We turn for our text tonight
to words that we find in the book of Proverbs. In Proverbs
chapter 6, the first two verses, Proverbs 6, the first two verses,
My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken
thy hand with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of
thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Thy son, if thou be surety for
thy friend, who is this son being spoken of, who stands as a surety
for his friend. And I want us to consider the
Lord Jesus Christ as that one who is the surety. of His people. We read those words in Hebrews
7.22, By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better covenant. Christ is a surety of a better
covenant. God's only begotten Son. the eternal words of God, the
eternal wisdom of God, the one of whom we read later in chapter
8. And now we see him and hear him
speaking there, verse 22. The Lord possessed me in the
beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up
from everlasting, from the beginning, wherever the earth was. When
there were no depths, I was brought forth. when there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. And then he says at verse 30,
Then I was by him as one brought up with him, and I was daily
his delight, rejoicing always before him, rejoicing in the
habitable part of the earth, and my delights were with the
sons of men. the eternal Son of God who entered
into the eternal Covenant and in that Covenant was pleased
to stand forth as the surety of his people. Or do we not see
so much of the Lord Jesus Christ here in the book of Proverbs? We have the Gospel in the book
of Proverbs. The Lord Jesus himself says to
the Jews, search the Scriptures. In them ye think that ye have
eternal life, and these are they that testify of me. We do not do right justice to
the Word of God if we're not reading it and seeking to find
the Lord Jesus Christ throughout, in every page, in every passage
of Holy Scripture. and there he is seen here in
this book of Proverbs the language that we have there at the beginning
of the book in the opening chapter as Wisdom speaks there in chapter
1 in chapter 1 verse 20 and the following
verses Wisdom cries without She uttereth her voice in the streets.
She cryeth in the cheap place of concourse, in the openings
of the gates, in the city. She uttereth her words, saying,
How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners
delight in their scorning and fools hate knowledge turn you
at my reproof behold I will pour out my spirit unto you I will
make known my words unto you here is wisdom here is wisdom
speaking in the streets the cheap place of concourse uttering her
words and giving that great promise Behold, I will pour out of My
Spirit unto you. I will make known My words unto
you. And do we not see that very passage
of Scripture in the Old Testament fulfilled in the New Testament
in the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ? In John chapter 7 we
read of the Lord Jesus being at Jerusalem at the Feast of
the Tabernacles. And what do we read? 37, there
in John 7, in the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus
stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto
me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living
water. But this spake he of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy
Ghost was not yet given, because of Jesus was not yet glorified. says John. There in that chapter
then we have the fulfillment of those words that we find at
the beginning of this book of Proverbs. The gospel in the book
of Proverbs. And the gospel set before us
here in the words of our text this evening. What do we read concerning Proverbs
Again there at the beginning, verse 6 of chapter 1, to understand
the proverb, and the interpretation, the words of the wise, and their
dark saying. Oh, there is much that is dark,
difficult for us to understand, and yet surely the key whereby
we can unlock the truths that are contained in such a part
of Holy Scripture, that key is to be found in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says, I will open my mouth
in a parable. I will utter dark sayings of
all. And here I say, we see the Lord
Jesus declaring himself, setting himself before us as that one
who is the surety. It's one of the offices, one
of those precious offices of the Lord Jesus Christ under the
Gospel. My son, if thou be surety for
thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with the stranger, thou
art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with
the words of thy mouth." Now sure it should. It was a great
favourite, this subject, with the Puritans. And it well describes to us something
of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, His work and His office,
as the Saviour, when we think of the sufferings of the Lord
Jesus. Look at the language that we
have there in chapter 11 verse 15, "...he that is sure to for
a stranger shall smart for it." Oh, does not the Lord Jesus stand
as that surety who knows what it is to smart, to suffer, to
bleed, to die? why here in this book of Proverbs
we have so many references to suretyship and the cost the cost
of being a surety in chapter 17 and verse 18 a man void of
understanding striketh hands and becometh surety in the presence
of his friend and then again in the 20th chapter that verse
16, take his garment that is surety for a stranger, there's
a cost you see. As a man loses his garment when
he stands as surety for a stranger and then one more reference in
chapter 22 and verse 26, be not thou one of them that strike
hands or of them that are sureties for death or the surety takes
on a responsibility for the debts of others. There's a cost. And
yet in all of these things I say we see the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, coming to consider these words in chapter 6, the opening
two verses of the chapter tonight, two headings I want to take up. I want us first to consider something
of the office, the office of surety and then to see how what
we have is couched in the language of oath. Striking hands indicates
that there is a solemn undertaking being entered into here. First
of all though, let's consider the office of surety. It is of course a judicial term. it's a word that's associated
with the law courts and the surety is that person who becomes responsible
for someone else for a certain individual and the surety is
