I consider this such an honor
to be able, first of all, to be asked to be here. It is an honor and truly as thankful
as I know how to be, to be in a place where I'm convinced that
the Lord is blessed and his blessing, and I pray his continued blessing.
I thank God for you. Let's take our Bibles. I want
you to turn with me to the book of Proverbs. I've been going
through the book of Proverbs for a while and I'm convinced
that this particular, it's Proverbs 20. Proverbs 20 and verse 16,
but I'm convinced that this is the message that
the Lord has laid on my heart for this morning. Proverbs 20 and verse 16, the
scripture declares, take his garment that is surety
for a stranger and take a pledge of him for a strange woman. Now, to get to the heart of where
we are on this particular passage of scripture, I want you to imagine
that we're in a courtroom. And in this courtroom, there's
at least four people. There's a judge. There's somebody there that owes
a debt. and is caught. There's someone
there that has made himself surety for that debt. And then there's
a creditor. There's somebody there that is
owed some money or whatever was pledged. All the evidence has been presented. The case has been heard. And
the judge has made a judgment on the case. The one that's speaking
in this passage of scripture is the judge. And obviously,
the one that's been charged, the borrower, he's the stranger. And he's got a debt. that he just didn't make good
on. And so the creditor, the one that is owed the money, he
wants his money. He wants what's owed to him. And seeing that the stranger
in our passage, the one that's not made good, He hears the judge
speak to the creditor, the one that loaned the money or loaned
whatever, and he hears the judge say to the creditor, gives him
the freedom and the right that whatever was owed that now has
been made good for by the surety He wants it paid. I want this
to be squared away. I want you that have stood for
the surety as the surety. Okay. You make good now on this
debt. Now the surety in our verse of
scripture, pledged his garment. That's what, he pledged his garment. for the stranger, a stranger
whose very name now, I want you to just look at this for a minute. Verse 16, take his garment, that
is surety for a stranger. Now, the word stranger there,
I like to look these words up. Let's find out, what are we talking
about? It's stranger. Well, this is
what it means. This is the definition of stranger.
Alienated, loathsome, unreliable. And if you go a little bit deeper,
you know, if you look these words up, you get you a good concordance
to look them up. That word comes from this word. It comes from
that word. It comes from another word that
means unfaithful. So he's alienated, he's loathsome,
he's unreliable, he's unfaithful. So, I want you, the judge says,
now, okay, here's a guy that didn't make good on his debt.
Here's a man that's owed the money, right here. I'm the judge,
and here's the surety. And the surety said, I'll stand
good for it, whatever. What'd you pledge? I pledged
my garment. Okay. Give it to the one that's owed
the garment, that's owed the debt. Now, take his garment,
that is surety, for a stranger. The law's gonna have to be honored. Whenever you stand as a surety
for somebody, you put your name on the dotted line. And let me
tell you who's responsible. You are. I'll sign, I'll co-sign,
I'll stand as a surety. And the law's fair, it's fair. You agreed to that. So now, hold
the surety now accountable. It says, take his garment that's
surety for a stranger and take a pledge. What does that mean? I'm giving him a word. I'm going
to tell you something. I'll do that, okay? The garment
that you pledged, I want you to give it to the creditor because
of this strange woman over here. Now, you know, if this scenario
was viewed through human logic, let's just talk for a second. If this was looked at with human
logic, that sounds like probably one
of the most foolish things that somebody could do. If I go down
to a place in Fairmont and I walk in somewhere Walk up to a place
where they bank, whatever. Just walk up to the man in charge
and say, listen, is there anybody here borrowed any money from
you? Well, yeah, we have. Well, is anybody late on it? Have they incurred now an overdue? Well, yeah, I'm afraid we have.
Well, are they all reliable? Well, we've got one here that's
questionable, really questionable. He's truly proven himself now
to be unreliable, unfaithful, loathsome person. He's alienated. Well, I'll tell you what it is.
I'll make good on it. Whatever they've incurred, I'll
make good on it. You say, you know, you realize you're gonna
have to pay. Yeah, I'll make good on that.
Who, humanly speaking, in their right mind, would pledge himself,
pledge his property, for someone who is a stranger, unreliable,
especially a strange woman? Now, again, I'm just looking
these words up. Take a pledge of him for a strange
woman, a harlot, a harlot, knowingly unfaithful. But if we look at this through
the eyes of faith, God-given faith, you talk about one of
the most beautiful pictures of the glorious gospel of God's
free grace. Here we behold the Lord's message
of mercy. Moses asked the Lord, Exodus
33, 19, show me your glory. Show me what you love. Show me what you think. Show
me who you are. He said, I'm gonna cause all
my goodness to pass before you. And I'm gonna have mercy on whom
I'll have mercy. And I'll have compassion on whom
I'll have compassion. I've said before the apostle
Paul was moved by the spirit of God in Romans chapter nine
to say, so then it's not of him that willeth. It's not of him that runneth.
