Proverbs 6:1-5 (The Sure Snare of Surety)

Thank you for subscribing to the Shepherds Church podcast. This is our Lord's Day Sermon. We pray that as we declare the Word of God that you would be encouraged, strengthened in your faith, and that you would catch a greater vision of who Christ is.

May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you. There's something uniquely terrifying about quicksand. It doesn't look like much at first. It's barely even noticeable. It just looks like another patch of earth.

Maybe a little softer than the other parts of ground, but the moment that you step into it is the moment that you begin to sink. And before you know it, you are struggling to get yourself free. The deeper, the more you struggle, the deeper you actually get pulled in.

The harder you fight, the worse it gets. And if someone doesn't help you, well, then you're going under. This is exactly how financial folly works, according to Solomon. It looks harmless at first, just a signature here and a obligation or a commitment there, an overstretched one.

But before long, you're trapped and you're sinking. Today, we'll see how Solomon, in all of his wisdom, warns us not only that financial entanglements are dangerous, but we're going to be looking at a specific kind of financial pitfall, which is called surety.

Which Solomon tells us to avoid, to escape, and to get out of whenever we foolishly get in. And to do that, we're going to be looking at five things in today's passage from Proverbs 6, 1 through 5. We're going to first be looking at how to define surety.

We're going to be looking at the trap of surety, the urgency of escaping surety, an example of how to escape it, and then finally, where to run for our true surety and hope. So if you will, turn with me to Proverbs 6, 1 through 5, as we study this passage together.

Proverbs 6:1-5 and the Definition of Surety

Proverbs 6, beginning in verse 1. This is what the Word of the Lord says. Let us pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the wisdom of your Word, that it covers every topic. Lord, we thank you that in Proverbs, that is especially true, that we are looking at all sorts of different ways to live a life of wisdom.

Lord, help us today, as we examine these things, to see what wisdom looks like in this particular area of life, and that all of our life would be lived in submission to and for the glory of Christ. And Lord, I pray that as we look at these things, that we would look also unto the cross and see what you have done in taking away all of our guilt and all of our stains, as in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. So first, we want to define surety, because it's not a common word that's used very often today. It describes a financial and a relational entanglement that has trapped countless people throughout history and many people today.

What is it? Well, surety comes from the Hebrew word erab, which means to pledge, to exchange, or to intermix oneself into another person's affairs. The root of the idea carries the idea of you taking responsibility for someone else's obligation.

For instance, in the ancient world, a man might be looking to get a loan, and he needs his friend to guarantee that he will pay it back, so he uses his friend's field as collateral. And everything is fine so long as the friend pays it back, but when the friend defaults on his loan, well, guess who the lender comes looking for?

He doesn't come looking for your friend, he comes looking for you, and he comes and takes your field, and your inheritance that you were going to give to your children is wasted. The point of surety is that you are trusting someone else to be faithful when your neck is on the line.

You are hoping that they will be faithful without incurring any of the risks that you're taking on, which means that they have no incentive to actually be faithful. If you're taking all of the risks, then what do they have to lose?

And I think that this is an important point because risks and consequences are God's blessings to us in a lot of ways to make sure we are faithful. When we take on things in life that have risks and consequences, it ensures that we handle them righteously.

When someone gets something for nothing, we often know how bad that goes. Without the incentive to pay off the loan, without the consequences that would be applied, many people won't pay back the loan.

That's why those who co-sign and offer collateral often put their financial future at risk by doing it, and Solomon says that it's unwise. Now, this happens today in so many different forms, not just financially, but financially speaking, if you co-sign for a loan for someone, if you offer up collateral for another person, many enter into these situations just wanting to be kind, doing it as a way to help.

But when the borrower stops making payments, the lender doesn't chase them down, they chase you down. They go after you. Because when you sign your name on the dotted line, you're assuming full responsibility for the other person's risk without any control over their decisions.

And frankly, this is why Scripture, especially the Proverbs, speaks so sternly about doing this. Solomon doesn't caution his son against financial irresponsibility in general. He does in other passages.

