back in Genesis 43. Christ, our surety. If we can get a hold of this,
we can find some real comfort. If we can get a hold of this,
we've gotten a hold of the Gospel. Christ, our surety. The Word
of God teaches us that there is none good No, not one. But the vast part of humanity
does not believe this. Not at all. The vast part of
humanity believes that they are basically good and from time
to time they make mistakes. That's what this world as a whole
believes. It truly takes the Holy Spirit
of God to make a sinner a sinner. Now, someone's going to say,
what do you mean by that? For a man or woman to own their depravity,
their wretchedness, their ungodliness without blaming it on someone
else like Adam did. He said, it's the woman. God,
it's your fault. It's the woman you gave me. It
takes the Spirit of God to convict of sin. That's what I am. Of righteousness, that's what
I need. And of judgment, that's what
I deserve. And it takes the Holy Spirit
of God to burn that into your soul, your heart. This is not
something that we've come to on our own. We are not educated
into a conviction of sin by somebody preaching. Now, even though we
preach the Gospel, and I stand here and preach, but if that's
all that happens, you'll never understand sin. You'll never
come to a true conviction of sin if all you hear is just me
preaching. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
That the gospel came not into you in word only, but in power
and in demonstration of the Spirit. And you know what they did? They
left their idols. They left their idols and they
followed Christ. The Spirit of God must give us
eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to believe before there
can be any real understanding of sin. and of my need of salvation,
of my need of a surety. I tell you what, when you're
in a lot of debt and you've lost your job, you really appreciate a surety.
But the suretyship of Christ goes much further than this,
and I'll talk about this in a minute. It goes a lot further than that.
Dead means dead. And until we are given life,
we are dead in trespasses and sins and have no real understanding
of what sin is, who God is, who Christ is, what He did. But with this in mind, of our
great need of assurity, let's look at this chapter. I'm not
going to look at the whole chapter, basically one verse, verse 9. The famine, it says, is still
sore. It is severe in the land. And the whole purpose of that
famine is to bring Israel into Egypt. You remember God told
Abraham that his seed was going to go down into Egypt and serve
for 400 something? That was told back to Abraham.
And now it's going to happen. So this famine is sore in the
land, and Jacob tells his sons, go back to Egypt, and buy some
more corn. You see, Joseph has not yet revealed
himself to his brethren. We saw last week how they first
came down to Egypt and they were made to confess, we are guilty
for what we did to our brother. There was conviction of sin there,
a real picture of it. But the work is not done. The
work is not done. The Scripture says over Philippians,
he that hath begun a good work in you will perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. He'll not let you go. He'll not
let you go. He'll perform it. So Judah tells
Jacob that they cannot, they cannot go back down into Egypt
and buy more corn for Joseph because they had to deal with
Joseph. They cannot go around Joseph. You can't go around Joseph. He's the one over the storehouse
now. You still have to deal with Joseph. And they said, Joseph
told us, don't come back here. You will not see my face until
you bring your brother back. And they had to do that to prove
that they were not spies, that they were true men. But Jacob
did not want to send Benjamin. And I can see why. They messed
up the first time with Joseph. And he didn't want to lose Benjamin.
He was afraid, afraid of losing him like he did Joseph. Benjamin was the last child he
had by Rachel. He only had two boys by Rachel.
Rachel was the wife that he loved. That was the love of his life.
And he had two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, by Rachel. And he supposed
Joseph to be dead, and Benjamin was the last one. He said, no.
You know, Rachel has died by now. Joseph has not. He said, no, don't take Benjamin.
Don't take my Benjamin away from me. Well, Judah said, we can't go
back down there. And if we don't go back down
there, we are going to die. But we can't go back down there unless
we take Benjamin. We can't do it. Judah said to Israel, his father,
send the lad with me, and we will arise and go that we may
live and not die, both we and thou and also our little ones.
If you don't send Benjamin with us, we are all going to die, including
Benjamin. You're going to lose him anyway.
If we do not go to Joseph and do as he said, bringing our brother,
if we do not go to him and buy the corn, we are going to perish.