the one who will be a guarantor that that person will appear
in court at the stated time and payment of a bond might be required
of the surety as a guarantee and if that person does not appear
that bond is forfeited. It is a costly business. Now,
in scripture here in the Old Testament with the word surety
we clearly have the idea of the exchanging of places. These words
that we have in our text My son, if thou be surety for thy friend. This word surety is derived from
a word, a verb, that means to barter or to exchange. And we see therefore how there
is that sense in which the surety is standing for another. Now,
we have the Scriptures to illustrate that, Jacob, or rather Judah I should say,
is the one who stands before his father Jacob as surety for
his brother Benjamin. There in Genesis chapters 43
and 44. You know the circumstances, there
is Joseph, the brethren have betrayed him, sold him into captivity,
into Egypt, but there after so many reverses, so many trials,
the word of the Lord sorely trying him, yet ultimately Joseph is
exalted to a position next to the Pharaoh as he is able to
interpret the Pharaoh's dreams and then the years of famine
come and Jacob sends his sons to obtain corn and Joseph clearly
recognizes them but they don't recognize who this man is and
they obtain what they've gone for But then having established
that they have a younger brother called Benjamin he makes it quite
clear to them that they will never see his face again if they
do not bring that younger brother with them. They go back to their
father with what they've obtained and the famine increases and
intensifies and it's necessary for them to go back into Egypt
to obtain more corn. And there in Genesis 43 we see
how Jacob is so reluctant to send
his youngest son, Benjamin. He had lost his beloved son,
Joseph, so he thought. And now, as the brethren are
to go back, they make it plain to their father that they must
take young Benjamin with them. And Judah stands forth, Genesis
43, 9, and says that he will be surety for Benjamin. And if
he doesn't bring the boy back to his father, he will bear that
tremendous cost all his days, will Judah. And so in chapter
44, where we see them in the Egyptian courts, Judah says quite
plainly to Joseph, thy servant became surety for the lad to
my father. He became surety for the lad.
He must take on that responsibility. That's a wonderful example of
what suretyship entails in the Old Testament. But then we also
have a New Testament illustration of the same in that lovely little
epistle to Philemon. Paul's letter to Philemon, and
it concerns Philemon's slave, Onesimus, who has absconded,
and yet in the remarkable providence of God has come into contact
with the apostle Paul, and it seems has been savingly wrought
upon. And here is Paul now sending
Onesimus back to his master Philemon. And what does Paul say? There
at verse 18, If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee aught, put
that on mine account. I, Paul, have written it with
mine own hand, I will repay it, albeit I do not say to thee how
thou owest unto me even thine own self besides. Will Philemon
receive his slave back, who had so absconded? Had he wronged
Philemon in some way or other? Well, whatever had happened,
Paul says, put it to my account. Paul is there willing to stand
as surety on the part of Onesimus. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
that one who has come to be a surety for his people in the New Covenant. those words that we read there
in Hebrews 7.22. Jesus, it says, made a surety
of a better covenant. And it's the only usage of the
words that we find in the New Testament. All Christ is that one, you see,
He has brought in a new covenant. We know that there are True covenants,
here in Holy Scripture there's the Old Covenant, the Covenant
of Works, there's the New Covenant, the Covenant of Christ. And although
we speak of them in those terms, yet the New Covenant is that
that predates the Old Covenant, really, by some 400, 430 years,
because that's that new covenant is that that
God entered into with Abraham which was 400 odd years before
the giving of the Lord at Mount Sinai but who is that one who
comes as the surety of that new covenant that better covenant
it is the Lord Jesus Christ himself and how the godly, the spiritually
minded in the in the Old Testament were looking for the appearing
of the Lord Jesus Christ longing for that day when He would come
as the surety of the New Covenant as the testator of the New Testament. We find a man like Job. Job was
was a gracious man or Job was a gracious man we know how that
he was one who was justified in the sight of God he was upright
that's how we're introduced to him at the beginning of the book
there was a man in the land of Oz whose name was Job and that
man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and understood
evil perfect and upright not in himself not in himself he
was perfect he was upright as that sinner justified in the
Lord Jesus Christ he is a man who can rejoice in his Redeemer
I know that my Redeemer liveth he says and shall stand at the
latter day upon the earth he was looking for the Redeemer
he needed that the ransom price must be paid for his soul. The ransom price that was owed
to the holy, righteous and just Lord of God. He was a justified
sinner was Job. And that man so sorely tried
and tested in his faith. And in the midst of all those
trials, and you're familiar, you're familiar with the content
of the book of Job, I'm sure. many difficult passages, but
a remarkable portion of Holy Scripture. And what does he say
there in chapter 17 and verse 3? He cries out, put me in a
surety with thee. He cries to God for the surety. He longs. He yearns after the
appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's anticipating that. the coming
of Christ in the fullness of the time we're told God send
forth his son made of a woman made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law that they might receive the adoption
of son all the time would come the fullness of the time that
time that was predetermined in the eternal covenant that day
must come And there were those in Israel when the Lord Jesus
Christ was born who were looking for His appearing. But here is
Job so very many hundreds of years before that date and he
cries out, put me in a surety with the Lord. And Christ comes.
