Let's begin this morning in Hebrews
chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 22. By so much, that is by the oath
The will, the decree of God Almighty was Jesus made a surety of a
better testament. Christ our surety is my subject
this morning. Our Lord Jesus is here declared
to be a surety of a better testament. The word testament, as it's found
in the scriptures, is often translated testament or covenant. And the two mean the same thing
and refer to the same thing. But why is it translated differently?
Because God condescends to communicate with us in language that we can
get a little bit of understanding of. So he condescends to communicate
himself and his works and his attributes in human terms. God doesn't have eyes, but the
scripture speaks of the eyes of the Lord. God doesn't have
hands, but the scripture speaks of his hand and the arm of the
Lord. Because God condescends to speak to us in human terms. And when he speaks of the covenant,
the covenant refers to something where you have an agreement made
between two or more people. the covenant of God's grace,
the everlasting covenant, the covenant of peace, the covenant
of love between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the
new covenant by which we are saved. But that covenant is revealed
to us as though God the Father made propositions and God the
Son agreed to them, and God the Spirit agreed to them, as though
one thing succeeded another, because that's the only way we
can think. We can't think everything at
once. God doesn't do anything in succession. He doesn't think as we think. He doesn't have to think. He
knows. His omniscience is such. Perhaps
a better understanding would be that of a testament, a sovereign
will. That's all. God's covenant is
God's sovereign will, his sovereign disposition of grace. Back in
the days of Bloody Mary, during the days of the Scottish covenanters,
a young girl was going one Sunday morning to worship with God's
people. And as she was walking along
the way, she saw some of Queen Mary's troops coming and she
was fearful of what might happen and she began to pray As she
saw them approaching, Lord, help me to be faithful and not to
deny you. Give me wisdom as to how to speak. And so when she was accosted
by this band of soldiers, asking her where she was going and what
she was doing out on the Sunday morning, walking out in the field,
and she said, sirs, there's been a death in our family. Our elder
brother has died and I'm going to a meeting of the family for
the reading of his will. And that's what we've gathered
for today. Oh Spirit of God, read out your will to us. Make us to know our part in your
will. This will This purpose of God
fixed in eternity, finished before the world was. The works were
finished, Paul says in Hebrews 4.3, before the world was finished. because God's works were all
finished from eternity and finished exactly according to his testament,
his covenant made on our behalf before the world was. And Christ
Jesus is the surety of that testament, the surety of that covenant. The Spirit of God seems to use
metaphor after metaphor to show us and give us some assurance
and confidence of our blessed acceptance with God in Christ
Jesus. He calls on us in Hebrews chapter
10 after describing the finished work of our Savior. He's opened
a new and living way for us. With his own blood, he's entered
into heaven, having obtained eternal redemption for us. And
then he says, let us draw near with the full assurance of faith. The full assurance of faith. Would God have us be absolutely
confident of His grace and His salvation in Jesus Christ? I mean absolutely confident,
so that we can approach God in all his holiness, in all his
beauty, in all his glory, in all his majesty, in all his supremacy,
and call God our father as peaceably as a little boy jumps up on his
daddy's lap and says, hello daddy. Would God have us approach him
with that kind of confidence? Well, he speaks of our Lord Jesus
as our high priest, the one who appears constantly before the
Lord God with our names upon his breast making intercession
for us. He speaks to us of Christ as
our advocate, that one who pleads our calls before God in heaven
from everlasting to everlasting, the one who made intercession
for us before the world was, made intercession for us while
the world stood in time, makes intercession for us now. He interceded
for us before he died for us, as he died for us, and since
he died for us. Makes intercession for us continually
before the Father, telling us that if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father. Is that wonderful? If any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father. And then he tells
us that our Lord Jesus is our substitute. That one who stands
in our stead, stands in our place before God. He always has been. Can you grasp that? Not just
that he was our substitute when he died at Calvary, he was our
substitute in the covenant before the world began. He stood forth
as our substitute before time began, and he's the land slave
of the foundation of the world as our substitute. All the time
of the Old Testament period, priority is coming in the flesh.
He still stood as our substitute when he came into this world
in our flesh. He came here to live as our substitute, to die
as our substitute, to rise as our substitute. Yonder in glory
is a man who is God my substitute and he holds the reins of the
universe in his hands. Let us therefore draw near with
the full assurance of faith. But perhaps the most delightful
Most comforting, most assuring of all these pictures given of
our Savior in the Scriptures is that of assurity. Turn back
to Genesis chapter 43. They say one picture is worth
a thousand words. Well, here's a beautiful picture.
