Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. I'm glad
you could join us today for the message. The title of the message
today is Jesus Christ, the Believer's Surety. Jesus Christ, the Believer's
Surety. And I've taken this message from
the book of Hebrews, over in the New Testament, the book of
Hebrews, chapter 7. The main verse is verse 22, which
reads, Hebrews 7.22, by so much was Jesus made a surety of a
better testament, or a better covenant. Now let me give you
the context of this. You know, the whole book of Hebrews
is showing Hebrew believers How much greater, how much more glorious,
how much better salvation by the grace of God in Jesus Christ
is over the old covenant that Israel was under as a nation
for 1,500 years. You know, Israel, the nation
Israel was brought under the old covenant, the law of Moses,
the Mosaic covenant, because Moses was their leader. You know,
God used Moses to bring them out of Egypt and established
them at Mount Sinai under an old covenant. And that old covenant
included the 10 commandments, it included the ceremonial law,
it included the dietary laws, all of the whole covenant was
one covenant. And they were under that covenant
as a nation for about 1,500 years from Mount Sinai to the cross. And at the cross, when Jesus
Christ died on the cross, the old covenant was abolished by
way of fulfillment. And that's very important for
people to understand if they're going to interpret the scriptures
correctly, especially the Old Testament. Now that old covenant
was both unconditional and conditional towards the nation Israel. For
example, God choosing them as a people was totally unconditional. It had nothing to do with them
as being good or powerful or whatever or numerous. In fact,
God told them in Deuteronomy, He said, I didn't choose you
because of any of those things. It was simply God's sovereign
choice. It's like election, gospel election. God chose a people before the
foundation of the world and gave them to Jesus Christ. Now their
election had absolutely nothing to do with any goodness foreseen
or unforeseen or any works foreseen or any faith seen or unforeseen. It's called the election of grace.
Paul deals with that in Romans 8, 9, 10, 11. So election, if somebody says,
well, if you believe in election, then you must be proud. Election
is not a doctrine of pride, folks. It's very humbling because if
God chose anybody, there's absolutely no reason in that person that
God should have done so. The only answer as to why God
would choose any sinner to say, is found in Matthew 11 when the
Lord said, for so it seemed good in thy sight, father. And that's
it. So that was totally unconditional. And it was based on a promise
that God made 400 and some years before in Abraham, which was
totally unconditional. Their deliverance from Egypt
was totally unconditional. Their being under that covenant
was unconditional. In other words, it wasn't based
upon their obedience or their belief or anything. It was totally
a unilateral work of God. Sovereign work of God. Their
receiving the land of promise was totally unconditional. But now there were aspects of
that covenant that were conditional. Their prosperity in the land.
You know, he said that you'll prosper in the land with your
obedience and that referred to the leaders of the country, the
nobles, the princes, even the king later on, and the majority
of the people. But you'll note, and their keeping
the land was conditional, which you see that it's a testimony
of their failure and their sin. Now, I'm not just pointing fingers
at them because I often tell people, I said, don't think you're
better than Israel under the old covenant because we're not.
If we'd have been there, we'd have been just with them in their
rebellion and disobedience. But that old covenant, first
of all, it was set up to be abolished. It was never intended to be eternal. And that's what the scripture
teaches. Secondly, that Old Covenant was not a covenant of salvation.
That Old Covenant was a covenant that was given by God to keep
that nation together under His sovereign power mainly to bring
the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world through that nation
according to the flesh. But it was never a covenant of
salvation. Nobody could have been saved by keeping the terms
of the old covenant because the old covenant was given to expose
their sin. Why was the law given? To show
them their sinfulness, their depravity, to show them their
need of salvation by grace through the promised Messiah. So everything
in that old covenant was substandard and below the greater glory of
Jesus Christ. Now here in Hebrews 7, he's talking
about the priesthood of the Old Covenant as compared to the priesthood
of Christ. That priesthood of the Old Covenant
was made up of sinful human beings. They were the descendants of
Aaron, the tribe of Levi. but they were sinful human beings.