Oh Christ comes and He is made under the law. Now what are the
terms of the law? We have it there in Exodus 19.5. What does the law say? Obey my
voice indeed and keep my covenant. That's what the law says. Obey
my voice indeed and keep my covenant. Again, look at the language of
the law. Leviticus 18.5. Ye shall therefore
keep my statutes and my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live
in them." Oh, there is a righteousness. There is a righteousness in the
law. What is it? All the laws and the statutes
and the judgments and the commandments are to be obeyed. But it's not
just a matter of external obedience because as Paul says in Romans
7 the law is spiritual and the Lord Jesus in the course of his
own ministry expounds that spirituality of the law He makes it so clear
that it is a transgression of the holy commandment thou shalt
not kill if you hate your brother without a cause it is a transgression
of the seventh commandment thou shalt not commit adultery if
you look wantonly upon a woman or the law of God it's a spiritual
law and yet here we have the terms of that old covenant if
you keep God's statutes and God's judgments you can live in them
there's righteousness there but as Paul said Romans 10, 5, Moses,
describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the
man that doeth those things shall live by them. Always there is
the doing of those things. But what if those things are
not done? What if instead of obedience, there's transgression,
there's the breaking of the commandment of God? Well, Jeremiah says it. Cursed be the man that obeyeth
not the words of this covenant. The man who does not obey. And
remember the language of James, if a man keeps the whole law
of God and offends in one point, he is guilty of all. The obedience
must be entire, complete, perfect in every part. One transgression brings condemnation and curse. Cursed be the man that obeyeth
not the words of this covenant. As many as are of the works of
the law, Paul tells us, are under the curse. For it is written,
Cursed is every man that continueth not in all things written in
the book of the law to do them. And the Lord Jesus is assured
to it. who comes and exchanges places with that sinner the Lord
Jesus himself made of a woman made under the law and Christ has come as that one
standing in that law place standing as the surety He has obeyed He
has obeyed all those precepts And not only obeying all those
precepts, but the Lord Jesus Christ is that one who has borne
all the punishments, all the penalties of the transgressors. Or think of that, the two aspects
of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the theologians speak
of the active obedience, the obedience of his life. and the
passive obedience, the obedience of his death. It's a useful distinction
and yet it's somewhat misleading because in dying the Lord Jesus
Christ is not passive really. No man takes his life from him. He has power, he has authority
to lay that life down and he has power to take that life again.
His dying is a voluntary act on his part. But I say again
that that distinction that the theologians like to use is helpful
when we think of the life of the Lord Jesus. Remember how
the Apostle Paul says of Christ that He is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The person that
believes in the Lord Jesus Christ who has that saving faith, that
justifying faith, that sinner who feels himself to be nothing
but a sink of iniquity, looking to Christ, trusting in Christ,
is all righteous. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness to everyone that believes. All again the
Law says it shall be our righteousness if we observe to do all these
commandments before the Lord our God as He has commanded us.