It's of God that showeth mercy. In our passage of scripture,
we behold the indescribable mercy of God for unreliable, loathsome,
alienated, unfaithful sinners. The world declares a gospel. Little g, I'll just say it like
that, gospel. that they can be faithful, that
they can obey, that they can please God, and that God will
reward them according to their faithfulness. But Ecclesiastes
7, verse 20 says, for there is not a just man upon the earth
that doeth good and sinneth not. The gospel of God's grace, the
gospel of Christ, declares the mercy and compassion of Almighty
God to helpless, sinful rebels against Him who can do nothing
to help themselves. They can do nothing to help themselves. You say, well, what do you mean
by that? I don't know any other way to say it. They can do nothing
to help themselves. They can't believe. They can't
come. They can't cast themselves upon
the mercy of God. Why? They're dead. They're dead
in trespasses and sins. If we ever perceive by the grace
of God to see what dead means, it means dead. Unable. Now let's just consider this
proverb in light of the gospel. Here's the courtroom, there's
the center, there's a surety, a judge, a creditor. The stranger. Who is the stranger
in here? Well, I'll tell you who the stranger
is. The stranger is none other than the everlastingly beloved
sheep. of the Lord Jesus Christ. She's the bride. She's the church. She's his chosen. She's his love. This is his heart. I've loved
you with an everlasting love. I've always loved you. Here she
is. This bride, the church that was
chosen in him before the foundation of the world that she should
be holy and without blame before God in love. There is only one
people who has a surety that God accepts. He accepts the only begotten
son. God himself, God almighty, has one lamb. God will provide himself a lamb. God will provide himself. God will provide himself. Who
was hanging on that tree? God. God. God. And what happened? Here's the stranger, here she
is. What happened? Well, what happened is that in
the garden, while being in the loins of Adam, Representative, all representative
of mankind. Where'd we all come from? Got
a dear friend back in Fairmont, he studies genealogy. And he's
always telling me, he's telling me, he told me some things about
myself, I had no idea. He told me if I go back 500,000
years, they're not that, you know what I mean. Oh yeah, you
had a royalty in your, well I can tell you this. I can tell you
where I came from. I can go all the way back to
Adam. And I can tell you in Adam, this wretched sinner fell. I'm the stranger. I'm the stranger. When Adam took of that fruit,
when Adam took of it, Eve ate. Their eyes weren't open yet. But when Adam took and ate of
the fruit, their eyes were open and they knew. I have no righteousness
before God. And when he took that fruit and
he ate it, he died spiritually. It's immediately. It's what your
pastor just said. What'd he do? He hid himself.
He was fearful. And now here, having eaten and
disobeyed God, he suffered the penalty of it, death. All mankind in Adam failed to make good on a debt. What did God tell Adam? Of all
the fruit, all these trees, you eat of all these trees except
one. Except one. That's the law. That's God speaking. That's his
word. That's the expression of his character. That's God's law. And the day you eat of that,
you're gonna die. What was it that man failed to do? What did he do to incur this
debt? He disobeyed. He disobeyed. I've told you this before. I
had four kids, one of them sitting here. I'd always tell them, I
said, there's one thing I'll give you spanking for. You make
a mistake, I may slide on that and I'll decide if it was a mistake.
I'll decide if it was a mistake. One thing though, disobedience.
Disobey me and I'm gonna spank you. And As general rule, I usually
make good on it. Adam disobeyed God. And he incurred
now the penalty. He was due now the penalty. He
died. And here's his state. He's separated. He's alienated. He's loathsome. He's unreliable. Unreliable. He's in default, and now he's
accountable, accountable. The debt now, you incurred, and
now you're accountable. Boy, I don't wanna be accountable.
I don't wanna be accountable, for God. You're accountable to
the penalty of failure to pay, whatever it is. Whatever it is. Let me tell you what the debt
is to the law. You know what the debt is to
the law? Death. Death. The wages of sin of the
broken law of God is death. And now you're accountable. There's
a courtroom. There's a judge. There's somebody. Oh, but they didn't make good
on it. They're caught. Here he is. Here's man by nature. He comes, he's polluted from
the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. There's no soundness
in him, loathsomeness, possessor of a heart that's bent on rebellion
against God, unable to pay, unwilling to pay, unable to pay. estranged
from the presence of God. He's got a mind now that's not
in subjection to the will of God, purpose of God. He's guilty.