He later on tells them, he said they could not accomplish perfection,
completion, righteousness, but they were types. The high priest
of Israel was a type of Jesus Christ, the one true high priest
of spiritual Israel, the church, the election of grace. Christ
is our high priest. That's what the scripture says.
We have an high priest who is able, Hebrews 7.25, wherefore
he is able to save them to the uttermost, evermore, that come
unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for
them. Verse 26, for such an high priest became us. He was fitting
to my need. I'm a sinner. I have nothing
to recommend me unto God. I have no righteousness in myself.
I cannot work a righteousness. I was spiritually dead in trespasses
and sin. And this high priest, Jesus Christ
alone, not Aaron, not any of his descendants, not any of those
human beings, but Jesus Christ, he met my need. He became me. I don't mean He turned into me.
I mean that became us means that He was fitting for my need. I need righteousness. I don't
have one in myself. Christ is the high priest who
worked out righteousness for me. And how? He's holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens.
He's a greater high priest. He is the one and only high priest.
The other priest of Levi's, they typified true believers, the
church. Now the type is always inferior
to the anti-type. Now when I say anti, I mean A-N-T-E. That means the fulfillment of
that which was typified, not anti-against. Those sinful men
were types of Christ, but Christ is the anti-type. He's the fulfillment. He's the glory of it. He's the
perfection of it, you see. What those high priests in Israel
couldn't do, Christ accomplished as the high priest of His people.
And so look at verse 19. Now this is Hebrews 7. He says,
For the law made nothing perfect. The law didn't complete anything.
The law didn't perfect anything. The law didn't make anybody righteous. The law couldn't put away sin.
The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. But
the bringing in of a better hope did by the which we draw nigh
unto God. Who's he talking about there?
He's talking about Christ. Christ is the better hope. Christ
is the consolation of Israel, the hope of Israel. My hope of
salvation is not in any old covenant law. It's not in any earthly
type. It's not in the high priest of
Israel under the old covenant or those priests. It's not in
the blood of bulls and goats. It's not in an earthly Jerusalem
or an earthly temple. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. You see that? That's the better
hope. And he says, verse 20, and inasmuch
as not without an oath, he was made priest. Christ, when he
was made high priest, before the foundation of the world,
in the everlasting covenant of grace, he was made a high priest
with an oath. I'll explain that in just a moment,
but look at verse 21. He puts in parenthesis here.
For those priests, that is the priest of the old covenant, were
made without an oath, without a swearing an oath. But this with an oath by him
that son unto him." Christ was made a high priest with an oath
that was sworn by him, by God the Father, who said, the Lord
swear and will not repent thou art a priest forever after the
order of Melchizedek." Now I don't have time to go into all things
about Melchizedek, but Melchizedek was a type of Christ, the priest
and the king. And he's a better type even than
Aaron and his descendants as high priest because Melchizedek
was before the Old Covenant and there was no record of his father
or his mother or his lineage. You see, a man could not be a
high priest under the Old Covenant unless they traced his lineage
back to Aaron under the tribe of Levi. That's why Christ is
said he could not be a high priest under the old covenant. You know
if Christ were under the old covenant, and he was in his lifetime,
he could not be a priest because he was born of the tribe of Judah,
not of the tribe of Levi. So those types were inferior,
you see. But Melchizedek wasn't born of
Levi. Levi wasn't even born. Aaron
wasn't even born. So Melchizedek is an even better
type of the Lord Jesus Christ because his earthly lineage is
not recorded. He was also a king, the king
of righteousness, the king of Salem, or king of peace. But
he was a high priest and he blessed Abraham. Now, the oath. Let's go back to the oath. Christ
was made a high priest before the foundation of the world,
not without an oath. What is that oath? Well, look
across the page to Hebrews chapter 6. And he's talking about Christ
who patiently endured. This is verse 15. Or he's talking about Abraham
rather here, who patiently endured and obtained a promise that God
gave him. Now, what did God promise Abraham? We promised him a lot
of things. And Abraham, by the grace of God, patiently endured. The main promise that he's talking
about here is the promise that he gave to Abraham of the coming
of Christ, the Messiah. Christ said this in John chapter
eight. He said, Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and
he was glad. Abraham believed God's promise
to send Christ to save him, to save Abraham from his sins. Abraham
believed God's promise to send Christ to establish righteousness. And so he says in verse 15, and
so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For
men verily swear by the greater, and an oath of confirmation is
to them an end of all strife. Talking about swearing oaths
among men. But look at verse 17. Wherein
God, willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise.
