All right, look at Hebrews chapter
7 and verse 22 for our reading to get us on our way. By so much,
now that takes us back to the verse before it. We'll make that
connection later. But by so much was Jesus made
a surety of a better testament or covenant, if you would. Now,
you know that in the last sermon, on the bringing in of the new
covenant, there was only a very brief mention made in passing
of the fact that our Lord is the surety and has that office
of suretyship in regard unto the new and better covenant,
so that we might devote a whole study and sermon under this aspect
of the work of Christ, that he is a surety of the covenant,
for it's broad, it's wide, it touches much, it includes a lot,
and is therefore very important. And here, before we go further,
I should like to add a part of a verse from that great, great
prophecy of Isaiah in chapter 53, and the sixth verse which
says in part, has laid on him the iniquity of us all." Now
this verse will serve us very well later in this study. It will most certainly come before
us again as we talk about the suretyship of our Lord. And I want to work slowly up
to this this evening. So first we consider the saying
that Jesus is the surety of the new and the better covenant which
then will give us the occasion to raise a question or some question
in regard, therefore, to the matter of suretyship. We ask
the question, and we hope to answer them, what is a surety
in the biblical sense of the word? What is a surety? Then, of course, the next thing
we ask, what is suretyship? What's it all about? and what
is to be done. And so what does a surety do? What is the purpose or the good
of one having a surety in their behalf? Then who needs a surety? Who would it be that would have
need of the work and the services of a surety in their behalf? And then the question, how does
one come to be a surety for another are for others. And finally,
what qualifications are necessary in order that one might become
a surety and that they might act as a surety. Now, I will
submit to you that the suretyship of Christ our Lord is one of
the most important offices in relation to the covenant and
in relation to his saving work and incarnation. In fact, saying
that there is actually an inseparable connection between Christ's churdiship
and God making our iniquities to light upon Him. That's why
I wanted to bring in that verse, because there is a connection
that Jesus is surety and that God hath made our sins to light
upon him. Only because he is the surety
of the covenant is there just reason for God to punish Christ
for the sins of others in him. It is his suretyship that obliges
our Lord Jesus Christ to give himself up for the sins of his
people. It is the fact that our Lord
is a surety. He took that office in the eternal
covenant of grace, for the covenant had to have a surety. And this
is the first and foremost reason that any could give why it was
necessary that Christ should die for our sin. First of all, let's get our minds
around the essence of suretyship by looking at lower or lesser
suretyship. Let's see how it is laid out
for us in the Scripture, and what else the Scripture has to
say about it. When we come to the suretyship
of Christ our Lord, here is our plan for today. Number one, we
want to see it from the principle of first mention. We want to
look at the first time that surety, or suretyship, is mentioned anywhere
in the Scripture. For the first time that such
a thing appears in the Scripture, it contains a lot of the doctrine. There is what in theology is
called the principle of first mention, that the first time
that a thing is mentioned, often it contains all of the aspects
of the doctrine. Secondly, we want to consider
mainly from the book of Proverbs why Solomon, who writes so much
about assurity and suretyship, opposes suretyship and strongly
counsels against one becoming surety for another. He warns of the consequences
which could be dire if one become assurity Now, the first mention
of surety, or suretyship, is found in the book of beginnings. It is in Genesis chapter 43 and
verse 9. It occurred in the events of
the family of Jacob. when Judah, you remember, offered
himself to be a surety for his little brother Benjamin, that
he might carry him into Egypt as Joseph had demanded, and bring
him safely back again. Now, it is a general rule in
theology, I'll say again, that when the principle of the first
mention of the thing as a doctrine in Scripture, there is contained
in it all of the later aspects of that doctrine. And I think
a good example of that is Genesis chapter 6 and verse 8, Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. In Genesis 43 and verse 9, What
