Sermon
#31 Hebrews
Notes
Title: Christ Our Surety
Text: Hebrews 7:22
Readings: Lindsay
Campbell & Larry Criss
Subject: Christ’s Suretyship
Date: Tuesday Evening – October 31,2000[i]
Tape # W-7b
Introduction:
The
whole of our acceptance with
God is in Christ. It is the Person and work of Christ alone, which makes us
acceptable and accepted with the thrice holy Lord God.
The
whole of our assurance before
God is in Christ. Be sure you understand this. Our relationship with God does,
in great measure determine what we do; but what we do does not in any way, or
to any degree, affect our relationship with our God.
The
whole of our security in
grace is in Christ. We are in Christ. We are accepted because Christ is
accepted. We are secure because Christ is secure. We are holy because he is
holy. We have no sin because he has no sin. He put away our sins. Therefore,
God will not charge his elect with sin, at any time or for any reason (Rom.
4:28).
“Near, so very near to God,
Nearer I cannot be,
For in the person of His Son
I am as near as He.
Dear, so very dear to God,
Dearer I cannot be,
For in the person of His Son
I am as dear as He!”
Christ is our Good Shepherd. –
As such, he gave his life for his sheep. He seeks his sheep, each one of them
and everyone of them, until he finds it. When he finds it, he lays it on his
shoulders and carries it all the way home. The Good Shepherd knows his sheep.
He calls them by name. He leads them, feeds them, protects them, and preserves
them. He gives them eternal life and declares, “They shall never perish!” My heart rejoices in the knowledge that
Christ is my Shepherd and I am his sheep (John 10:1-30).
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is our Substitute. He lived in righteousness and died in shame as the
Representative of his people. Substitution is…
·
the basis of hope for fallen man.
·
the foundation and essence of the gospel.
·
the message God’s servants are sent to declare.
·
good news for guilty sinners.
“In due time,
Christ died for the ungodly…Who his own self bear our sins in his own body on
the tree” (Rom. 5:6; 1 Pet. 2:24). For my own heart there is nothing so
deep and mysterious, so profound and awesome, so wonderful and inspiring, so
full and joyful, so comforting and assuring as the glorious, God honoring,
gospel doctrine of substitution. Indeed, substitution is the very fabric from
which all biblical truth is made.
2
Corinthians 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Christ is our great High Priest.
– He has our names engraved upon his heart. With his own blood, he entered in
once into the holy place, and obtained eternal redemption for us. The Lord
Jesus Christ deals with God on our behalf. He makes intercession with the
Father for us. He who entered into heaven as our Forerunner and sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on High is Christ, our great High Priest.
This great High Priest is
God; but he is also a man, a man touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
He knows our trials, temptations, and troubles. He knows our weaknesses and our
woes. And he sympathizes with us. He intercedes for us, pleading our cause with
the Father. Christ is a Priest we can safely trust. His sacrifice has been
accepted in heaven (Heb. 10:1-14).
The Son of God is our Advocate (1 John 2:1-2). What could
be more blessedly consoling to sinful men and women? The Son of God is our
Advocate with the Father. “We have an
Advocate with the Father!”
·
A Gracious, Loving Advocate
·
A Righteous Advocate
·
A Full Time Advocate
·
An Effectual Advocate
Do you see how anxious the Holy Spirit
is for us to enjoy the comfort and assurance of our souls’ salvation?
He not only tells us what Christ has done, is doing, and shall yet do for us,
he uses metaphor after metaphor to assure God’s believing people that all is
well between us and our God.
Among
the many descriptions used in Holy Scripture to describe our Savior’s glorious
person and redemptive work, none can be more instructive, consoling, and
assuring than that which is spoken of in our text (Heb. 7:22). Here, the Lord
Jesus Christ is described as our Surety. Let’s read verse 19-25 together.