Now who are the heirs of promise? That's believers. The immutability
of his counsel confirmed it by an oath. Verse 18, that by two
immutable things, now what are the two immutable things? God's
promise and God's oath. 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 upon the hope set before us.
Verse 19, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both
sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the
veil, that is, the holiest of all, Verse 20, whether the forerunner
is for us entered, even Jesus made an high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Now what is he saying here? When
he says over in Hebrews 7 that those priests under the old covenant
were made without an oath, he's showing this. Number one, it
was a temporary covenant. It was never meant to be to last
eternally. Secondly, it was an earthly covenant. bound up in earthly things. Thirdly,
it was never a covenant of salvation. But the covenant of grace made
with Christ as the surety of His people. Look at verse 22
of Hebrews 7. By so much was Jesus made a surety
of a better covenant, a better testament. Number one, that covenant
is eternal. It'll never go away. Number two,
That covenant is a spiritual covenant. It has to do with spiritual
blessings, salvation. And number three, it is a covenant
of salvation in Jesus Christ. And the oath, what does it mean
by God swearing an oath? Men, when we swear, we swear
by something greater than ourselves. What does it mean? It says here
that God, He swore by Himself. Well, there's nothing greater
than God. So he swore by himself, which means this. When God made
promise to Jesus Christ as the surety of the better covenant,
he engaged himself. He put his reputation on the
line to the fulfillment of that covenant. What does that show
us? My friend, salvation is not something
that God sent Christ here to try to do that was conditioned
on people, sinners, if they would cooperate. Christ didn't come
here to try to save anybody. He came here under the oath and
promise of God To save His people from their sins and by His death
on that cross as the surety of that covenant, He fulfilled every
condition, every requirement, established righteousness to
ensure the salvation of all for whom He died. And how do you
know who they are? They are all who come under the
preaching of the gospel by the power of the Spirit and believe
by God-given faith. He's the surety. What is a surety? Well, you know, if you go take
out a loan at the bank and you have no collateral, for example,
and the bank says, well, we'll loan you this money if you can
get someone else to co-sign with you and be a surety that if you
can't pay the loan, they'll pay it off and you find a surety. Well, a surety in the Bible,
concerning the covenant of grace is a little different because
of this. When God chose a people before
the foundation of the world, there never was a time that it
could be said, well, they could pay the debt. So when Christ
was made surety, it was not a case of him saying, well, if they
can't pay it, I will, no. Christ always set up as the surety
of his people. He said, put their debt on my
account, impute it to me, I will repay it. He's the surety. And what that means is this.
It means that it's a sure thing. That's simple, isn't it? The
salvation of the people of God, the ones whom he gave to Christ,
is a sure thing. Now Christ expressed that himself
in several passages, but for example, John 6, verse 37, he
says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. In other words,
all whom the Father gave him before the foundation of the
world shall come to him. Now some people will argue, now
this is the sinful reasoning of man. Some people say, well
then, it doesn't matter what I do. If I try to come to Him and I'm
not one of those that the Father gave to Him, then He won't let
me be saved. No, no, no. Absolutely not. I guarantee if you come to Christ
as He's identified and distinguished in the Gospel, You will in no
wise be cast out. No, God has never and will never
turned away any sinner who truly come to Christ. Now there's a
lot of people who say, well, we've come to Christ, but they
really haven't. They've either come to a counterfeit
or they've come hypocritically. There's a lot of reasons we could
talk about there. But any sinner, every sinner
who truly by the power of the Holy Spirit under the preaching
of the gospel wherein the righteousness of God is revealed, any who come
to Christ, whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall
be saved. He will in no wise cast out.