lies behind Judah, which was one of the twelve sons of Jacob,
offering himself as a surety for his younger brother Benjamin,
was Joseph's demand that his brothers bring Benjamin when
they come again into Egypt to buy food and bread. And Joseph had kept Simeon, one
of the brothers, as a hostage in the land of Egypt so that
they might return again. When Jacob heard the news, he
was distraught and he resisted adamantly, fearing the loss of
a third son. But then in Genesis 43 and verse
9, Judah proposed something like this, quote, I will be a surety
for him of my hand shall you require him If I bring him not
again unto you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame
for ever." There is his making of suretyship in behalf of Benjamin. Now, here is the same verse translated
out of the NIV, quote, will guarantee his safety. You can hold me personally
responsible for him if I do not bring him back to you, set him
before you. I will bear the blame forever
before you, all the days of my life. And by the way, consider
the proposal of Reuben in Genesis 42 and verse 37, "'Slay my two
sons,' he said, "'if I bring him not again unto you.'" Wow,
no wonder Joseph had put the fear of God in these his brothers
when they met him unbeknown. Now let's switch our focus to
the Proverbs and what Solomon has to say about becoming a surety
for others. He mentions it several times
in the book of Proverbs. In at least six places that I
counted, Solomon deals with a matter of surety ship. They are, if
you follow or jot down, Proverbs 6 and 1. 11 and 15, 17 and 18,
20 and 16, 27 and 13, and also 22 and 26. In all of those places,
Solomon makes a mention of surety ship. Now, as to his first mention,
I want to turn to chapter 6. of Proverbs, and read a few verses
in our hearing. Verses 1 through 5, Proverbs,
the sixth chapter. Bear in mind that Solomon is
talking to the young. He is counseling the youth. And
he has personified wisdom. Wisdom is speaking in these passages
of Scripture. 1 through 5. My son, If thou
be surety for a 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. Do this now, my son, and
deliver thyself when thou art come into the hand of thy friend. Humble thyself, and make sure,
thy friend, give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine
eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from
the hand of a hunter, and as a bird from the hand of a So, he counsels against it. Now, before we comment on Solomon's
counsel, let us get the best definition of surety-ship we
can from the Scripture. The word means in the Old Testament
to mingle or mix together. It also has the meaning of to
strike hands, as if they shook hands in agreement. And when
one became a surety, he actually mixed himself up with that one
for whom he had become a surety, to strike hands, to pledge, and
to undertake, to perform something in behalf of the one for whom
he is a surety. Now, the only place that that
word appears in all of the New Testament is in our text in Hebrews
chapter 7 and verse 22. A surety is one who becomes a
bondsman for another that is non-solvent. He becomes a bondsman
for one who cannot pay his debts or his way. He becomes a bondsman
for one that is likely to incur a debt for which he cannot pay,
and therefore the surety." Now, the surety guarantees. This is what he does. He guarantees
that in the event of a default of the one that he has mixed
himself together with as a surety, that the surety himself will
make good the debt, and it will be credited to the one for whom
he is a surety. And again I say they have, as
it were, merged into one person in the matter of a surety, so
that the debt actually belongs as much to the surety as it belongs
to the debtor. And when they paid by the surety,
it is put to the credit of the debtor, and the debt is wiped
out because of the payment from the surety. Now you understand,
most societies in their civil systems and legal laws have some
form of surety shift that is legal. One becomes a co-signer
with another. one cosigns that he might guarantee
that the debt will be paid, to pay it in case there is a default
on the case of the other. Now Solomon thinks it is not
a good thing for one to rationally agree to become another surety,
and he advises against it again and again, such as he said, do
not rest until you have freed yourself from the obligation
of a surety. In Proverbs 6 and 1, it is a
friend who needs a surety. He has stricken hands with a
friend. In Proverbs 11 and verse 25,
he that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it." That is,
he shall suffer. He shall pay the consequences.
