It has been several years now, so my memory of the details may not be spot on. But as I remember it, one day the church phone rang, and I heard a woman’s voice. She mentioned her name and that she was then at the mini storage place at the corner of 12th and Highway 41. She told me that she behind on her rent and was close to losing her property. I didn’t recognize her name and was quite sure that I had never met her. Then she began to beg me to to pay her storage fees for 6 months. Now, I often empty my wallet, giving money to strangers, and my wife has questioned my sanity. But on that day, I was smart enough not to be sucked into paying for even a short-term rental agreement.
As we have just read, this sort of thing is discussed in the Word of God, and warnings are given. The Book of Proverbs is perhaps the most secularly practical book in the Word of God. There are very real suggestions and there are lessons illustrated by real people throughout the Bible, but Proverbs is more like a textbook on living the daily life. And our text about becoming a co-signer on someone’s loan has several cousins living close by. For example there is Proverbs 17:18 – “A man VOID of understanding striketh hands, and becometh surety in the presence of his friend.” “Striking hands” is essentially the same thing as an agreement secured with a hearty handshake. Proverbs 11:15 – “He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; and he that hateth suretiship is sure.” Among others there is Proverbs 22:26 – “Be NOT thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?”
You may be wondering why I am looking at this subject and these scriptures on a Sunday morning. The eleven o’clock hour on the Lord’s Day should be a time when the gospel is preached. And I agree. But I am here to tell you that the gospel can be preached from any book of the Bible. Furthermore, it SHOULD be preached from every book from time to time, if for no other reason than to show the Bible’s continuity, and to prove that it has but one author – the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, many of the most practical subjects can illustrate important eternal truths. This particular subject is mentioned several times, leading us to believe that it has important spiritual significance.
Before we get to those ETERNAL truths, let’s take the opportunity to examine the PRACTICAL aspects.
Please scroll over a couple pages to Proverbs 11:15 – “He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; and he that hateth suretiship is sure.” Realizing that some people may not understand the terms used in this verse, I turned to my most trusted dictionary: Noah Webster’s 1828 – “An American Dictionary of the English Language.” Not everyone knows that the word “smart” in this verse does not directly refer to wisdom or intelligence. In fact, what most people understand of the word today didn’t even exist in Webster’s day. I can’t find it in his dictionary. Here is Webster’s first definition of the word in verb form – “to smart” – “To feel a lively pungent PAIN, particularly a pungent local pain from some piercing or irritating application. Thus Cayenne pepper applied to the tongue makes it smart.” Over time, I can see how a person can become smart enough not to pour crushed peppers on his tongue. A smart person knows not to jump off three storey buildings, and that he should put on a coat when the temperature is below freezing. He becomes smart because he first smarted in his foolishness, or perhaps he learned from some other person’s mistake and pain. Solomon is saying, “He that is surety for a stranger shall suffer PAIN for his foolishness.”
For many people, an even more obscure word in this verse is the noun “surety.” Over and over again, I not only learn from Noah Webster, but he often makes me smile in the process. For example, his reference to Cayenne pepper brought a smile to my face. An his first definition for “surety” is straight forward; it means “certainty,” but then he adds, “indubitableness.” Once again I had to smile to myself as I had to turn to a different page to look up “indubitableness.” How many people today are sure they know the meaning of the word Webster used to define “surety?” It means: “here is something which should never be doubted – it is indubitable.” And then as Webster so often does, to illustrate his definition, he quoted the King James Bible. God said to Abram, “Know of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs” – Genesis 15. “Abraham, you can be certain that your children will live as strangers in a strange land.”
More to OUR point is Webster’s 6th definition: A surety… “In LAW is: one that is bound with and for another; one who enters into a bond or recognizance to answer for another’s appearance in court, or for his payment of a debt, or for the performance of some act, and who, in case of the principle debtor’s failure, is compellable to pay the debt or damages; a bondsman…” Then he quotes our scripture from Proverbs 11:17 – “He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it.”