He's guilty. He broke and he's arrogantly
defiant. He's in debt to the law of God, to the creditor. That's the creditor
in this courtroom. It's the law. There's the judge. There's somebody that's not made
good on his debt. Here's the surety and there's
the creditor. Here's the law. I'm standing
there. And the law wants this debt paid. This law is going
to be honored. Almighty God had told Adam, you
are free to eat. You do this and you'll live.
You do not do this and you're gonna die. And man did not do
what God had demanded he do. And the law now wants that payment
to be made. Now here's man, he's unable. He's unable. Man's spiritually unable to do
anything to undo the wrong. I remember one time I was driving
down the road and I went through a stop sign and
I looked around. Man, I was checking all the windows
real quickly. It went through my mind, I wonder
if I just backed up and just backed up through the intersection
maybe and just start over. I'd already gone through it.
I'd already broken the law. I was with a friend of mine.
Ignorance is no excuse. I was with a buddy of mine. Not
too long ago, two or three years ago, we were driving down a little
old road, and we went through a little small town. And the
next thing we knew, he was driving. And the next thing we knew, there
were flashing blue lights behind us. He was pulling over. I thought he wanted me to drive.
I said, what's the matter? He said, I'm getting pulled over.
We didn't realize what happened. We'd gone past, neither he nor
I had seen a change in the speed limit. And we went through it. I didn't see, I honestly, I did
not see it. He didn't see it. But do you
know what? The police officer knew it was
there. And he pulled us over. And we incurred a debt. And the
debt had to be paid. Ignorance is no excuse. None
whatsoever. The law, the scripture says,
by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. That stop sign
that I went through, he couldn't stop me from going through it.
I'd go through it if I want to. But I'm telling you, I'm still
guilty. Or what if you didn't get caught? I'm still guilty. A stop sign. The law cannot save
us. Scripture says by the deeds of
the law. By the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight.
By the deeds of the law is the knowledge of sin. The law tells
us God's standard of righteousness before him. So the law can't
save us. People talk about I'm saved by
grace but I'm justified by the law. No, no, no. One man has
kept the law, one man. Christ Jesus the Lord, the man,
Christ Jesus, the God-man mediator. The law cannot save, why? The
law didn't shed his blood. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. You can't justify a man, but
man's guilty. I was conceived in sin. came forth from my mother's womb
speaking lies. You can't make me righteous.
The only thing that the law does is expose the depth of the darkness
of our sin and execute, unless there's a surety, the wrath of
God. That's the law. The wages of
sin, death. But according to the word of
God, before there was a sinner, there was a savior. Yeah, here's
a miracle of God's grace. The surety of the sheep. Gabe
was talking about Proverbs chapter eight. I love that chapter. Please,
please get a chance, go read Proverbs chapter eight. He's
talking about wisdom himself. I was ever before him, I came
up as one with him. Our delights were with the sons
of men. Here's the surety of the sheep. The angel of God's covenant stood
and he was gonna answer for the bride. He eternally saw his people
in the fall before they were ever created. God provided himself
the surety, surety. And the scripture declares, just
like that passage that Brother Cody read, there, it was the
brother Judah and Isaac, Israel, his dad. Dad had one son, one
youngest son, had a bunch of sons, but had one, still there
at the house. And what happened was the famine,
it was a great famine. in the land, they had to have
that corn. We heard the passage of scripture. And his dad, Isaac,
he's told by Judah, the brother, he said, well, the man over there,
didn't even know it was his brother, Joseph. He said, that man said,
if I don't bring my younger brother, he said, don't come back, don't
even show up. Here's Isaac, this old father,
loves his kids. He's getting old now, and he
said, oh, look, I've already lost one. He thought Joseph was
gone, been long since been killed by animals, he thought. He said,
I've lost one. If I lose this one, what am I
gonna do? Judas said, I'll be surety for him. He said, of my
hand shalt thou require him. If I bring not unto thee and
set him before thee, let me bear the blame. So here's the stranger
in that courtroom, guilty, deserving the eternal death of the law.