He went on in John chapter six to say this, he said, and this
is the will of him that sent me that of all which he had given
me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last
day. All of that. over in the book
of 2 Corinthians 1. And verse 20, listen to this.
Here's the surety, Christ the surety. Verse 20 of 2 Corinthians
1. It says, for all the promises
of God in him, in Christ, are yea, and in him, amen, sure and
settled under the glory of God by us. And he says in verse 21,
Now he which establishes us with you in Christ and hath anointed
us is God, verse 22, who hath also sealed us and given the
earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. All the promises of God in Christ
are sure and settled. Why? Because Christ fulfilled
the conditions of all of salvation. You see, salvation is not conditioned
on me. It's not conditioned on you.
That's what grace is all about. Salvation is conditioned on Jesus
Christ, the surety. And he's the surety of a better
covenant. It's a better covenant because
it's not conditioned on me. Were it conditioned on me, like
Israel of old under the old covenant, I'd fail. I'd fail miserably. But having it conditioned on
Jesus Christ, the surety, it cannot fail. For he is the surety
of a better covenant, a better testament. Christ is the perfection
of it. That's why the scripture speaks
of him. The Bible says the law made nothing perfect. It was
a shadow of good things to come. It couldn't make those who were
under the law perfect. The blood of bulls and goats
cannot take away sin. But Jesus Christ, the surety,
stood in the place of his people, his church, his sheep, God's
elect, and what did he do? What did he accomplish? Well,
like Daniel chapter nine, verse 24 says, he finished the transgression,
he made an end of sin, he brought in everlasting righteousness,
sealed up the testimony. He did all of that in the accomplishment
of the promises of God toward his people and he did it as our
surety. Jesus Christ is the believer's
surety. Now, ask yourself this question
in self-examination. You claim to be saved. I claim
to be saved. What or who is the surety of
your salvation? Now, it's easy just to simply
say, well, Jesus is or Jesus Christ. That's easy to say. But
examine yourself. I'll examine myself in this word. Is Christ really the surety of
my salvation? David spoke of that on his deathbed.
He said, although my house be not so with God. He's made a
covenant with me that's ordered in all things and sure. Now what's
the surety of his salvation? Well, Christ is. He looked forward
by God-given faith to the coming of Jesus as the surety of his
salvation. So what's the surety? Who's the
surety of your salvation? Well, let me ask you this question.
When it comes to your salvation, what made or who made the difference? Was it Christ and him alone based
on his blood and righteousness imputed? Or was it your faith? You see, most people today, I'm
afraid, they don't look to Christ as surety of their salvation.
They look to themselves because they believe. They made the difference. And if you make the difference,
then you're the surety of your own salvation. And my friend,
that's death. I'm not just splitting hairs.
I'm telling you what the Bible says. In Jesus Christ, I have
salvation. By Jesus Christ, I have the forgiveness
of all my sins. It's not by anything I do. I've
told many of you about the preacher I heard who talked about the
condition of forgiveness. This is a man who claimed to
believe salvation by grace. And he said the condition for
forgiveness is repentance. And that's not what the Bible
teaches. That's a subtle lie. The condition for forgiveness
is the blood of the surety, the righteousness of the surety,
Jesus Christ. It's the blood of Christ that
cleanses me from all sin. It's the blood of Christ that
brings forgiveness. And if God the Holy Spirit ever
brings you to see that, any sinner to see that, then as the result
will come repentance. The Apostle Paul spoke of that
in his own conversion. That when he saw the glory of
God in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, when he saw that Jesus
Christ alone was his surety, his righteousness, that God could
not save him, bless him, benefit him, or forgive him based on
anything but the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ? Then
he saw that all of his works all of his religion, all of his
efforts, everything that he thought recommended him to God, everything
that he was so proud of, he saw then and only then that it was
nothing, it was profitless, it was dumb. And then came repentance. That's Christ, the believer's
surety. Hope you'll join us next week for another message from
God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.