Proverbs 6-- Christ Has Paid Your Debt
1 My son, if you become surety for your friend, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger,
2 You are snared by the words of your mouth; you are taken by the words of your mouth.
Do not become a surety “... rashly, without considering how thou shalt discharge the debt as occasion require. Otherwise suretyship in some cases may be not only lawful, but an act of justice and charity.” (John Wesley)
3 So do this, my son, and deliver yourself; for you have come into the hand of your friend: Go and humble yourself; plead with your friend.
4 Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids.
5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler [That is, one who catches birds in a trap or snare].
You are now at the mercy of your friend and must discharge your obligation, “... whereby thou art in his power, by his neglect or unfaithfulness, to expose thee to the payment of the debt... strive to win him by thine incessant and earnest solicitations...;Give not sleep; - Until thou hast taken care for the discharge of this obligation.” (John Wesley)
Jesus paid the debt for your sins. He is both willing and able to be your Surety on the Last Day. He died for the sins of the world. And even today, He will pay your debt if your acknowledge your sin and accept Him as your Sin-Bearer. If, on the other hand, you say that you have no sin, you deceive yourself.
"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us." (1 John 1:5-10)
Christ Our Surety by Andrew Ray
Scripture Passage: Hebrews 7:14-22
INTRODUCTION: In the Bible we find many references to transactions and covenants. Often the transaction or covenant is between two men, but there are also many references to a covenant or transaction that has to do with God and man’s relationship. In our passage we find one of those references and it is found in the usage of the word surety. Now we know that Christ was made a surety of a better testament but what exactly does that mean? Let’s look at the ways God uses the word or a form of the word throughout and see what we can learn about what Christ has done for us.
I. THE SURETY OF A MATTER
A. A Surety is in Effect for the Sake of a Debt (Proverbs 22:26)
B. Removes All Doubts
1. Abraham’s Seed in Captivity (Genesis 15:13)
2. Isaac’s Wife (Genesis 26:9)
3. The Omniscience of Christ (John 16:30)
4. That Jesus was Christ (John 6:69)
C. Is a Confirmation (Genesis 23:17)
D. Is A Guarantee of Payment (Proverbs 27:13)
E. Making Something Sure Completes the Deal (Matthew 27:64-66)
F. Brings Peace (Isaiah 32:18)
II. THE SURETY WORK OF A PERSON
A. One Can be Surety in the Place of Another (Genesis 43:9, Genesis 44:32; Psalm 119:122; Proverbs 6:3)
B. Is Responsible for the Debt of Another Who Cannot Pay (Proverbs 6:1, Proverbs 11:15, Proverbs 17:18)
III. THE SURETY WORK OF CHRIST
A. Is in Effect Because of Man’s Debt of Sin (Romans 5:14; 1 Corinthians 15:21-22; Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23)
B. He Has Become a Surety in the Place of Another (2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13; Hebrews 2:9, Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 2:24)
C. He Took On Him the Debt that Men Could Not Pay
1. We Miss Hell Because He Suffered it
2. We Go To Heaven Based Upon His Righteousness
D. He Completed the Transaction with the Father (Isaiah 53:11; Hebrews 10:12)
E. He Removes any Doubts as to Our Eternity
F. He Has Brought Peace Because the Transaction is Settled (Romans 5:1)
Andrew Ray http://www.learnthebible.org/sermon-outlines/christ-our-surety.html
Proverbs 6: The School of the Ant
6-8 Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest.
“Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: As Elihu (Job 35:11) says that God has set the beasts as our teachers, so he sends the sluggard to the school of the ant.” (Keil and Delitzsch OT Commentary) “...‘The ant does not borrow or beg, nor is it starved by neglecting to provide for its wants in time, but of its own accord burns with zeal for toil, without any one urging it. All the ants move on the same path. The ants that are without a load make way for those most laden. The burden which would be too difficult to carry they divide…They construct their houses and cells under ground, and fill their stores with grain, and have channels sunk to drain off the rain, and if their food becomes wet, they bring it out to dry,’ [Faussett]. Marvelous natural wisdom.