Genesis chapter 43. Joseph is in Egypt by divine
arrangement because of the deception, trickery, and hatred of his brethren.
But God put him there for a time of famine so that he might, by
his wisdom and skill and God's provision through him, save many
people alive. and Joseph's brethren have come
down to buy corn in Egypt, and Joseph has kept their brother
Simeon, acting as though he didn't believe the report concerning
their father and this other brother at home. And he said, I'm going
to keep Simeon here, you go bring that younger brother Benjamin
to me, and then I'll know you're telling the truth. His object
being, all the while, to bring all of Israel down into Egypt
so he could take care of them. That remind you of anybody? Our
Redeemer, the Lord Jesus, by the arrangement of his wise providence,
ever caring for his own. And when Israel thought all these
things are against me, little did he know everything was for
him. And he demanded that they bring
their brother down to see him in Egypt, Benjamin. And Reuben
volunteered in chapter 42 to be surety for him. He said, I'll
take the Benjamin down here and I'll send me the Benjamin back
to you. And if I don't, you kill my two boys. But Judah wouldn't let him go.
He wouldn't let him go. Because our Lord Jesus is not
the lion of the tribe of Reuben. And everything in this book is
picturing him. It's designed to tell us about
him. But in chapter 43 in verse 8, we read that Judah said to
Israel, his father, send Benjamin with me, 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. I will be surety for him. Of my hand shalt thou require
him. I promise you, Dad, you trust
that boy to me. And I'll take him to Egypt, and
I'll bring him back here perfectly sound, perfectly safe. And if
I fail, you don't blame anybody but me. Nobody but me. If I bring
him not unto thee and set him before thee, then let me bear
the blame forever. That's what Jesus Christ, our
blessed Savior, God's darling son, has done for us. He asked the Father to put into
his hands, into his trust, his people. pledging himself to bring
everyone of God's elect safe under glory at last, presenting
us to the Father, holy and without blame and without blemish, without
spot, with exceeding joy in that last day, saying, lo, I and the
children which thou hast given me. All right. try to answer
three questions concerning this matter of Christ's assurity.
Number one, what is assurity? We don't use that term much these
days. Assurity is one who approaches
one person on the behalf of another. He represents one person before
another. He represents the one and lays
himself under obligation on behalf of that one person to another
person. In this sense, Christ is our
surety. He stepped forward. He drew near
to the triune Jehovah on our behalf. And he steps forward
in all eternity before the world began, in that time called the
beginning, before there was anything. Before the world began, in the
beginning, Christ stood forth as the Word. In the beginning
was the Word. And that Word is God, our Savior,
our surety. He stepped forth. and assumed
responsibility for us according to the will of God. Turn to Psalm
40. Psalm 40. Our Lord Jesus is speaking. We
know that this is our Savior speaking because God, the Holy
Spirit, tells us in Hebrews chapter 10, these are the very words
he spoke as he came into the world. Psalm 40, verse 7. Then said I, lo, I come, In the
volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will,
O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. So the Lord Jesus says, Lo, I
come to do thy will, O my God. Paul tells us in Hebrews 10,
he said this as he was coming into the world. He who is the
firstborn. Brother Bill read this morning,
just a little bit ago, in Luke 2 about that law of the firstborn. He that openeth the womb is mine. Anything strange about that to
you? No baby ever opened his mother's
womb in birth. But the womb is opened in conception.
Well, there's something wrong. Oh, no. Everything's just right.
because Christ is the firstborn. And there is one who came forth
and opened his mother's womb in birth, not in conception,
for he is that holy one created in the womb of the Virgin by
God the Spirit, the firstborn among many brethren. And he came
forth as Jehovah's firstborn and said, lo, I come to do thy
will. Oh my God, yea, thy law is within
my heart. What law is he talking about?