Solomon’s practical point becomes obvious: When you shake hands, agreeing to guarantee a someone’s debt, you are making a foolish mistake. When you co-sign that loan agreement, and your friend goes bankrupt, you will be forced to pay his debt. When you promise on behalf of someone that he will appear in court, if he does not appear, you may find yourself arrested as his bail bondsman. “Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth” – Proverbs 6:2. “If thou hast nothing to pay,” the court may seize your property even down to your coat and bed – Proverbs 22:27.
The love you have for your friend should not be enough to force you to become a surety for him. Don’t let her wonderful green eyes and sweet words, encourage you to sign anything on her behalf. Don’t tell the mini-storage place that you will cover the rental agreement, if that woman can’t pay. You are very likely going to smart for it. I hope that you remember these verses if the day ever comes that you are asked to become a surety.
But now, let’s lift our eyes from our neighbors and the human courts around us. Let us lift our eyes into Heaven, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Let us look at the Saviour, who taught Solomon these principles and inspired these exhortations.
Praise God that the Lord Jesus Christ didn’t follow His own admonition.
Christ willingly made himself a surety. I will stop referring to Noah Webster after one more quote: His 7th definition of the word “surety” reads: “In scripture, Christ is called ‘the surety of a better testament.’ Hebrews 7:22. He undertook to make atonement for the sins of men, and thus prepare the way to deliver them from the punishment to which they rendered themselves liable.” In other words, the Lord Jesus signed His name to those Heavenly court documents which condemned me to hell.
Speaking about me and every other grandson of Adam, I needed a surety – a bondsman – a kinsman redeemer. As a child of the man whom God first created, I carry the genes of Adam. And when Adam sinned against the Lord, he poisoned the gene pool – that original DNA. Nevertheless, despite his new sin nature, and my inheritance of that sin nature, I am still responsible to love the Lord our God with all my heart, with all my soul, and with all my strength, and to keep His commandments. And so, by the way, are you. And in our failure to obey God and love Him properly, we prove ourselves to be sinners before His eyes. James put it this way in chapter 2 of his epistle: “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: but if he have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”
That woman, owing money at the mini-storage, had a debt problem. Perhaps she had put all her earthly belongings into that shed, and for several months been living in her car. She was about to lose her family photos; her spoon collection and perhaps her winter clothes. She was going to lose the silverware her mother gave her when she died, and the baby booties she knitted for her daughter thirty-five years ago. Her debts were going to rob her of essentially everything she owned. She was desperately looking for a surety to help with her money problems.
And if I may point back to my recent quote from James 2, like that woman, we all are debtors to the law of God. We may argue that we’ve been relatively obedient to some of the moral precepts God has given to us. But honesty demands that we admit to many, many failures – many, many sins. And as such we are “guilty of all,” as James says. Whether or not it is reflected in our bank statement, we are submerged under an insurmountable debt.
I can’t say what caused that woman’s problem. It may have been through no direct fault of her own, but then on the other hand maybe it was all about her. Maybe through lust, she kicked out her husband and that choice came back to financially destroy her. Maybe she chose to experiment with marijuana or booze which led to worse drugs and addiction problems. Perhaps, her life could be described simply as one of “rebellion.” This is possible, because by nature as sinners, we are all inveterate rebels. We were born that way. Even when we used to say that we loved God and even when we professed to serving Him, there were areas of our lives which we refused to yield to Him. What things were they? Money? Immoral thoughts? Fornication? Pride? Racial hatred? We come into this world as rebels, as traitors. In most societies traitors are executed; they die. And I will remind you that the Bible tells us that “wages of sin is death” – Romans 6:23.
That word “death” tells us that we have far worse problems in the journals of God than simple debt or a history of rebellion. You young people may not see it as well as those of us who are a little older. But the grave is rushing toward us with ever increasing speed with each passing day. Logically speaking, I may be closer to my physical death than you, but in reality that may not be true. People in their 20’s die all the time; teenagers die. No matter how old you are at this moment, your relatives may be forced to plan for your funeral tomorrow.