But in this passage, he highlights this unique and very reckless behavior of insuring someone who might not pay it back. For instance, this is not just the only passage either. Proverbs 11, 15, he who is a guarantor for a stranger will surely suffer for it, but he who hates being a guarantor is secure.

Proverbs 17, 18, a man lacking sense shakes hand on a pledge and becomes surety in the presence of his neighbor. Proverbs 22, 26 through 27, do not be among those who shake hands among those who become guarantors for debts.

If you have nothing with which to repay, why should he take your bed from under you? The wisdom that Proverbs is warning you and I about is against binding ourselves to another person's financial outcome.

Surety is not about generosity or kindness. It is about an agreement to take on someone else's responsibility and a sort of self-salvation or Messiah complex that I will rescue them from their consequences.

And it's generally true that a person who needs you to co-sign on a loan has either not built the credit necessary to have the loan or they've ruined their credit and now they're looking for you to be their savior.

I think this is why Solomon points this out so strongly because we are not the financial savior of anyone. We can help, but co-signing is different. We can minister, but co-signing is different. Does that make sense?

The Trap of Surety in Proverbs 6

That's how we define it. Now, Solomon says that this is a trap and he tells us about this in verses one and two. There's an old proverb that my grandma used to say that the road to hell is paved with a thousand good intentions.

And this is precisely the kind of pitfall that we're talking about where Solomon warns us not to get involved in these kinds of situations because it's a trap. Despite your good intentions, it is a trap.

It looks like kindness. It feels like generosity. It looks like you're helping your neighbor out when they're in need, but it's a veneer. It's a veneer of kindness that leads to a trap, a snare. It's a cunningly concealed danger that unsuspecting men and women fall into.

Solomon says, my son, if you have become surety for your neighbor and have given a pledge for a stranger. Solomon is assuming here that his son is already walking down this road. His son is already involved in this kind of interaction.

This son has already entangled himself in this financial obligation. So he's writing to his son to warn him. The book of Proverbs, as we've said many times, is from Solomon to his son on how to live a wise life.

So he sees his son doing this and he says, no, son, don't do this. This is foolish. Again, the word surety, arab, carries the idea of intermingling. It carries the idea of bearing someone else's burden, bearing someone else's guilt.

It acts like a savior, that I will be the one to bear their guilt and their burden and the weight of their offense, and that is not our job. According to Solomon, this just isn't a minor commitment. It's the equivalent of shackling yourself to another person's misfortunes, to another person's downfall.

And this is not only a biblical, we've seen three passages here in the Bible that talk about it, but this was common knowledge in the ancient world. For instance, in a nation that was bordering Israel called Akkadia, they spoke Akkadian.

And one of their documents called the Alakha, I don't know how to pronounce it. I just, I totally just butchered it. I have no idea. You can look it up as well as other documents. The general consensus was that one who vouched for another could not, or could face not just financial loss, but personal servitude.

This was the way that they viewed it in the ancient world. If you say that you're good for it and they default, then you're on the hook. And if you can't pay for it, you now move into slavery. That's the way the ancient world viewed it.

Proverbs 6 .1 is not just an isolated warning. The Sumerian, the Sumerians also talk about it. This is a Sumerian proverb that states, do not vouch for anyone. That man will have a hold on you and you let no one vouch for you because that man will despise you.

So this is not just things that are talked about in scripture. This is ancient wisdom, common sense to us that we should not vouch for someone in this way. We should not put ourself on the line for someone in this way because the consequences are that it is a trap that will catch you and hold you.

That's why Solomon says in verse two, if you have been snared with the words of your mouth, if you've been caught with the words of your mouth, he's using the words of a trap. The Hebrew word here, snare, yakosh, refers to a hidden net.

It's an invisible danger that hides itself so that you will fall into it and be caught. The same word is used in Psalm 124, verse seven, that describes a bird being trapped in a net. The language itself here is of a baited trap that's meant to woo you in and trick you and coax you so that you will be stuck.