Oh, but almighty God, who has been pleased to show mercy. One stands forth. Assurity. Assurity. he's gonna make good
on this. What did he pledge? Well, the
scripture says he pledged his garment. Take his garment that
is surety for a stranger. Now, this garment that was pledged,
you know, the garment sets forth in this scripture here, all scriptures
concerning the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an emblem,
sets forth the character of the owner. This garment, let me show
you this. Let me see if I can make good
on this. Concerning the wicked, Psalm 109, 17, 18, listen to
this. He says, as he loved cursing,
now this is speaking of us, born in Adam. As he loved cursing,
so let it come unto him as he delighted not in blessing. So let it be far from him as
he clothed himself with cursing, like as his garment. So let it
come into his bowels like water, like oil into his bones. That's
how men and women are born. What? Cursing. Cursing God. We were all children of wrath,
wrathful toward the Lord, even as others. That's what Paul said
in the book of Ephesians. So what's the garment set forth
concerning the wicked? He hates God. His robe, his garment
is cursing. Listen to this concerning the
character of a believer. 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. For God resisted the
proud and giveth grace to the humble. So we talk about the
garment of a believer, a sinner saved by the grace of God, clothed
with humility. Oh, but when we talk about the
surety, the surety of God, the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the
one who has pledged his garment, that's what he's pledged, that's
what it says, take the garment. That is a surety for a stranger. When that garment, it was spoken
of, turn with me to Exodus chapter 28, Exodus 28. Exodus 28, Aaron back in the
Old Testament, here's a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
great high priest himself. Exodus 28, look at verse 31,
32. Exodus 28, 31, 32. Thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment
the Urim, and the Thummim, 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 hold 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
habergeum that it be not rent." Now here's a picture now. Now
you know the story of when the Lord was upon the cross and His
garment was taken, His robe, and He cast lots for it. Let's
see, let's don't tear it, let's don't rent it, you know. The
outer garment that he wore, that was a picture, that was a type
setting forth the unbroken perfection of his character. Here he is. Who is he? What has he robed
in? Righteousness. Righteousness. Holiness. It's the best robe. It's the
robe that is imputed, that robe of righteousness, the righteousness
that is given unto the saint. That's his righteousness. That's
his. What has he pledged? He's pledged himself. You take his garment. What's
it gonna take? To satisfy this creditor, what's
it gonna take to satisfy the law? It's gonna take his glory. The glory of his righteousness,
his holiness. That's what it's gonna take.
It's gonna take obedience. The law, demanded I must be satisfied. That's what that creditor said.
You pledged yourself. You pledged all of yourself. You pledged your life. What's
it gonna take? That's what I want. That's what
I want. The law demanded justice. Disobey me. When the father spoke
from heaven, this passage of scripture has always amazed me.
Here was the Lord Jesus Christ being baptized. And a voice was
heard out of heaven, said, this is my beloved son, and whom I'm
well pleased. Spirit of God in the form of
a dove descended, lighted upon him. You know who that is? That's
the Lord Jesus Christ. The fullness of the Godhead bodily.
As Gabe just said, who can explain that? I can explain that. One
God. See me, you've seen the Father.
I'm not trying to re-preach the message. It's the truth, I just
rejoiced in it. One God. God Almighty. who said concerning his word,
thou has magnified thy word. He's magnified his word above
all his name. This strange woman, this unreliable,
loathsome, unfaithful, disrespectful woman has pledged A debt that
she can't keep. And I want it paid. Or she's
gonna suffer. She's gonna die. And this surety,
who was the surety of God, said, I'll pay it. I'll make good on
it. He pledged to pay himself. What's it gonna take? It's gonna
take you. your life, your blood, all represented by his garment. His garment. He's going to extract the totality
of what the debt demands. I want it all. I was in a courtroom
one time with a buddy of mine, and I watched this all play out,
and I watched plea bargaining. This is what you owe, but I'll
tell you what to do. You do this right here, and I'll
kind of slide. There's no sliding with the law. I want this settled to the last
dot. Cross it, I want it. And he made good. The Lord God told Hosea, I said,
I want you to take a wife of a harlot. I want you to take
an unfaithful harlot. You marry her. He did. She wasn't
faithful. She wasn't faithful to him. Left him, ran with her, loved
her. You know the story. Hosea, just read 1, 2, 3. Chapter
1, 2, 3, you'll see. Unfaithful, unfaithful. Came up in the end of her life,
she wore out. Wow, on the auction block. Lord told Hosea, he said, you
go back and redeem her. And he did. He loved her. Loved
her, his wife. He was made, the scripture said
he was made sin. What's it gonna take? Here's
the surety, what's it gonna take? Well, what did she do? Well,
she broke the law. Well, what does the law demand? The law demands the payment for
her sin. And the penalty? The penalty
is death. And the scripture says, 2 Corinthians
5.21, he, the father, made him the stranger. Made him sin. That's us, that's
us, that's what we are. You wanna talk about our garment?