He shall endure them. And he that hates it, that is,
he that rejects and refuses suretyship, is sure. He has avoided the snare
that comes with being a surety. Says Solomon, never agree to
become a surety unless you are both prepared as well as capable
of paying that for which you agree to become a surety. So much for the civic use of
sureties among the societies of men. Let's come now to spiritual
suretyship as belongs to our Lord. It is said in our text
one more time, Hebrews 7 and 22, by so much was Jesus made
a surety of a better testament. He has done something that Solomon
strongly counsels against. He's gone against the advice
of the wise one, and he has become a surety, not of a single person. He is not a surety of a single
person, but he is the surety of many. even of the whole election
of grace. And he has become the surety
of them who at one time are the enemies of God. And may I tell
you that he did suffer and he did smart for it. For to paraphrase
the Samaritan woman, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the
well is deep, she said to that Lord. Even so, they for whom
Christ is surety have nothing to pay, and the debt is exceedingly
great." They have nothing of their own to settle the debt,
and it is great and growing. Now, let's notice some things
about the suretyship of our Lord Christ. It should be noted that
His suretyship is strictly in regard to or in relation to the
new and the better covenant that God has made. He's the surety
of that covenant, and it follows from this that he was made a
surety as soon as the covenant was established. which was before
the world. He is no late addition as a surety. He has not been brought in later.
From the very first and beginning, our Lord acted and consented
as the surety of the covenant. He gave himself freely and willingly
in that everlasting covenant. Not only so, but from the content
of Hebrews 7 and verse 22, it is clear that the priesthood
and the suretyship of Christ are so intertwined as not to
be separated. So that, notice, our great high
priest is also our surety. And the Apostle Christ was made
a priest by an oath of swearing. You are a priest forever. and that after the order of Melchizedek."
Now, this was never the case with the Israeli high priest. He never went into office with
an oath, you are a priest forever. His being made surety of the
covenant, however, our Lord was made so with an oath. Now, you see here in Hebrews
7, verse 20 and verse 21, that it was not apart from an oath
that our Lord became a high priest. And consider, in relation to
that, the first words of verse 22, by so much. Make the connection there and
compare from verse 20. In as much. The connection being,
in as much as he was made a priest by an oath by so much, by the
same oath, was he made the surety of the new covenant. Now, concerning
this being the covenant, or rather the surety of the new covenant,
John Owen dealt with a question that was a point of contention
in history, maybe even until this day, between Christian expositors
and those old heretics and apostate, the Sassanians. Now, the Sassanians
taught that Christ was only a surety on behalf of God, not on behalf
of us or we, the people. That Christ, they said, was only
a surety on behalf of God toward believers to act as a surety
that the promises of God would be fulfilled, made in the covenant. And those same Sassanians and
others denied that Christ was a surety in behalf of the people
of God or the elect. They denied that Christ was a
surety or that we needed one. to give what God required in
the covenant. Now it is easy to see that the
Sassanians and others thought that Christ was only a surety
in behalf of God unto men, not a surety in behalf of the elect
unto God, For they deny, as Thomas Goodwin put it, altogether original
sin." They deny original sin. They deny that we are corrupt
from the womb. They teach against total depravity. They do not believe in total
inability in the sinner. And they deny the need for a
satisfaction for our sins to be made unto God, that God did
pardon, they said, without satisfaction. We can see why they then pervert
the suretyship of our Lord Jesus, for suretyship in its right sense
directly contradicts their cursed doctrine of human nature that
they hold to. As Owen said, or wrote, God needs
no surety, for there is no defect in Him that requires anyone to
make up the defect. He does not have a defect that
He needs to be made up. He owes nothing. He owes anything. He's wronged nothing and therefore
needs no surety on his behalf. And besides, consider those Old
Testament mentions of a surety. Some of them we have looked at
today, such as Judah. He was a surety for whom? He was a surety for Benjamin. Genesis 43 and verse 9. He was not Jacob's surety. He was Benjamin's surety. He
was Benjamin's surety. I will surely bring him to you,
or there the blame forever in his loss. Of my hand shall you
require. I'll bring him and I'll set him
before you. If not, let me bear the blame
forever." Judah mixed himself up together with not Jacob, but
with his brother Benjamin. He was surety on behalf of Benjamin
unto Jacob. Jacob needed not a surety for
himself. Now, all of these examples that
we have in the book of Proverbs, it was the debtor that needed
the surety in each and every case. You have the case of Paul
in that little New Testament book of Philemon, offering himself
as a surety for Onesimus. Onesimus was a runaway slave. He had absconded from his master
Philemon. And by the providence of God,
he'd come across Paul in Rome and had been converted under
Paul hearing the gospel of our Lord. And Paul, now sending him
back to Philemon in verse 18 and 19, writes this with his
own hand. If he owes you ought, Put that
on my account. That is, reckon it, charge it
unto me. I, Paul, write with my hand,
I will pay it. If he owes you anything, I will
pay it. I, Paul, write that I will. He would assume any debt. and
any wrong that Onesimus had incurred against his master, Paul made
himself surety for the death of another out of brotherly love."