The Word of God. Okay. The Ten Commandments. Okay. The Ceremonial Law. Okay. Except all of that. But he says
this before ever there was a revelation of the law. Before ever there
was a word written from God Almighty upon pages to anybody. What law
is he talking about? He's talking about God's Holy
Will. His Testament. His Covenant. Look in Proverbs chapter 6, see
what a surety is. A surety is one who strikes hands
with another in solemn agreement. Some of you men can remember
when you could go to make a deal with somebody and you shake hands
with them, that's good enough. No paperwork required, no lawyers
needed. You strike hands with a fellow,
Everybody knew a man took his word to be his honor and he would
keep his word. It was just understood. It was
the way men did business. A surety strikes hands with another
on behalf of the one he represents. Suretyship is then to a man of
honor a matter of bondage. Bondage from which there is no
escape except by fulfilling the agreement. Look in Proverbs 6
verse 1. My son, if thou be surety for
thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, watch
this now, thou art snared with the words of thy mouth. You put yourself in a trap. You
put yourself in bondage. Thou art taken with the words
of thy mouth. How can that be? How can that
be? I hope I behave as a man of honor
with my own child, my grandchildren, with your children, with you.
And if I tell you I'm going to do something, you can bank on
it, I'm going to do it. If I tell you I'm going to be
somewhere, you can bank on it, I'm going to be there. If I tell
you you can trust me for something, you can trust me for it, except
for one little problem. I am a fickle, weak man, and
many things can hinder me accomplishing what I, with all good intent,
purpose to accomplish. Not so with our surety. He put
himself in bondage to the triune Jehovah to save his people from
their sins, and he snared himself with the words of his old mouth,
striking hands with the Father. And when he did, now listen to
me, when the Son of God struck hands with the Father as our
surety, Bob Morrell, God Almighty, the triune Jehovah, trusted to
his Son everything. that we should be to the praise
of his glory who first trusted in Christ. Who first trusted
in Christ? The triune Jehovah first trusted
in Christ, trusting all our souls in his hands, trusting all his
glory into his hands, trusting all his will into his hands. So when Christ became our surety,
he voluntarily placed himself under bondage to the Lord God
in all the service he would perform. Let's look at one more text in
this regard, Isaiah chapter 50. Isaiah chapter 50. Verse five. You remember the
law of the bond slave in Exodus 21. A man is a bond slave, and
he serves for seven years. And on the seventh year, he's
absolutely free. He goes out free. But if he has
a wife and children that he got after he came into bondage, under
servitude, then he goes out alone and leaves his wife and his children.
or the man might choose to be a bond slave for life. In which
case, he would go before the elders, before the gate of the
city in a public place, and have his ear bored through with an
awe by his master, and he would say to them all, I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children. I will not go out free. That's
Christ Jehovah's righteous servant. who before the world was, had
his ear bored through with an awl. And he said, I love my master. I love my wife. I love my children. I will not go out free. Look what it says here. Isaiah
50 verse five, the Lord God has opened mine ear. I was not rebellious. This wasn't something forced
on me. Neither turned away back. I gave my back to the spiders,
my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face
from shame and spitting. For the Lord God will help me.
Therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face
like a flint. And I know that I shall not be
ashamed. I said one more text. Let's look
at one more. John chapter 10. John the 10th chapter. Our Lord is the good shepherd.
The good shepherd, he says, giveth his life for the sheep. He's
the shepherd. The shepherd, like the surety,
is responsible for the sheep. The sheep aren't responsible
for themselves. The shepherd's responsible for them. What do
you expect from sheep? I was talking to someone just
recently, maybe one of you, I can't remember, about sheep. God's
people are well called sheep. Sheep are helpless, defenseless,
dumb, straying, and dirty. That's the reason they need shepherds.
They're sheep. And I'll tell you something else
about them. You may not have ever been around any, they always
stink. They're just dirty animals. What do you expect from the sheep?
Nothing. Expect everything from the shepherd. Everything from
the shepherd. Now watch this. John 10 verse
16. Our Savior says other sheep I
have. Not other sheep I'm going to have or hope to have in my
day. Other sheep I have. We were already his sheep before
ever we came into this world. other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them also I must bring." What a word! Must! How many have on this earth,
can it be said that the Son of God must do anything? Must! Must! Because He agreed to it. because he swore himself to it. Them also I must break, and they
shall hear my voice, and there shall be one foe and one shepherd.
Now what's this next word? Therefore. Therefore doth my
father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take
it again. But didn't God love him before?