And that is really the essence of financial folly and of this folly in this particular sin, because it is self-inflicted. You're participating in your own downfall by signing and cosigning on these things.

How many people have ruined their lives by signing contracts that they didn't fully read? How many people have depleted a mountain of resources on the empty promise that someone was going to come alongside of them and help them pay it off?

How many have lost everything because they guaranteed a debt that someone, they barely knew or they thought they knew well, spurned? Solomon wants his son to understand that this will lead to your downfall.

Hasty agreements, unthought-out contracts, these kinds of assumptions will lead to financial ruin in the same way that a bird can be caught in a net. The word there, caught, lakad, means to be captured and ensnared.

I'm going to be honest as I was reading this this week and as I was studying for this this week, I had to remember that this is God's word and that this topic is important to God because I've never done this.

I've never cosigned on a loan for anyone, thank God. It's not because I had a really strong view of it. But as I'm reading this, I'm like, God really cares about this. He really cares that I don't do this because He cares about my family's financial future.

So I was impressed and rejoicing in the fact that God cares about things that we often don't think God cares about. And He cares about our financial future because He loves us. The same motivation, even, as we've been talking about lately and as you have been following along in this series, we've been talking about the one who has led to lust, the one who's the sluggard, as Pastor Derek preached, the one who today, who gives himself over to these kinds of financial arrangements, is the same person.

It's the person who doesn't have self-control. It's the person who wants something easy. It's the person who is foolish in Proverbs. That's the theme that unites all of these together. The man who goes after lust instead of after God, the man who signs these types of loans and then participates in his own financial ruin, it's the foolish man.

And Proverbs exists so that we will not be foolish, but we will be wise. And that's why Solomon talks about this with such urgency that we need to escape it if we fall into it. He says in verses three and four, do this, my son, and deliver yourself.

Since you have come into the hand of your neighbor, go, humble yourself and importune your neighbor. Give no sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter's hand and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

I love the passionate language here that Solomon says. Don't even sleep. If you've done something like this, if you've signed a contract like this, if you've fallen into an arrangement like this, don't go to bed.

Get out of it, which I think is so fascinating because it's the exact same kind of passionate language that he uses in chapter five about men avoiding lust. Flee from it. Run from it. Don't fight it. Run.

He's saying the same things here. Run from these types of arrangements. And if you have fallen into this trap where you've become surety for someone else, where someone else is using your finances to prop them up or whatever the arrangement is, don't waste any time getting out of it.

That's what Solomon says. He's saying, he's not using casual language here. He's saying that you need to do it quickly. Don't sleep. Be urgent. Run. Flee. These are very strong words. And he says the first thing that you ought to flee to is you need to flee to humility because likely it was pride that got you here.

Pride that I can do something to help someone. I can do something to rescue someone. I can do something to save someone. I can do something to pull someone out of their financial poverty. I can help erase their bad choices that they made, that they have made this reputation as it is.

And I can be the one to save it. Solomon tells us the first thing to do is to flee to humility because you are not their savior. He says, do this, my son, deliver yourself. Since you have come into your neighbor's hand, go and humble yourself.

The first thing that Solomon tells us that we ought to do is we ought to be humble and we ought to recognize that we're not the deliverer. We're not the one who can pull someone out. We're not the one who can do this work.

It's not our job to do it. It's not our job to destroy our family's financial legacy in order to rescue someone from their irresponsibility. He even uses the word importune. Another word I had to look up this week.

What does importune mean? It means to rush upon someone boisterously. It means to be almost conversationally violent with them. It's not polite. It's not timid. It's not please can we maybe. It's a relentless insistence that you let me out of this bad deal.

He's saying, if you fall into this, then you go relentlessly and argue to get out of it. That's how serious Solomon is saying that it is. This is the same word, in fact, that's used of the of the widow and the unrighteous judge who she bothers him and bothers him.