Now to paraphrase Matthew 9 and 12, they that are whole, that
is healthy, need not a physician, but it is they that are sick. Even so, they that are solvent,
they that are able to pay their debts, have no need of a surety
to act. in their behalf, but one swallowed
up in death, or about to be swallowed up in death, hath great need
of a surety. And there's one truth that stands
out here for us, stands head and shoulders above all of the
rest, and that is that suretyship as to its assumption is voluntary. Suretyship is a voluntary act. One cannot be forced against
their will or against their ability, or better judgment, to become
a surety. For if the latter should be the
case, then the surety himself should have need of a surety. And Christ freely gave himself
to be the surety of the new covenant. and to become surety and to fulfill
his suretyship, the person of suretyship must be of a certain
constitution. The surety of the new covenant
must be constituted in a certain way. For example, A, the surety
of the covenant must be true man. He must be true man. Christ became true man. B. The surety of the covenant must
be without sin. He himself must be free of all
sin. C. The surety of the covenant
must also be true God. He must be true man, sinless,
be true God. And D. As Wytsia said, He must
be all of these in the unity of the one person, the one theanthropic
person of Christ our Lord. Now, the suretyship has some
resemblances to the Old Testament Goel Redeemer. There's a wonderful
passage of Scripture in the book of Ruth concerning the Goel Redeemer,
which was a law in Israel. And as seen in that little book
of Ruth, Boaz, in the Old Testament book called Ruth, became a redeemer. a Goel Redeemer. Now, there are three things necessary
of a Goel Redeemer. Number one, he must be near of
kin to the one whose property and life he was to redeem and
to buy back. He must be near of kin. Number
two, he must be able to redeem. That means he must have the wherewith
and be able to afford it and have the means. And thirdly,
he must have the right to redeem. Fourthly, he must be willing. All of these are involved in
a Goel Redeemer. All of these Boaz did meet in
the book of Ruth. And what's more, all are not
in our great Goel Redeemer. We have our great Goel Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and all of these things are met again
in him, now a matter of great importance, which I hardly know
how to put into words, and it concerns the relationship there
is between Christ as the surety of the covenant and the words
we read from Isaiah, the Lord has laid upon Him the iniquity
of us all. The margin has it like this,
has made to light or to meet upon Him our iniquity. Now, the essence of Isaiah's
prophetic word in verse 6 is imputation. Hear the doctrine
of imputation. He has imputed our sins unto
Christ. He has made them light upon Him. Or, as Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians
5 and verse 21, he hath made Him sin for us. He hath made Christ's sin for
us." The point is, and listen carefully here, sharpen your
focus if you can, what ground or what terms were our sins imputed
unto Christ? By what arrangement? By what
divine arrangement? Did God lay our sin upon His
Son and make Him to become sin for us? By what connection did
Christ die for the sins of the elect? Upon what ground did God
punish our sin in His Son? Why has he bruised him and made
his soul an offering for sin? What is the direct reason and
essence of that? Some would answer very quickly,
oh, the love of God. God loved us and Christ loved
us. Then we ask, what legal ground
exists by which the sins of the elect are taken off of them and
put upon Christ? By what legal ground are our
sins imputed to and put upon our Savior? The answer is suretyship. It is suretyship and that alone
wherein stands the righteousness of God imputing our sins to Christ. He became our surety. He mixed
himself together. He took our debt. He agreed to