That's so gospel. If we do not go to Christ, not just one time, we go to Christ
every day, don't we? Just in prayer we went, if we
do not go to Christ, we'll all perish. He's saying what those three
lepers said one time, sitting outside the city gates. Why sit
we here till we die? If we sit here, we're going to
die. If we go in the city, we're going to die. You know, let's
go into the city. We might live. And they did. Here in verse 9, Judah said,
I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee,
and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever."
That is the suretyship of the Lord Jesus Christ, right there.
Now, what is a surety? In this verse from Strong's Hebrew
Dictionary, this is the meaning of this word in this verse. It
means to braid. When you braid something, you
take three different pieces of material, you braid it, it becomes
one. It becomes intertwined. Judas saying, my life will be
so intertwined with Him is what happens to Him happens to me.
What happens to me happens to Him. It means to braid. It means
to intermix. That's over in Ezra. I think it's chapter 9. He said
the people have intermixed with thy people. That's what Christ
did. Bone of our bone, flesh of our
flesh. He intermixed with us. The Son of God came down and
was made flesh. It means to mingle oneself with. It means to become. It means
to undertake. That's a lot of meanings, isn't
it? Well, it's all those things, all those things. And from this
we'll be able to see how the Lord Jesus Christ became surety
for His Benjamins, His Benjamins. But now let me show you first
of all, I'm going to show you a couple of times in this message,
what a surety is not. Look back in chapter 42. Let me see the verse I need to
pick up on. Let me go back to verse 35. And
it came to pass, as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every
man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when both they
and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said unto
them, Me had he bereaved of my children. Joseph is not, and
Simeon is not. He's locked up in jail in Egypt. And you will take Benjamin away?
All these things are against me. And Reuben, Reuben's the
firstborn. We will see, I think it's in
chapter 49, when Jacob blessed, he said, Reuben, you are as unstable
as water. Would you like for someone like
that to be a surety for you? Reuben, you're not the surety. You're
unstable as water. Oh, I'll pay the debt. And when
it comes time, you won't find Reuben. But listen here, listen. And Reuben spake unto his father,
saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee. If I
don't bring Benjamin back, slay my two sons, if I bring him not
to thee. Deliver him into my hand, and
I'll bring him to thee. Well, on the surface, that sounds
good, doesn't it? Father Jacob, if I don't bring
Benjamin back, I tell you what, I'm serious. I'm serious about
this. If I don't do that, you kill your two grandsons. What
kind of surety is that? Gee, that's the distorted view
that false religion has of God's justice, that it can be satisfied
with just about anything. And Rubens here, acting like
a surety, says, I tell you what, kill my two sons if I don't make
up my mind. If I don't bring him back. Now,
would that give Jacob satisfaction? I mean, what kind of grandfather
does he think Jacob is? On the surface, that sounds
good, but Reuben's willing to let his sons bear the blame for
his failure. His failure. He's willing to
let his sons bear the blame of it. A true surety bears the blame
himself. He takes the load himself is
what happens. But now look at what Judah says.
Now remember, our Lord sprang from the tribe of Judah. It's
the tribe He came out of. Of my hand. Not my son's. Not my relative's. My. My hand. Of my hand shalt thou require
Him. If I don't bring Him and set
Him before you, That is alive. Let me, let me. Oh, Judah, you're
alive as well. Judah, Judah. Let me bear the
blame forever. Now that's a surety. That's a
surety. Judah's willing to bear the blame
for Benjamin for not bringing Benjamin back. What is a surety? It is someone
who engages himself for another's debt. It is someone who draws
near and claims responsibility for another. Judah's saying,
I'll be responsible for him. It is one who gives a pledge
to pay another's debt in full. Christ is our surety. He is our surety. As Judah drew
near to Jacob and gave him a solemn pledge to bring Benjamin home,
or else he would bear the blame, he would bear the guilt. That's
what that means. He would bear the sin. Even so, our Lord, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, He drew near to God the Father before
the world began. Before it began. And He solemnly
pledged You know, I read over to you in Hebrews. He became
a surety. That is a little different word
than the word used here. And that word means bondsman
pledge. It means a pledge. And our Lord
solemnly promised and pledged to bring all His Benjamins home
that He would bear the blame of it, the guilt of it, if He
didn't bring them home. I'll be responsible for Benjamin. I'm looking at some Benjamins
here tonight. Christ is responsible for you to bring you home. I'm not responsible to bring
myself home. He is. Christ fully pledged to
the Father in that covenant of grace, that New Testament that's
spoken of there, Hebrews 7, to be responsible for all the elect.