Hebrews
7:19-25 "For the law made nothing perfect, but
the bringing in of a better hope did; by
the which we draw nigh unto God. {20} And
inasmuch as not without an oath he was
made priest: {21} (For those priests were made without an oath; but this
with an oath by him that said unto him, The Lord sware and will not repent,
Thou art a priest for ever after the
order of Melchisedec:) {22} By so much was Jesus made a surety of a
better testament. {23} And they
truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason
of death: {24} But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an
unchangeable priesthood. {25} Wherefore
he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them."
I
want to talk to you now, for a few minutes, about Christ Our Surety.
I want to show you what a surety is and how the Lord Jesus Christ performs the
work of a surety on our behalf.
They say that one picture is
worth a thousand words. So let me first give you a picture of a Surety, and
then try to explain a Surety’s work.
Illustration: Judah became Surety for Benjamin -- Genesis 43:8-9
Genesis
43:8-9 "And Judah said unto 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. {9} 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:"
Proposition: As
Judah became Surety for Benjamin, the Lord Jesus Christ became Surety for God’s
elect in the covenant of grace.
Divisions:
1.
What is a Surety?
2.
How did Christ become our Surety?
3.
What did the Lord Jesus Christ agree to as our Surety?
I. What is a Surety?
A surety is one who approaches one person on
the behalf of another person. He is a representative man who lays himself under
obligation to another person for the one he represents. In this sense, Christ
is our Surety. He drew near to his Father on our behalf, and laid himself under
obligation to God for us (Ps. 40:7-8).
Psalms
40:7-8 "Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume
of the book it is written of me, {8} I delight to do thy will, O my God:
yea, thy law is within my
heart."
A
surety is one who strikes hands with another in solemn agreement. Suretyship is, to a man of honor, a
voluntary bondage (Pro. 6:1-2).
Proverbs
6:1-2 "My son, if thou be surety for thy
friend, if thou hast stricken thy
hand with a stranger, {2} Thou art
snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy
mouth."
When Christ became our
Surety, he voluntarily placed himself in bondage to his Father until his
service was performed (Isa. 50:5-7; John 10:16-18).
Isaiah
50:5-7 "The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and
I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. {6} I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that
plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. {7} 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."
John
10:16-18 "And other sheep I have, which are not
of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there
shall be one fold, and one shepherd. {17} Therefore doth my Father love me,
because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. {18} No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have
power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have
I received of my Father."
This is what the Lord Jesus Christ did
as our Surety in the Covenant of Grace, before the world began.
·
He drew near to God on the behalf of his elect.
·
He promised to faithfully perform all that God required for the
salvation of his people.
·
He struck hands with the Father in solemn agreement.
God the Father entrusted his elect
people into the hands of his Son as our Surety, and the matter of our salvation
was then and there settled forever (Eph. 1:12; 2 Tim. 1:9-10).
Ephesians
1:12 "That we should be to the praise of his
glory, who first trusted in Christ."
2 Timothy
1:9-10 "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began, {10}
But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through
the gospel:"
II. How did Christ become our
Surety?
With men a Surety is a mere
guarantor,
a co-signer who is jointly responsible with the principle debtor for the
payment of a debt. Not so with Christ!
Our Lord Jesus Christ did
not merely agree to meet our obligations to God’s law if we, by some
circumstance or condition, became incapable of meeting our own obligations. Our
blessed Savior, as our Surety, took the whole of our obligation before the law
of God upon himself.
With men a surety may be legally forced
into suretyship. A father is legally responsible for the debts and
legal liabilities of his minor children. But Christ voluntarily, cheerfully
placed himself in servitude to God’s law and will as the Surety of his own
elect. From the instant he became Surety for his people, he became servant to
his Father (Isa. 42:1; 49:3; John 10:17-18). The Lord Jesus Christ is an absolute Surety by voluntary consent.
Illustration: The One Room School
A. When he became our Surety, Christ took the whole of
our debt upon himself.