Didn't the father love the son before? Of course he did. What's
he talking about there? He's talking about himself in
his character as our substitute and our good shepherd and our
surety. And as our substitute, as our
good shepherd, as our surety, Jesus Christ, the man who is
God earned his father's love. Did you get that? He earned his
father's love. Therefore doth my father love
me, because I lay down my life for the sheep. And we stand before
God in him, one with him who is our shirate, who is completely
worthy of God's love. worthy of glory, worthy of resurrection,
worthy of heaven, because it's fully earned by the obedience
of our surety. This is what our Lord Jesus did
as our surety in the covenant of grace before the world began.
He drew near to the Father on our behalf. He promised to faithfully
perform all that God in his holy character could require of his
elect. He struck hands with the father
in this solemn agreement, and the father trusted the son for
everything. And the whole business was done.
God hath saved us and called us. God hath saved us and called
us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according
to his own purpose and grace, get it now, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. And now, and now, is made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death and brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel. Well, Brother Don, that sounds
like hard-shelled doctrine. That's all right. There's nothing
wrong with that. I don't care if it's Buddhist
doctrine or Catholic doctrine. That's what the book says. What
happened? God saved us in eternity in the
work of the Trinity, finished before the world began, justified,
sanctified, glorified in Jesus Christ the Lord. And he brings
life and immortality to light, his life, his immortality, given
to us now in free grace in the new birth. And he brings it to
light in our souls by the gospel. So that in time, when God calls
us by his grace at the appointed time of love, brother Chris,
he causes us to experience in our souls what he's done for
us from eternity. All right, here's the second
question. How did Christ become our surety? With men, a surety
is a mere guarantor. I bought my first car when I
was 15 years old. 1956 Dodge. The ugliest car ever
been made in the United States. Three-tone gray, but it was mine,
sorta. I was 15. I couldn't buy a car. the bank wouldn't loan me any
money. And I talked my daddy into signing the note. Now I'm
responsible, sort of. So the bank knew good and well
they couldn't get anything out of me if I didn't pay for it.
What's that cosign? Well he's assured, you know,
he's just a guarantor. That means if I should not have
the ability to pay the note or if I should renege on my responsibility
and refuse to pay the note, or even if I should die before the
note's paid, the bank's perfectly comfortable, they're going after
my dad. They're not coming after me.
That's not how Christ is our surety. He did not agree to make
up any deficit we might lack. He did not agree to fulfill what
we could not do. He did not agree to be the backup
for us just in case we couldn't meet our obligations. Oh no,
as I shall retain, Christ assumed total responsibility for our
souls. Oh, get hold of that and sail
your boat through tough waters. Christ agreed to total responsibility
for his people. Sometimes a surety may be, in
our day, in our society, by our laws, forced into suretyship
in a sense. For example, you fathers, like
it or not, are responsible for the deeds of your minor children.
You're responsible for them. So if your minor children decide
to find some equipment on the road and One night late and your
boys out with some other boys. I said, let's see what it's like
to ride a bulldozer and they Ride through somebody's house
Guess who's responsible? Daddy's responsible law forces
him Christ is not a for sure He said The Lord God has opened
mine ears Neither turned I away perhaps He said, I will stand Jehovah's
servant forever because I love my master, I love my wife, I
love my children. And so he assumed all responsibility
for us. And when the father accepted
Christ as our surety, Brother Todd, he ceased to look to you
for anything. He ceased to look to you for
anything. When I first moved to Danby,
32 years ago, I rented a house from a fellow who owned a furniture
store, George Grider, and we got to be close acquaintances,
and one day I was over chatting with George, went over to pay
the rent for that month, and he was in a talking notion. He
said, talking about how he got in business and all he'd done
and so forth, and he was Quite successful as a furniture man.
He said, Preacher, you know, some years ago, I had a fellow
come in here who had been doing business with me for years. I
had been doing business for years, and his boy had gotten married.
They'd been married a little while, and his boy and his wife
decided they wanted to build a big house. And they built this
big new house, and they wanted to furnish the whole house with
new furniture. This had been years ago. And
so the father came in and said, George, my son wanted to do this,
and I'd like for you to let him have the furniture if you would,
and I'll stand good for it, but put it in his name. And George
said, okay, if you'll stand good for it, that'll be fine. So they
came in and bought $10,000 worth of furniture, just because daddy
said do it. Put it in their name. And the
old man come in and check on it. After a few months, he asked
him, said, how's my boy doing? He said, oh, he's doing fine.
Looked at the credit, everything paid right on time, no problem.
