If
I give you my hand and I shake on something and I tell you one
thing, buddy, I'll be there four o'clock tomorrow afternoon. You
got my word on it. I'll give you more right here. Put her
there, brother. I got it. And I show up tomorrow
at four o'clock. You know what I just thought? He's got to be
impressed. I was probably there five minutes
early. I told him my work was good. Philippians 3.3 says, For we
are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. He that is surety
for a stranger shall smart for it, and he that hateth suretyship
is May the Lord bless these words to our heart, to the glory of
the Lord Jesus Christ, for His sake alone. Amen.