And listen, it was a voluntary charityship. He didn't have to have his arm
twisted. He voluntarily pledged promise to be the surety. And
when he did that, he put himself under bondage to our debts, to
our sin debt, to God's law. When he did that, he was a voluntary bondsman. That's right. Christ pledged
to bring in an everlasting righteousness to God's children. He pledged
to satisfy law and justice on their behalf. I pledge, I promise
to do it and bring them home. Now here's something I want you
to understand. I want you to get this. When we become surety for someone,
we pledge to pay the debt in full if they fail to pay it. That's the way we work on suretyship.
That's not the way that the suretyship is between the Father and the
Son. This is good. Listen. When Christ pledged to
be our surety before the world began, He assumed our debt immediately
and we were set free completely. It's not if they can't do it,
I'll finish it or I'll pay it. When He became surety, when He
drew near to the Father and He struck hands with the Father
and pledged to be our surety, we were set free. Totally. The debt's now all on His shoulders.
The Father looks completely to His Son for satisfaction of the
debt and not me. And that happened before the
world began. That happened before the world
began. Our sins were charged to Him
when He became our surety. And His righteousness was charged
to us when He became our surety. And that was before the world
began. Let me give you an example. The Old Testament saints. Where
did they go when they died? Remember, Christ has not gone
to the cross. He has not died. Where did they
go? They went to be with the Lord. Because their sin debt was all
on Christ, not on them. They were free. Now I think,
from what I was reading in Catholicism teaches, that the Old Testament
saints were held in some kind of lockdown. That's basically
until Christ died and then they were free. No, they were. Who
did who did the Lord speak to on the Mount of Transfiguration
before he died? Moses and Elijah. They were set
free before the world began, and when they died, they went
straight to glory because their sins had already been charged
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Before he was ever before they
were before the world was ever created. Job said, I know that my Redeemer,
he could have just as easily said, I know that my surety lives. And He'll stand upon this earth
in the last days. I know He lives. Those Old Testament saints, Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Job, these men were just as sure of the suretyship
of Christ, the righteousness of Christ as you and I are. Now,
we know His name as Jesus Christ. They knew Him as the Messiah.
They knew that their righteousness was of Him. What's written in
Isaiah? The Lord our righteousness. They
knew it. Isaiah knew it. He knew the Lord
was his righteousness. And the Lord is the Lord Jesus
Christ. The surety. Now when Christ pledged to be
the surety of God's elect, he became God's servant. That's when he became God's servant.
He became, now listen, he became obligated to serve and to pay the sin debt that
you and I owed and could not, could not pay. could not pay. He says in Isaiah 42, 1, Behold
my servant, mine elect, in whom my soul delights. That's when
he became the surety, when he pledged to be our surety, to
bring us home, to pay the debt in full. That's when he became
God's servant, voluntarily. And that's when God ceased looking
to us for satisfaction. And that's when He set the prisoner
free. He said, I have found a ransom. Let him go. Let him go. God looks to Christ, my surety,
for satisfaction, not me. Isn't that good news? That's good news. Let me turn over to Philemon. Forgot where that's at. What's
that at, Frank? I was thinking full revelations,
but that's you. All right, you'd be surprised
how nervous you'd get up here. The simplest things in the world,
if you don't write them down, gone. But now listen to this
in verse 10. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus,
whom I have begotten in my bonds, which in time past was to thee
unprofitable. but now profitable to thee and
to me. Whom I have said again, thou therefore receive him that
is mine own bowels, whom I would have retained with me, that in
thy stead he might have ministered unto me in the bonds of the gospel.