pay it. He agreed to settle it. And as
surety, as surety of the covenant, he must answer the debt, pay
the ransom, purchase the elect out of their bondage, And He
has done that by mixing Himself up, by becoming surety. If any
be lost that our Lord is a surety for, He would bear the blame
forever, would He not? He will bring all of God's little
beloved Benjamin safely and set them before the face of the Father
God. He will bring many sons to glory,
Hebrews chapter 2 tells us, as to the Lord making Christ's sin
for us, making our sins to light upon Him. As one of the old-time
preacher-writers, Tobias Criss, wrote, to lay sin upon Christ
is the sovereign prerogative of God alone. Only God can make
Christ to be sin for us." Here's another statement from Brother
Crisp, "'It is the Lord, it is His singly, exclusively, He only
and alone, and none but that layeth iniquity upon Christ."
God has made our iniquity to lie upon Him. He said again,
just kept emphasizing it, that the sole agent in laying our
iniquities upon Christ, none else. whether devil or angel
or man or civil judge or magistrate, can lay our sin upon the Lord
Jesus Christ. And hear this, even Christ did
not lay our sin upon Himself, though He drank the bitter cup
and accepted it and was obedient unto the death of the cross.
I wonder if you've ever in your lifetime, I know you have, you've
heard preachers, most of them Arminians they'd have to be,
exhorting sinners and saints to roll your sins off on Jesus. Put your sins over on Jesus. Take them off of you and put
your sins over. Give your sins to Jesus is a
saying that they often heard. some tender saint, some struggling
Christian, they might think that in some way, by some means, they
might shift their iniquity from themselves and lay them upon
the Lord's Christ. But, brother and sister, this
God has already done. This God has already done. And the surety, surety being
what a Puritan called the great paymaster of all the debts, of
the people of God no more can make our sins to lie upon Christ
than He can fetch righteousness from Him. The sinner cannot make
Christ to be their righteousness. It is God who makes him to be
sin and who makes us to be righteous. These are both the sovereign
prerogative of our God. Let all believers be assured
that Christ, as a surety, has paid the whole debt. When our souls are anxious that
sin abides, let us remember that Christ has paid the whole debt. He has paid it to the justice
of God. He has made satisfaction, and
God has accepted that payment from the Lord Jesus as ours. No sin is left unpaid for. Christ has died as our surety. We owe not a farfling. In that sense, we are out of
debt. Not so much as one sin is left
on the ledger against the people of God. This is an act of grace
and an act of sovereign mercy that God made our sins to light. Upon Christ and surety, He bore
them away. Then let us not forget, in being
a surety, Christ was also acting in the capacity of a federal
head. He was acting in behalf of his
people, and as such he paid a two-fold debt in their behalf. Number
one, he gave the law perfect, full obedience. He obeyed its
every precept. It could find no fault in him.
Secondly, he endured its curse. He endured the curse of the law
for his people being their surety. I close by saying, what a gospel
truth is this, Christ the surety of the new and the better covenant.
That means that it cannot fail. The covenant cannot fail. Christ paid God in righteousness
accepts and forgives the debt as Christ has blotted out the
bill that stood against us. Colossians chapter 2. Christ
pledged all which they owe. Put that to my account. I will pay it. I will pay all
that they owe. And he paid it, paid it with
his soul, and with his body and with his blood. Christ the surety
of the New Testament, that it cannot fail, it cannot be broken,
it cannot come to naught. Our surety is divine and is won
by an oath, an oath of God.