He said, well, I'm glad he's doing that. But he said, if you
would, how about transferring that all from his name over to
my name? I want to take care of that for
him and his wife. You sure? Yeah. So he transferred the whole
thing from the boy's name into the father's name. He said to
me, he said, Pritchard, guess where that man went just as soon
as I did that? He left the store, went to the courthouse and filed
bankruptcy. I said, what's that mean? He said,
that meant I couldn't even ask that boy if he might kindly take
care of part of that note. By law, I couldn't even ask him
to take care of it. The whole thing falls on the
back of the father. Listen to me. Crooked and vile
as that is, that's a wonderful picture of what I'm trying to
tell you. God's darling son stood forth as our surety in old eternity,
struck hands with the Father and said, put their debt on me! And he assumed total responsibility
for us. And the Father exacted from Him
all that was required of us so that He is the Lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. One slain, on whom our sins were
laid, from whom the Lord God found satisfaction for everything. And we, on the basis of that
work done before ever God created the Son, are accepted into beloved. Well, Brother Dodd, what about
our responsibility? Well, yes, I recognize we're
responsible to believe the gospel. I recognize we're responsible
before God's law. I recognize we're responsible
for our own transgressions. We're responsible to fulfill
all righteousness. We're responsible to pay the
debt, to divide justice. But Christ took the responsibility. My good friend, Brother Harry
Graham, who's with the Lord now, he used to tell me, he said,
these folks don't fuss about responsibility. He said, best
thing I understand about that is it's our response to his ability. Our Lord Jesus assumed responsibility
for us, and the Lord God accepted us in the beloved. Oh, God, he
said, thou knowest my foolishness. And my sins are not hidden from
thee. The Lord laid on him the iniquity
of us all. That's past tense. And that's
found in Isaiah 53, 6. How could that be past tense?
Well, that's speaking as though it were already done. I don't think that's the way
we ought to read the Word of God. I think we ought to read it the
way it's written. hath laid on Him the iniquity
of us all. He laid it on Him before the
sin was ever committed by us. He laid it on Him before ever
Adam sinned in the garden. He laid it on Him from old eternity
and looked to us for nothing, always looking to His Son as
our surety. When the Lord Jesus became our
surety, We were then and there redeemed, and justified, pardoned,
and accepted, forgiven of all sin, made righteous before God.
You mean, Brother Toward, there was never a time when God looked
on us outside Christ? Maybe I've been clear. Is that
what you got from that? Never a time. Never a time when
we were not accepted in the beloved. Never a time when God was furious
and angry with us. Never a time when God's law condemned
us. Never a time. Oh, now we have
a sense of God's law and justice and terror because of our conscious
guilt. until God reveals His Son in
us and removes from us the guilt of sin and the experience of
His grace. But we were accepted in the Beloved,
saved from eternity. And that's language of Scripture,
isn't it? Whom He did foreknow, then He also did predestinate. Whom He did predestinate, then
He also called. Whom He called, then He also
glorified. What? Glorified before the world
began? glorified in that one into whose
hands the Father committed everything from eternity. You remember how
the Savior prayed in John 17 when he had finished his work
on the earth? He said, I finished the work you gave me to do. Now,
Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, now listen, with
the glory that I had with thee before the world was. In time,
when the surety had accomplished everything, the Father publicly,
in his resurrection glory, glorified him, telling the world, I put
everything in his hands. But he put everything in his
hands before the world began. Because the works were finished
from the foundation of the world. Well, what about the Old Testament
saints? Some buffoons would have you to believe that the Old Testament
saints were, they were saved on credit. God sort of charged
him up to Visa card. What nonsense. God doesn't do
business on credit. The Old Testament saints were
accepted in Christ just like we are. Because of his obedience
on our behalf. As our substitute. Before ever
the world was made accepted in the beloved. And they understood
that. They understood that. Turn to
Job 19. I want you to look at two texts, Mr. Gardner. Job 19. Sometimes we get the idea that
the Old Testament saints were kindergarten saints, and they
didn't really know what was going on. They didn't have the basics
of stuff. Here is a man, Job, who lived
at least as early as Abraham, probably earlier. The book of
Job is probably the oldest of all the inspired books in Scripture,
written first. This is the very first, then,
record given in inspiration. And listen to what Job says in
Job 19 verse 25. I know, what a word to use. I know that my Redeemer liveth,
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. And
though after my skin worms shall destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God. whom I shall see for myself and
not another. Mine eyes shall behold and not
another, though my reins be consumed within me. Turn to Psalm 32.