And the Lord Jesus has done that very thing. He has honoured the
Law. He has magnified the Law. He has kept every one of the
commandments. Holy, harmless, undefiled and
separate from sinners was the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do
we read here in Proverbs 20 and verse 16? Take his garment that
is surety for a stranger. Take his garment. All that garment
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that robe of righteousness is taken because he is a surety
for the stranger, that sinner, that individual estranged from
God, alienated from God. This is the robe of righteousness
that justifies the sinner. But you see the law doesn't only
require obedience to all its precepts. What are the penalties
that must be visited on the transgressors? And those that the Lord Jesus
Christ came to stand as surety for have they transgressed? Have all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God? There is not a just man upon
the earth that doeth good and sinneth not. Or there is a penalty
to be paid and this is the other aspect of the work of the Lord
Jesus as the shepherd. Christ has redeemed us from the
curse of the law. says Paul, being made a curse
for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree. God has not only honoured the
law in terms of all its holy precepts, its commandments, its
statutes, its judgments, but He has also honoured and magnified
the law in terms of all those terrible penalties. He has borne
the punishment that was due to the sinner. He has redeemed. Oh, He has redeemed the sinner
from the curse of the law of God. That's the price that He
has paid. Made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem. To redeem them that were under
the law. Oh, the law, you see, it demands
a weighty debt. The law says this, oh, that sin
of it shall die. the wages of sin, death and so
the Lord Jesus Christ has died and he has died just for the
unjust to bring the sinner to God all the wondrous work of
Christ then in this office as a surety and what does top lady
say payment God cannot twice demand first at my bleeding surety's
hand and then again at mine." Always that sinner is truly trusting in the
Lord Jesus Christ and looking to Christ alone for salvation. All the debt is paid and God
is a just God as well as a Saviour and God could never demand a
double payment, that would be so unjust. payment God cannot
twice demand. How right are the words of dear
top lady! This is the one my son, if thou
be surety for thy friend. If thou hast stricken thy hand
with a stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth,
thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. what the Lord Jesus Christ has
done and how He has so gloriously honoured and magnified the Lord
of God both in terms of all those penalties by the shedding of
His precious blood and also by that life, that righteous life
that He has lived that robe of righteousness that He as accomplished by the obedience
of his sinless life. Take his garment that is surety
for a stranger. I was struck the other day, I've
been reading in John Berridge's Zion's Songs. In many ways I
was brought to this subject tonight in reading one of Berridge's
hymns the other morning. And it's based on that text in
chapter 20 and verse 16. Take his garment that he's shorted
for a stranger. And these words, these verses.
Yet some fond hope ariseth still that Jesus Christ in mercy will
relieve my ragged case. He bids me take a short his coat
before a stranger gives his note. and stands in debtor's place.
A friendly word the Lord one spake, and sure I will thy garment
take, for surety is thy name. Thy garment will exactly suit,
and clothe me well from head to foot, and cover all my shade. Ordea quaints John Berry. He brings out something of the
truth of what it is for the Lord Jesus Christ to be that one who
so readily comes forth as a surety in spite of the tremendous cost.
The office then, the office of the surety. But in the second
place, let me say something with regards to God's oath. Because
the language here in this text Proverbs 6, 1 and 2, is couched
in the language of of an oath, a promise. My son, if thou be
surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a
stranger, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou
art taken with the words of thy mouth. Now, we've already referred to
Job expressing his great desire there in chapter 17 and verse
3. And what does he say? Lay down now, put me in a stranger
with thee. Who is he that will strike hands
with me? It's his idea, you see, of the
striking of hands. It's something really that indicates
a promise, an oath. We might think in terms of men
shaking hands, and the shaking of the hand is that that is a
seal to the deal that they have entered into. It's the same sort
of idea that we have here. And what do we see in this? What
do we see in this language, this language of oath, where we see
how God has a great favor towards sinners? Because there is a tremendous
cost. This is why we have the wise man here in the book of
Proverbs constantly warning about the great dangers of suretyship. Remember the language that we
have later in chapter 11 verse 15? He that is surety for a stranger
shall smart for it. Or as the margin says, shall
be sore broken for it. He that is surety for a stranger
shall be sore broken for it." Oh, it's going to be something
that will cost the man very dear. Again, remember, chapter 17, verse 18, "...a man
void of understanding striketh hands and becometh surety in
the presence of his friend." It's a dangerous course of action.