But without thine mind would I do nothing, that thy benefit
should not be, as it were, of necessity, but willingly. For
perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest
receive him forever. Not now as a servant, But above
a servant, a brother, beloved, specially to me, but how much
more unto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord. If thou count
me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. If he hath wronged
thee, or owed thee aught, put that on my account." That's the
same thing Judas said. Put that on my account, I'll
pay it. You set Onesimus free. Don't
you charge Onesimus a penny, a dime? You set him free. That's what our Lord says to
the law. Set him free. You set him free. You charge
me and you set him free. When our Lord was in the garden
or before the garden of Gethsemane and that crowd came out to get
him, Judas and the high priest and those men, they came out
to get our Lord. And they came out and he said,
who are you looking for? They said, Jesus of Nazareth.
And remember, they fell back. He said, who are you looking
for? They said, Jesus of Nazareth. Now, they were the law coming
out to get him. You know what he said? Then let
these go. Let these go. That's beautiful. Let these go. Now, where am I
at? Christ pledged to fulfill all
our obligations even unto death. Even unto death. Our obligation,
the law says the soul that sins shall surely die. That's got
to happen. And He fulfilled that obligation
in our place. And He pledged to bring all God's
benjamins home without spot or wrinkle. God's beloved sons. He says, I'll bring them home.
Now, go back to Genesis 43.9. Judah said, if I bring him not
unto thee and set him before thee, that is, set him before
thee alive. You know, the first thing I thought
of when I read that today, if anyone for whom Christ is
a surety, If they perish, then He must bear the blame forever. See how foolish it is to say
that Christ died for everyone, even the ones in hell? But here's
the point, here's one I want to make. I've got just a side
note. The word set. If I do not bring Him and set
Him before thee. You know what that word means?
It means to place permanently before you. If I do not bring all the sons
of glory home and set them permanently before you, I'll bear the blame
forever. You blame me. Judah is taking
full responsibility to bring Benjamin home. You know that
Benjamin, this dawned on me today as I was in there reading today,
Benjamin is not responsible at all in any way, shape or form
to bring himself back. You know that in this story?
Judy is. Benjamin is not responsible.
And I bet you Judy didn't take his eye off Benjamin either.
I want to show you something back
over here in Genesis 40, 44. Let me read you several verses
here. I've got to start reading in verse 14. And Judah and his
brethren came to Joseph's house, for he was yet there. And they
fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said unto them, What
deed is this that you've done? Won't you nod that such a man
as I can certainly divine? And Judah said, What shall we
say unto my Lord? Now, here's what happened. Joseph purposely put a cup in
Benjamin's sack. Then they go out. I'm getting
in the next week's message, but they go out and they start with
it and they stop them and they tell them about somebody stole
the cup. And those men said they were so assured that they could
not be guilty. They said, well, if you find
it on us, let that man, let that one die. Let that one die. Well, they start from the eldest
and they go down to the youngest, Benjamin, and they find the cup. There's a beautiful gospel story
here, and I was hoping to get to it next week. They find that
cup. Our Lord had a cup to drink of,
didn't He? He said, May I have a cup to drink of? Benjamin was the innocent one. He didn't have a thing to do
with Joseph being down in Egypt. He was the innocent one, but
he became guilty And we'll see in this story next week. He became
guilty. And the guilty ones were released. Joseph said, you guys can go.
I've got Benjamin. He's the innocent one. Well,
that's the story. Now we'll get to here. And Judah
said, what shall we say unto my Lord? What shall we speak,
or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity
of thy servants. Behold, we are in my Lord's service,
both we and he also with whom the cup is found. And he said,
God forbid that I should do, that I should do so. But the
man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant.