The garment of wickedness? You wanna go back and read that
scripture again? That's what we are, that's what we are. He
hath made him sin. Old Brother Scott Rich, I told you
this before, it's so good, I have to say it again. Brother Scott
said, whenever the Lord made water into wine, He said, was
it a glass of water and just took a post-it note and just
put on there wine? Or was it wine? It was wine. When the Lord was made sin, what
was he made? Sin. Someone said, well, I don't
see how, well, as graciously as I know how to say it, what
did the Lord say? He had made him The guiltiness. He made him sin. This is what
it's going to take for the surety. And when God plunged his sword
of justice into the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ died. Acts 20, 28. The blood of God.
He hath redeemed with the blood of God. He paid the debt and now let
me tell you where the stranger who has been redeemed by the
surety. Let me tell you what she has
now. No debt. I'm telling you when the Lord, and I don't even
know how to say this because I can't speak eternal. I only
can speak sort of in time. He's always stood for the sheep. There's never been a time eternally. How long has he been married
to her? I will betroth you unto me forever. I looked up that word. You know
what it means? Vanishing point. Vanishing point. Look it up.
It means vanishing point. I've dabbled in art a little
bit, and I can tell you, a vanishing point means it just goes to where,
and if I got to where that point was, it would still be a vanishing
point. It's just, how long has he stood
for the sheep? I've always loved you. I've loved
you with an everlasting love. Therefore, in righteousness,
that I call you myself. He has stood for her everlastingly. That blood was shed, and I'm
telling you, do you know what is owed to the law by those for
whom Christ died? Do you know what they owe the
law? Nothing. There's no debt. I can make good
on that, Romans 8.1. There is therefore Now, no condemnation to them
who are in Christ Jesus, which walk not after the flesh, but
after the spirit. This glorious gospel is preached, and God Almighty
who sends this gospel When it pleases God, He puts
them under the sound of the grace of God. Not the works of the
law. Not exercise your free will.
Not walk down the aisle. I told people so many times,
you know the difference right here in the back of that room.
I'd say 24 feet. That's the only difference. A
man and woman comes to Christ in their heart. They come to
Christ. They don't come to an altar. This is carpet. This is wood. This is wood. We have one altar,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the altar. He's the sacrifice.
He's the priest. Salvation's of the Lord. Here's the stranger. And this stranger is caught.
In summary, I'm just summing this up, all I'm doing. We got
a stranger, unreliable, unfaithful, loathsome, alienated. That's
me. I need some hope. I need some
help. I need somebody to save me. And there's a surety, there's
a surety, a surety that's pledged himself Whatever the law has
demanded, I'll make good on it. I'm gonna make good on it. There's
a judge. There's the law. They're all
together. And this stranger now, who needs
some help, has one that stands for him. His surety. And the judge says to the surety, take his garment. It's surety
for a stranger. Take a pledge of him for a strange
woman. Make good on this debt. And he did. Now here's my closing
question. Is he my surety? I know that
he is the surety. Call his name Jesus for he shall
save his people from their sins. I know that. But did he save
me? That's the question. I believe
he saved my son. Did he save me? Why? How about me? Is there any foundation of hope
for this? I think that's a good question.
Did he die for me? Well, turn to John 7 and I'll
close with this, John 7. John 7, verse 37-38. John 7, verse 37. In the last day, at great day
of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, Now listen, I'm
gonna have to read this, Dwight, for me. I'm gonna have to read
this for me. I've gotta have, I need this
for me. If any man thirsts, if any man
thirsts, thirsts after righteousness, thirsts after fellowship with
God and peace with God, If any man thirst, let him come unto
me and drink." What does that mean? Don't go
to the law. Don't go back to a day 14, 15,
30 years ago, at 2.15 on a Thursday afternoon or Sunday afternoon
or something. I knelt down at an altar and
I said, no, no, no, no. All that's water under the bridge.
I'm talking about right now. I'm talking about today. Whatever
happened yesterday, how many times have I said this? I breathed
yesterday. I breathed this morning when
I got up. I breathed just before I stood up here, but I gotta
breathe right now. I gotta have a breath of air
right now, and if I don't have air right now, I'm gone. You just look quickly, because
I'm gone. I've got about two minutes. I'm gone. I've got to
go right now. If any man thirsts, let him come
unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, again,
not on my decision, not on my church membership, he that believeth
on me. Who is he? He's the surety. He's the only one that can answer
and has answered before God. God's law, he's the only one.
I can't, I cannot, I cannot, I cannot. He that believeth on
me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. All right, here's my question.
Do I have any part in this? Do I thirst after fellowship
with God? He said, I am the way, I'm the
truth, I'm the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Do I thirst after life with God? Come to Him. Come to
Him. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not on the
Son hath not life. The wrath of God abideth on him. May the Lord bless these words
to our heart for His glory in our good.