He became responsible for our obligations. As
soon as he was accepted as our Surety, we were released from all of our debts
and obligations to God’s holy law.
Illustration: The Legal Transfer Of A Note
As
soon as God accepted his Son as our Surety, he set us free. He ceased looking
to us for satisfaction. He freed us from all bondage, all curse, all penalty,
and all obligation; and looked to his Son for satisfaction of our debts (Job
33:24).
Job 33:24 "Then he is gracious unto him, and
saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom."
Illustration: Paul became surety for Onesimus (Philemon 18).
Philemon
1:18 "If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine
account;"
B. When Christ became Surety for us, our sins were
imputed to him.
By divine imputation, our sins were placed to
his account, he became responsible for them. Christ was made to be sin for us
when he hung upon the cursed tree. But he became responsible and accountable
for sin when he became our Surety (2 Cor. 5:21; Isa. 53:6; Ps. 40:12; 69:5).
2
Corinthians 5:21 "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
Isaiah 53:6 "All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all."
Psalms
40:12 "For innumerable evils have compassed me
about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look
up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth
me."
Psalms 69:5 "O God, thou knowest my foolishness; and
my sins are not hid from thee."
C. When Christ became our Surety, we were then and
there redeemed, justified, pardoned, and made righteous in the sight of God.
God’s forbearance, patience, and
long-suffering with this world is due to the suretyship engagements of Christ.
God’s eye has always been on the blood. It is the blood of Christ, our Surety,
that held back the hand of God’s judgment when Adam sinned.
1. The Old Testament saints
were pardoned, justified, and forgiven upon the basis of Christ’s obedience as
our Surety, though he had not yet actually rendered that obedience (Isa. 43:25;
45:24-25; Heb. 11:13-16).
Isaiah
43:25 "I, even
I, am he that blotteth out thy
transgressions for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins."
Isaiah
45:24-25 "Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. {25} In the LORD shall all the seed of
Israel be justified, and shall glory."
Hebrews
11:13-16 "These all died in faith, not having
received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
earth. {14} For they that say such
things declare plainly that they seek a country. {15} And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they
might have had opportunity to have returned.
{16} But now they desire a better country,
that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God:
for he hath prepared for them a city."
2. Those blessed saints of old
had knowledge of and faith in Christ as their Surety (Job 19:25-27; Ps. 32:1-4;
119:122; Isa. 38:14).
Job
19:25-27 "For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that
he shall stand at the latter day upon
the earth: {26} And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: {27} Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and
not another; though my reins be
consumed within me."
Psalms
32:1-4 "
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. {2} Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose
spirit there is no guile. {3} When I kept silence, my bones waxed
old through my roaring all the day long.
{4} For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned
into the drought of summer. Selah."
Psalms
119:122 "Be surety for thy servant for good: let
not the proud oppress me."
Isaiah
38:14 "Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes
fail with looking upward: O LORD, I
am oppressed; undertake (be Surety) for me."
The
Lord Jesus Christ became our Surety by his own voluntary will. And he was
accepted as our Surety in the Covenant of Grace, before the world began. God,
as it were, trusted him to be the Surety of his people (Eph. 1:12-14; John 6).
Ephesians
1:12-14 "That we should be to the praise of his
glory, who first trusted in Christ. {13} In
whom ye also trusted, after that ye
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that
ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, {14} Which is the earnest of our
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise
of his glory."
III. What did the Lord Jesus
Christ agree to as our Surety?
When Christ became our Surety, he made
certain promises in the name of his covenant people which he is honor bound to
perform. These promises were voluntarily made, without any constraint or force,
except the constraint of his love and the force of his grace. But now, having
made those promises, he is bound to perform them, bound by his own honor. What
are those promises? What did our great Surety agree to do?
Basically,
our eternal Surety agreed to do two things:
A. He agreed to meet and perfectly fulfill all our
responsibilities to God.