And as for you, get you up in peace unto your father. You guys
go on. And as far as they know, he's
going to kill Benjamin. Benjamin has been caught by the
law. Joseph is the law. And so the innocent one here
now has become guilty. Then Judah came near unto him,
and said, O my Lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a
word in my Lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against
thy servant, for thou art even as Pharaoh. My Lord asked his
servant, saying, Have ye a father or a brother? And we said unto
my Lord, We have a father, and an old man, and a child of his
old age, a little one, and his brother is dead, and he alone
is left of his mother, and his father loves him. Oh, he loves
him. And thou saidst unto thy servants,
Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him.
And we said unto my Lord, The lad cannot leave his father,
for if he should leave his father, his father would die. I tell
you what, the father's life is bound up in the son. The father
loveth the son. And thou saidst unto thy servants,
Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall
see my face no more. And it came to pass, when we
came up unto thy servant, my father, we told him the words
of my Lord. And our father said, Go again,
and buy us a little food. And we said, We cannot go down,
if our youngest brother be not with us. Then will we go down,
for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother
be with us. And thy servant, my father, said unto us, You
know that my wife bare me two sons. The one went out from me,
and I said, Surely he torn in pieces, and I saw him not sin.
And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him,
he shall bring down my gray hairs of sorrow to the grave. Now therefore,
when I come to thy servant, my father, and the lad be not with
us, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life, you see,
bound up in the life of his son, It shall come to pass, when he
seeth that the land is not with us, that he will die. And thy
servant shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant, our
father, with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant became surety.
Judas says, I became surety for the land unto my father, saying,
If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to
my father forever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let
thy servant abide in the stead of the land, a bondman to my
Lord, and let the land go." That's what our Lord did. He said, you
let me bear the blame, and you let these go. You let them go. I'm the surety. I'm the bondsman. You let them
go. For how shall I go up to my Father?
How in the world could the Lord Jesus Christ go back to the Father
and not have all that He came to save? How could that happen? The life of the Father is bound
up in His sons. How shall I go up to my Father
and the lad be not with me, lest for adventure I see evil that
shall come on my Father? You see what's at stake here? Isn't that beautiful? That's
gospel. That's gospel. Our Lord said,
other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I
must bring in. Now I'm going to close with this. How
can you, how can I be sure that what Christ did as a surety,
He did for me? Man, that ought to put every
one of us on the edge of the sea. They are the ones who are
going to be there. You remember I read, go back
over to Hebrews chapter 7. In verse 22. By so much was Jesus
made a surety of a better covenant. And they truly were many priests
because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death.
But this man, because he continues forever, has an unchangeable
priesthood. Wherefore, he is able also to
save them." Who's able to save them to the uttermost? Or who
is it? Who is it that he saves to the uttermost?
It gives us the answer right here. Then that come unto God
by him. How do I know I am one of his? I have come to God by him. This means that I totally, absolutely,
One hundred percent rely solely on the suretyship of my Lord
for me. He's my surety. I come to the
Father in by Him. One hundred percent. I pledge
nothing. I pledge nothing. Just as I am. Just a wretched sinner. I pledge
nothing. I rely totally on Him. Christ
is my all-sufficient sin payment. Then to come unto God by Him.
I depend on Him. I depend on His righteousness.
He's all my hope. That's it. Judah took all the responsibility
for Benjamin. Jude is all his hope. You didn't see anybody else.
You didn't hear any of those other brothers step forward,
did you? Reuben, Reuben, you said send him with you. You said
send him with me. And if I don't bring him back,
you can kill my two sons. Reuben didn't step forward. He's
the firstborn. And you notice something else
here. Judah was the surety for Benjamin. None of the others. Simeon's locked up in jail. Well,
old Simeon can stay there, but I'm the surety for Benjamin.
I came here for Benjamin. I mean, I'm going to take care
of Benjamin. He's my responsibility. But no one stepped forward for
Benjamin except Judah. I rely on Christ and Christ alone
for my acceptance. That's it. That's it. That's
the gospel. That's our surety. He bears the
whole brunt of it, the whole payment of it. I'll tell you
what, when he did that, when he shook hands with the Father,
speaking in language we can understand, we were set free. We were set free before the world
began. Whom the sun sets free, he's free indeed. OK, Mike.