... The lesson here is preparedness in the time of opportunity, (Prov. 30:24-28). Alas, how many people are neglecting the opportunity to become children of the light and to walk in the light until one day they will no longer have the opportunity, (John 12:35-36). Delay is one of Satan’s best tools in the damnation of souls. It is noteworthy also that Jesus Himself referred to saving faith under the figures of eating and drinking, (John 6). ‘Our whole present life is the time for action; the future, for retribution, which shall be ushered in by the judgment; the latter is the harvest,’ [Faussett] ...” http://www.pbministries.org/Landmark_Baptist/Seminary/Bible_Study_Courses/Proverbs/DH_proverbs_chap06.htm
9 How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep?
“Our duty is to work while it is day before the night comes when no man can work, (1 Thess. 5:4-8; Eph. 5:14). The sluggard is the slothful man... He is simply the man who refuses to labor, (Prov. 21:25; 24:30-31). From the time that sin entered the human race, labor has been the lot of each of us, (Gen. 3:17-19), and a part of the curse. Churches, which were originally the ones responsible for feeding the poor and the needy, were commanded not to feed any who would not work, (2 Thess. 3:10-14). Earning our food by labor being a result of the curse brought about by original sin, to attempt to get by without honest labor is a tacit denial of one’s sinfulness.” http://www.pbministries.org/Landmark_Baptist/Seminary/Bible_Study_Courses/Proverbs/DH_proverbs_chap06.htm
10-11 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep— so shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man.
“...Note the descending gradation from deep sleep to the lighter slumber to just the preparations for sleep. Scientists now know that there are stages of sleep ranging from deep sleep bordering on total unconsciousness up to very light sleep which is almost wakefulness. We all know how hard it is to wake up sometimes, and how easy it is to drift back into a sounder sleep. There is a danger of becoming both a physical and a spiritual sluggard by yielding to this physically and spiritually. If we promise ourselves a little more ease before we rise up to our work, we may slip into a deeper sleep than we think and fail to awaken when we think to, and so it will be unprofitable.
So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man... Here is the result of sloth: poverty shall come suddenly upon one while he is sleepily unaware of his danger. Some render ‘one that travelleth as a highwayman’ which would seem to be a better parallel to ‘an armed man.’ The thought is that for the careless person, poverty will suddenly pounce upon him and strip him of all that he has...” http://www.pbministries.org/Landmark_Baptist/Seminary/Bible_Study_Courses/Proverbs/DH_proverbs_chap06.htm
“Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.’
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work. Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife. And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.” (2 Timothy 2:14-26) Work like the Master of the house is coming!
Proverbs 6: Christ in Our Place
12-15 A troublemaker and a villain, who goes about with a corrupt mouth, who winks maliciously with his eye, signals with his feet and motions with his fingers, who plots evil with deceit in his heart— he always stirs up conflict. Therefore disaster will overtake him in an instant; he will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy.
16 There are six things Yahweh hates, seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
“If the slothful are to be condemned, who do nothing, much more those that do all the ill they can. Observe how such a man is described. He says and does everything artfully, and with design. His ruin shall come without warning, and without relief. Here is a list of things hateful to God. Those sins are in a special manner provoking to God, which are hurtful to the comfort of human life. These things which God hates, we must hate in ourselves; it is nothing to hate them in others. Let us shun all such practices, and watch and pray against them; and avoid, with marked disapproval, all who are guilty of them, whatever may be their rank.” (Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary)
"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?" (1 Peter 4:17)
“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.” (Romans 5:6-11)
“Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”(1 Corinthians 6:7-11)
Proverbs 6 Don't Play With Fire
20 My son, keep your father’s command and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
21 Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck.
22 When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.
23 For this Mitzvah is a lamp; this Torah is a light, and correction and instruction are the way to life,
24 keeping you from your neighbor’s wife, from the smooth talk of a wayward woman.
25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty or let her captivate you with her eyes.
26 For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,but another man’s wife preys on your very life.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap. without his clothes being burned?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?
29 So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife; no one who touches her will go unpunished.
There is no way to make this into going after other gods. Yahweh, the God of our spiritual fathers, prohibits adultery. And unless an adulterer repent of their evil deeds and modify their ways, they will perish in the end- time judgement. Messiah has words on the matter:
Jesus on Adultery
"You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ (Exodus 20:14) But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell." (Matthew 27:30)
Jesus on Divorce
"It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’(Deuteronomy 24:1) But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery." (Matthew 5:31-32)
Paul on sex outside of marriage
"I say therefore to the unmarried and widows, it is good for them if they abide even as I. But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn." (1 Corinthians 7:8-9, KJV)
Proverbs 6
30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his hunger when he is starving.