Standing as our Surety, in an absolute sense,
Christ did not simply assume part of our responsibility in a given area. He
became absolutely responsible for his people in all things.
1. He agreed to render that
perfect obedience to the law, “establishing
righteousness for us,” which we were obliged to do. He worked out a legal
righteousness for his people. “I have
finished the work.’
2. He agreed to satisfy the
penalty of the law as our Substitute. “It
is finished.”
By
his perfect obedience, in life and in death, our great Surety magnified the law
and made it honorable (Heb. 10:5-14).
Hebrews
10:5-14 "Wherefore when he cometh into the
world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou
prepared me: {6} In burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin thou hast had
no pleasure. {7} Then said I, Lo, I
come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. {8} Above when he said, Sacrifice and
offering and burnt offerings and offering
for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; {9} Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away
the first, that he may establish the second.
{10} By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. {11} And
every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins:
{12} But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever,
sat down on the right hand of God; {13} From
henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. {14} For by one offering he hath
perfected for ever them that are sanctified."
B. Christ, our Surety, agreed to bring all his elect
safe to glory (John 6:39-40; 10:16).
John
6:39-40 "And this is the Father's will which
hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but
should raise it up again at the last day.
{40} And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth
the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him
up at the last day."
John 10:16 "And other sheep I have, which are not
of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there
shall be one fold, and one
shepherd."
Yes,
the Lord Jesus Christ became responsible to bring God’s Benjamins safely home. “If I bring them not unto thee, and set them
before thee, then let me bear the blame forever.” It is because of his
Suretyship engagements for his elect that our Lord says, “Them also I must bring.” What our Surety has sworn to do he must
do (Heb. 2:13).
Hebrews
2:13 "And again, I will put my trust in him.
And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me."
1. He reconciled us to God in
his sin-atoning death.
2. He entered into Heaven as
our Covenant-Head and claimed our eternal inheritance in our name, as our
Surety.
3. He will, in the last day,
present all of his elect faultless before the Father’s glory with exceeding
great joy.
·
In that day, he will appear without sin.
·
We will appear without sin.
·
His Father will say again, “Well
done!”
Illustration: Rowland Hill’s Dream
John Jasper – “He’d lose mo’ den me. I’d lose my soul; but he’d lose his glory!”
Application:
1. Christ alone is our Savior.
2. Christ alone must be
praised.
3. Christ alone must be
trusted.
Hebrews
7:22 "By so much was Jesus made a surety of a
better testament."
Isaiah
42:1-4 "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine
elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I
have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. {2} He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor
cause his voice to be heard in the street.
{3} A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not
quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. {4} He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set
judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law."
·
This is my salvation.
·
This is my comfort and assurance.
·
This is my motivation.
·
This is my hope.
“Christ exalted is our song,
Hymned by all the blood
bought throng;
To His throne our shouts
shall rise,
God with us by sacred ties.
Shout, believer, to thy God,
He hath once the wine press
trod;
Peace procured by blood
Divine,
Canceled all thy sins and
mine.
Here thy bleeding wounds are
healed,
Sin condemned and pardon
sealed;
Grace her empire still
maintains;
Love, without a rival,
reigns.
In thy Surety thou art free,
His dear hands were pierced
for thee:
With His spotless garments
on,
Holy as the Holy One.
Oh the heights and
depths of grace!
Shining with a glorious
blaze;
Here the sacred records show
Sinners black, but comely
too.
Saints dejected, cease to
mourn,
Faith shall soon to vision
turn;
Ye the kingdom shall obtain,
And with Christ exalted
reign.”
AMEN.
[i] Sermon #628 Danville 2/10/85 (PM) -- New Caney, TX 8/10/85 – Ashland, KY 4/3/85 – Jacksonville, NC 4/7/85 – Crossville, TN 6/3/86 – New Castle, IN 6/5/86 – Darlington, ENG 5/27/87