But why am I alive today and able to share with you gospel? Because of the grace bestowed upon me by my Surety, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why hasn’t the sentence against me for my rebellious past been carried out? Because a Surety stepped forward on my behalf. And that Surety, that Bondsman, that Kinsman Redeemer, was none other than the eternal Son of God.
Sunday afternoon two weeks ago, the church phone rang, and a man introduced himself. He was trying to take his family home to Oregon, but because of car problems he was penniless. He asked if I could help him. I quickly asked the Lord for wisdom. I didn’t ask my wife. You may criticize me, but I drove to a truck stop on the other side of town, filled his old van with gas and emptied my wallet so he could buy at least one cheap meal for his family. Then I “struck hands” with him, and told him to pay it forward. The man was not my friend, although by the Biblical definition he was my neighbor. He was not my enemy, but he was definitely a stranger.
His relationship to me was entirely different from my old relationship to Jesus Christ. Paul wrote in Romans 5 – “when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” That Oregonian was not in rebellion toward me; he was not a sinner against me, as I had been toward God. The Lord Jesus told His disciples, “Greater love hath no man than this than that a man lay down his life for his friends.” But, my friends, I was not a friend of God when Christ laid down His life for me.
I hope that you know the Lord’s story about the “Good Samaritan.” To summarize it – a Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by thieves. He was beaten, stripped naked, and left at the side of the road to die of blood loss and exposure. Eventually a stranger – a Samaritan – came by, and his heart filled with pity for the man. He treated his wounds as best he could, and then he carried him to an inn, giving the inn keeper money to continue to treat the injured Jew. Then before he continued on his journey he told the inn keeper, “Whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.” The Samaritan “struck hands” with the inn keeper, becoming a surety for the injured party. That is an illustration of what Christ Jesus has done for me.
Now, please go with me back to our text in Proverbs 11:15.
“He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it.” Never has that scripture been more true than when Christ Jesus stepped in to become my Surety. My old picture of what it is to “smart” has always been a little different from what I learned in Webster. For me, the pain involved in the word “smart” has been a good, solid back-hand slap across the face.
My Substitute before God – the one who became my Surety under the penalty of law against me – endured several of those back hands – but also much, much more. Some of those slaps fell upon an apparently already bloodied face because His beard had been ripped away. He was blind-folded and punched in the face, with the demand, “Prophesy. Tell us who just struck you.” He was beaten by the Jews, but perhaps without a lot of blood, so they could present Him to the Romans in a reasonably good condition. He had a ring of thorns pushed down upon His head, creating streams of blood down over His face. Then He was severely scourged – that is He was beaten with a whip, tearing bloody gashes across His back and reaching around to His chest. Eventually, He was beaten by the Roman Governor in hopes it would raise enough sympathy that the Jews would consider His release. But when the Jews refused, crying out “Crucify Him, Crucify Him,” Pilate ordered Jesus’ crucifixion.
No one has ever “smarted” for a stranger as much as Jesus did in His crucifixion and in the road leading up to the cross. He did it as a surety for me. Oh, the matchless love of a most compassionate Saviour. He took my place under the furious eye of God’s broken law. He sponsored my escape from divine, eternal wrath, by striking hands with me – His enemy. Like the good Samaritan, He took me to the inn, and struck hands with the inn keeper to pay my sin debt. I was naked and bloodied, but Christ washed me in His blood and clothed me with His righteousness. I was sick and in prison, but He visited me and brought me out. I was lost, but He redeemed and saved me.
In salvation, Christ was not a lawyer interceding on my behalf. He was my surety; He was the Lamb of God, who gave His life for my redemption from death. In the accounting books of God, my Surety rubbed His blood over my name and debt, and they disappeared.
And He will do the same for you. BUT – you must come to the place of admitting you have insurmountable spiritual problems. You are a debtor to the law. You are dead in trespasses and sins. You have no means of recovery. You need a Saviour.
Here he is – the Son of God – Christ Jesus the Lord. His blood has been shed. It is sufficient to meet all your needs. Now, will you acknowledge those needs and repent before God? Will you put your faith in Christ this morning? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.”