31 Yet if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold, though it costs him all the wealth of his house.
“Such a thief is pitied, though heavily punished.” (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown)
32 But a man who commits adultery has no sense; whoever does so destroys himself.
33 Blows and disgrace are his lot, and his shame will never be wiped away.
“The teacher continues his argument with another illustration, still keeping in view his object, which is to show that the punishment of the adulterer is a surely impending one and severe in its character. The argument in vers. 30-33 is one ‘a fortiori’. If men do not overlook but severely punish a crime which has been committed under extenuating circumstances, much less will they do so where the crime is of a much graver character and has nothing to excuse it.” (The Pulpit Commentary) His shame will ever remain.
“According to the Bible, adultery is primarily a sin against God. In the course of Abraham's travels, he twice did a despicable and cowardly thing. Because he was afraid the kings of the countries he was visiting would kill him and take his wife, he told them Sarah was his sister. Consequently, Abimelech, the king of Gerar, took Sarah in order to make her his wife. But God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him that if he slept with Sarah he would die because Sarah was another man's wife. Abimelech protested his innocence to God and God agreed that he was in fact innocent: 'Then God said to [Abimelech] in the dream, ‘Yes, I know that you have done this in the integrity of your heart, and it was I who kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not let you touch her' (Genesis 20.6).
According to God, if Abimelech committed adultery with Sarah he would be sinning against God. Other passages offer the same God-centered perspective on the sin of adultery. When the wife of the Egyptian Potiphar tried to seduce Abraham's great-grandson Joseph, he refused and said, 'How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?' (Genesis 39.9). According to Joseph, sleeping with his master's wife would be sinning against God.
King David evidently shared this view. After committing adultery with Bathsheba and ensuring that Bathsheba's husband Uriah was killed in battle, he wrote Psalm 51. In this Psalm, David cries out to God: 'Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight' (Psalm 51.4). For hundreds of years, careful readers of Psalm 51 have been amazed by David's claim that he sinned only against God. What about Bathsheba? What about Uriah her husband? Surely David sinned against them? Of course he did. David's selfish pursuit of sexual pleasure and emotional intimacy with another man's wife was clearly a sin against Bathsheba's husband Uriah, and against Bathsheba's parents, and against Bathsheba herself. We know Paul would have thought so, because he said that the command to love other people 'sums up' the command not to commit adultery (Romans 13.9). When David says he has sinned 'only' against God, he means that by far the greatest offense has been against God. [D.A. Carson]
Consequently, all other offenses pale in comparison. Charles Spurgeon saw this clearly: 'The virus of sin lies in its opposition to God: the Psalmist's sense of sin towards others rather tended to increase the force of his feeling of sin against God. All his wrong-doing centred, culminated, and came to a climax, at the foot of the divine throne.'..
How did David arrive at this God-centered understanding of his sin? He seems to have learned it from God himself, through Nathan the prophet. In 2 Samuel 12, God sends Nathan to confront David for his sins of murder and adultery. Nathan's message is clearly that David has sinned against Uriah by killing him and taking his wife. But the main thrust of God's message through Nathan is that David has sinned against God. God says: 'Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight?' (2 Samuel 12.9). And God says: 'Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.' (2 Samuel 12.10). ...” http://www.reformation21.org/articles/a-godcentered-understanding-of-sin.php
No retribution or ransom to the person offended can make it right, but he or she can be forgiven by God through the blood of Jesus.
“Nothing can my sin erase
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
Naught of works, ’tis all of grace—
Nothing but the blood of Jesus!
REFRAIN -OH! PRECIOUS IS THE FLOW
THAT MAKES ME WHITE AS SNOW;
NO OTHER FOUNT I KNOW,
NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD OF JESUS.”
34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.
35 He will not accept any compensation; he will refuse a bribe, however great it is.
“This is an injury that admits of no compensation. No gifts can satisfy a man for the injury his honor has sustained; and to take a bribe or a ransom, would be setting up chastity at a price.” (Adam Clarke) After reconciliation with the Lord, the offender is still to ask forgiveness of the man or woman offended.