Remember the parable that Jesus talks about where she continues to bother this unrighteous judge until finally, not because he cares about her and not because he's righteous, he finally gives in to her because she annoyed him so much.

That's the word. If you fall into this kind of sin, then get out of it. Get out of it by any means necessary. He says, don't rest until you're free of it. Give no sleep to your eyes nor slumber to your eyelids.

He's saying that it's a matter of life and death. He's saying that it's a matter of survival. And I ask myself this question, why does he talk like this so strongly? He even says like a gazelle escaping from a hunter.

Did you know that gazelles are one of the fastest animals? They're not like cheetah fast, but they're really fast. And in the ancient world, the way that you would capture them is that you would lure them into a like back alley cave so that they couldn't escape because you can't beat them on foot.

So you have to actually trap them. And then in their anxiety, they just kind of give up. But I was asking myself this question all week. Why is the word talking so strongly about this? Why is he saying that this is a matter of life and death?

I mean, I think to myself, if one of you came up to me and said, hey, we are trying to buy a house and our credit's just not high enough to do it, would you help me? Would you cosign? My first response is not run away, flee, life and death.

But that's how Solomon's talking about it. So I need to talk about it the same way. I need to think about it the same way because his word, God's word is true. But my first response would be to help. My first response would be like, whatever you need.

Yeah, I'll help. Why does he talk about it in this way? And I think it's because the motivation underneath is that we are looking to rescue someone in a way that we can't. We don't have the ability to rescue anyone.

We can help, we can love, but we can't actually restore someone else's broken decisions because that's not our job when we're not the savior. I think under everything, that is the point, that we are acting as though we are a kind of savior figure when we do this.

And because of that, we should not do that. Because why? We already have somewhere to point them to. It's not us. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our savior. Solomon warns us never to give surety to others, whether it's financial, emotional, relational, or whatever.

You can parse this out in many different ways. He's saying, don't take that burden upon yourself because it's not for you, because you can't do it. Because there already is someone who did do it. There already is someone who has made himself the surety for God's people.

And it's not you and I. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 6 .23 tells us that the wages of sin is death. You and I can't rescue someone out of that. But it also tells us in the book of Hebrews that Jesus has become the guarantee.

He has become the surety. He has become the guarantee of a better covenant. Paul tells us in Galatians 3 .13 that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. The point, I think, underneath this passage is you don't sign for someone else's sin because you're not their savior, but you do point them to Jesus because he's the one who can rescue them from their sin.

He's the one who actually died in the place of them. He's the one who actually is their surety. He's the one who signed on the dotted line so that all of their stupid decisions and financial ruin and irresponsibility and sin and ruin and all of ours would be forgiven.

And guess what? In the same way that you and I, if we signed this type of deal and someone refused to pay, that's exactly what happened to Jesus. He signed the surety note for us. We did not pay. We did not do anything.

All we did was neglect. All we did was fail. All we did was sin. All we did was spurn him, mock him. Jesus Christ covered us because he could. And I think this is why we're not supposed to cover in this way others because it's not for us to do.

Only Christ can do that work. So Solomon here in this passage gives us wisdom that we're supposed to live by. Don't do these kinds of financial agreements because underneath all of them they point to what Christ has done for us and he's forgiven us of a debt that we could never pay.

Amen? Quick sermon for us. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for today and for this passage. Thank you that this passage is in the Bible. Thank you that this passage is one that we have to wrestle with.

Thank you that this passage is one that although I've never thought about how important it is to you, it's very important to you. And Lord, help us to see why it's important to you because you're the only Savior.

You're the only Redeemer. You're the only one who can who can grab someone out of their sin and rescue them. And Lord, help us as a community to encourage each other towards wisdom and righteousness in light of the salvation that Christ has given us.

Help us, Lord, not to become entangled in things that will cause us ruin or will cause us heartache and pain. Help us now as Christians to live faithfully to the Lord, to live thankfully because of our salvation, and to encourage each other towards wisdom in every aspect of our life.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.