but observe what it says there, he becomes surety for his friend
and here in our text, my son if thou be surety for thy friend or the friend you see, the one
who comes forth as that great friend that friend that sticketh closer
than a brother it's the Lord Jesus Christ himself What does
Christ say in the course of His ministry, speaking to His disciples,
greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his
life for his friend? Oh, in the covenant you see, Christ
is that one who has befriended sinners. Oh, in that eternal
covenant. How the Lord Jesus Christ took
to His heart the need of sinners. and we so willingly entered into
that covenant, how the Father, having made choice of people,
committed them into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
He so willingly took their cause upon Himself. Great a lot hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. But what of the cost? He that
is surety for a stranger. You see these friends, or they
might be beloved of God in the eternal covenant, but what is
their condition by nature? They are estranged from God. They are alienated. They are
dead in trespasses and sins. And God cannot wink at sin. God
cannot just ignore their condition. His holiness, His righteousness,
His justice, all must be satisfied. And there is a cost to it. If
you stand the surety for these friends who are the transgressors
of God's holy law, either the surety for a stranger shall be
so broken for it. Well, a guy, the apostle, brings
out these truths there in the language of Romans 5 Romans 5 and there at verse 6
it says when we were yet without strength in due time Christ died
for the ungodly for scarcely for a righteous man will one
die yet for adventure for a good man some would even dare to die
but God commendeth his love toward us in that while we were yet
sinners Christ died for us not a good man not a righteous man
sinners here is God commending his great love to sinners Christ
dying for sinners what a favour oh what a favour we see to sinners
in the suretyship of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's faithfulness? Here we see not only the favour
of God in this oath, but surely in the oath what we see principally
is God's faithfulness. This is the language of oath.
If thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, It's committing oneself. It's
giving one's words. It's sealing the deal, if we
might use the expression. Or remember what we read in Hebrews
7 concerning the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Inasmuch
as not without an oath he was made a priest. The Lord has sworn Thou art a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." It's by an oath
that he is made priest. That's one of his offices in
the Covenant. And he's there by oath. But then also with regards to
his suretorship. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better testament. The language of oath. What does Paul say when he writes
there to Philemon concerning Onesimus? I, Paul, have written
it with mine own hand. Oh, and are not these things
written with the very hand of God? These blessed truths. Again, going back to the epistle
to the Hebrews and the language that we have there in that previous
chapter. in Hebrews chapter 6 verse 17 well verse 16 it says men verily
swear by the greater and an oath of confirmation is to them an
end of all strife wherein God willing more abundantly to show
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed
it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible
for God to lie we might have a strong consolation who have
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us or the
hope set before us in the Lord Jesus Christ the hope of salvation
and now it's all been confirmed and confirmed it says here by
two immutable things These two unchangeable things in which
it was impossible for God to lie. What are these unchangeable
things? Well, it's the promise. It's
the promise of God. But it's that promise that is
then confirmed by an oath. We sang just now in the hymn,
God, the gospel bears my spirit up, a faithful. and unchanging
God lays the foundation of my hope in oaths and promises and
blood. That's the Gospel. Oh friends,
that's the Gospel. This is the Gospel here in the
book of Proverbs. My son, if thou be surety for
thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, thou
art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with
the words of thy mouth. The Lord Jesus Christ has done
all of that. we have God's words, we have
God's promise, we have God's oath, we have the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Shorter, and the Testator. Remember again
the language of Hebrews 9 now, and there at verse 16 it says,
"...there must also of necessity be the death of the testator,
for the testament is of force after men are dead, otherwise
it is of no strength at all while the testator lives and the Lord
Jesus Christ the testator has died and the Testaments and all the
inheritance that comes to those who have an interest in that
Testament that Testament stands or the Lord Jesus Christ has
sealed it by his precious blood but the Lord Jesus Christ is
no more dead He is risen again from the dead and risen from
the dead He has shown Himself to His disciples for 40 days
by many infallible proofs and then they witnessed as He ascended
up into heaven and now He has entered into that within the
veil and there He ever lived Oh, there he ever lives, and
his very presence, a constant plea, intercedes on behalf of
all his people. Oh, this is that one who is set
before us, friends, here in the Gospel, in the Book of Proverbs,
the Lord Jesus Christ. How God addresses him and reminds
him. of the tremendous cost of that
work that He had undertaken in terms of the eternal covenant,
my son, if thou be sure to. Or the Lord Jesus was willing.
Why so? Because He loved His own. And
having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto
the end. Or that that love of Christ might
yet be shed abroad in all our hearts, and that we might be
those who can say that we love Him. We love Him because He first
loved us. Oh, the Lord then be pleased
to bless these truths to our souls. Amen. Let us close our worship today
as we sing the hymn 148 We sang 149 of course this morning. Bereges him on Christ as a friend. There is a friend who sticketh
fast and keeps his love from first to last and Jesus is his
name. Now we sing 148. The Turing King's
College 716. And here we see Christ as a surety
for wretched strangers such as I, the Saviour left His native
sky and surety would become. He undertakes for sinners lost,
and having paid the utmost cost, returns triumphant home. 148.