Listen to how David speaks of the surety. This is one of David's
sweet, penitential psalms after the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
And we read here in Psalm 32, blessed is the man, blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, not whose
transgression shall be forgiven, whose transgression is forgiven,
not whose sin shall be covered, whose sin is covered. Nathan
said to David, thou art the man. David said, I've sinned. Nathan's
next word is, the Lord hath put away thy sin. Already done. before you ever
even acknowledged it. No, before you ever did it. This is taken care of. The Lord
hath put away thy sin. Read on, verse two. Blessed is
the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit
there is no guile. As Thomas said, be surety for
thy servant for good. Oh Lord, Isaiah said, undertake
for me, be surety for me. All right, here's the third question.
What did our Lord Jesus Christ agree to as our surety? When he became our surety, he
made certain promises on our behalf. In the name of his covenant
people, promises that he's honor bound to perform. And these promises,
being voluntarily made without any constraint except the constraint
of His love and the force of His grace, now our Savior, having
made those promises, is bound to fulfill them. First, He agreed
to meet and perfectly fulfill all our responsibilities before
God. God demands Walk before me and be thou perfect. Is that the language of the book?
That's what it says, isn't it? God says, be ye holy, for I the
Lord your God am holy. And then he says, referring to
the very same command, you shall be holy. He says, be holy. And then he
says, you shall be holy. He says, walk before me and be
perfect. And he says, be thou perfect. And declares, for I, the Lord
your God, am perfect. Does God require perfection of
you? Perfection. Perfection. So that you're perfectly righteous
without sin, Does God demand that you perfectly obey Him?
Perfectly. Love God with all your heart,
soul, mind and being. Bob Coffey, I want to love you
that way. Love your neighbor as yourself.
And I want to love God that way. I want to. I want to. But I can't. It's not possible, not while
I live in this flesh. I can't do it. But I have. I have. The Son of God, the very
next verse after you finish reading for him, the child grew in wisdom
and favor with God and with man. That child, Christ Jesus, born
of the virgin, coming forth from his mother's womb with no taint
of corruption, said, I must be about my father's business. And
from the day he came into this world, saying, lo, I come to
do thy will, O my God. He did God's will perfectly,
not for himself. He didn't know anything. He did
it for you and for me, his people. Loving God perfectly, loving
his neighbor as himself. But there's still a problem.
Sin's got to be paid for. Justice has got to be satisfied.
You've got to die for your sins. My good friend Lee Park said
that. You're going to suffer God's wrath for your sins, either
personally or in the surety. And Christ, our surety, bear
our sins in his own body on the tree until justice said that's
enough. Then by one great sacrifice put
away our sins, the sacrifice of himself so that he who was
made sin rose from the dead without sin And we, in Him, were crucified
with Christ, buried with Christ, risen with Christ, seated together
in heavenly places in Christ. Already done. Already done. I fully obeyed God and fully
satisfied the justice of God, I have suffered all the wrath
and fury of God in the person of my substitute and my surety. And I stand before God debt-free. Debt-free. You fellas ever been in debt
head over heels? Any of you? I'm talking about debt where
you're hurt. The debt where you're scared to death, you're fixing
to get in trouble. Just head over heels in debt. I remember shortly after Shelby
and I got married, I traveled to preach at different places,
most of the time at my own expense and used that credit card a lot. And man, we got about $3,000,
$4,000 in debt. And I was embarrassed, I was
scared, I didn't know what was going to happen. And when we
finally managed to get all that paid off, I said, that's not going to happen
again. That's not going to happen again. What relief to be out
of debt. Oh my soul, what a poor example
of what I'm trying to convey to you. I know what it is for
a man to be in debt head over heels to God. Justly fearing
his horror and wrath poured out upon me at any moment. And I know what it is to be debt
free. I owe God nothing. Can you get
a hold of that? I owe God nothing, nothing. No debt for my sin, no righteousness,
no obligation, no satisfaction. In Christ, I'm free. He paid
my debt, totally, totally. The Lord Jesus agreed to something
else. He agreed at the appointed time
of love to seek out, find, and save each of his own. And he
agreed to keep them, to bring us at last into glory, into perfection
of his everlasting salvation, and to present us faultless, before the presence
of His glory. I can't hardly get my mind around
this with exceeding joy. God present me with all you who
are His before the presence of His glory in the perfection of
His beauty with exceeding joy. Amen.