Alright, Genesis 44. And he commanded
the steward of his house, that is Joseph, commanded the steward
of his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much
as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth.
And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest,
and his corn money, And he did according to the word that Joseph
had spoken. As soon as the morning was light,
the men were sent away, they and their asses. And when they
were gone out of the city and not yet far off, Joseph said
unto his steward, Up, follow after the men. And when thou
dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded
evil for good? Is not this it in which my Lord
drinketh? and whereby indeed he divineth,
that is over him in the margin, it says, he maketh trial. He
hath done evil in so doing, and he overtook them, and he spake
unto them these same words. And they said unto him, wherefore
saith my Lord these words? God forbid that thy servants
should do according to this thing. Behold, the money which we found
in our sacks mouths we brought again unto thee out of the land
of Canaan. How then should we steal out
of thy Lord's house silver or gold? With whomsoever of thy
servants it be found, both let him die." You know, sometimes
we ought to really think before we speak. Both, he says here, let him die
and we also will be my Lord's bondman. And he said, now also
let it be according unto your words. He with whom it is found
shall be my servant and you shall be blameless. Then they speedily
took down every man his sack to the ground and opened every
man his sack and he searched and began at the eldest and left
at the youngest and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Then
they rent their clothes and laid every man his ass and returned
to the city. And Judah and his brethren came
to Joseph's house for he was yet there and they fell before
him on the ground. You know how fearful they had
to be at that time. And Joseph said unto them, what
deed is this that you have done? What you not that such a man
as I can certainly divine or make trial? And Judah said, What
shall we say unto my Lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall
we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity
of thy servants. Behold, we are my Lord's servants,
both we and he also with whom the cup is found. And he said,
Joseph said, God forbid that I should do so. But the man in
whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant. And as
for you, get you up in peace unto your father. The title of the lesson this morning, the
man with a cup will be my servant. The man with whom the cup is
found, he will be my servant. Or, I had two titles to this,
or the innocent one becomes guilty and the guilty ones get to go
free. He said, with the one that has
my cup, he is the one that'll become my servant, he'll be the
one guilty, and the rest of you will be blameless. Benjamin,
in this picture, is a good picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
Joseph is a good picture of the Father. And we'll look at this
cup here in a little bit, and we'll go to the Garden of Gethsemane. And the Lord said, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me. But here the purpose Joseph has
in having his servant put his cup in Benjamin's sack is to
bring his brothers to him. To bring them to repentance,
remember they said, God has found out our iniquity. God has exposed
us. That's what they're saying, God
has exposed us. And He brings them back to Himself, brings
them to repentance, and He does this that He might reveal Himself
to them, and He does so in chapter 45. In chapter 45, there's all
of this, all of this reason for the famine, for the cup being
put in Benjamin's sack, all that's going on here is for Joseph to
bring them to himself, bring them into Egypt and where he
can take care of them and protect them and feed them. But he doesn't make it easy.
He doesn't make it easy on them. Our Lord says this, whom I love,
I rebuke and I chasten. Now, Joseph is a wise man and
he knows what he's doing, just as our Lord is the wisdom of
God and he knows what he's doing. We can trust him with everything,
everything about our lives, everything that goes on every day. We can
absolutely trust our Lord. He knows what he's doing. Things are not just happening.
Just like here with Joseph's brother, Joseph is manipulated
and doing everything and they don't even realize it. They don't
realize the hand of Joseph in everything that's going on right
there with them. And our Lord, Whether we realize it or not,
and I know we do realize it to an extent, but we don't realize
it to the extent that it's really happening. His hand is in absolutely
everything that's going on with his children, everything. Now
Joseph commands his servant to fill their sacks with corn and
put their money in the sack. And I mentioned this last week.
Salvation is of the Lord. He will not accept any payment
on our part in any way, shape, or form. It's free. It's free. And then also notice here, nothing
is left to chance. Joseph, as I said, is manipulating
this whole thing. He's orchestrating, that might
be a better word, he's orchestrating this whole matter with his brethren. And they don't realize it. They
don't realize it. God has purposed not only those
whom He will save, but He has purposed the means by which He
will bring them to Himself. You know, Scripture says in one
place, I'm trying to think of I know I'm not gonna quote it
verbatim that I'll bring them by way that they know not When
I look back and you look back on your life You would have never
Constructed your life in the path you have taken You would
have never constructed it like it happened It not not if you
could not you could done it But our Lord has constructed our
path He has constructed every step that we take. Every step
we take, every person we meet, everything comes our way. God
has orchestrated it and he's done so in order to bring us
to himself, to bring us to himself. And now he says here in verse
two, put my cup in Benjamin's sack, Benjamin's sack. Remember this, everything that
Joseph did was for the good of his brethren. You see, they thought
when this happened, oh no, oh man, we're in trouble. You know,
our life is over with, it's gone. But Joseph did this for their
good. He did it for their good. And
we can see here in this picture that the Holy Spirit is like
the servant here. He's doing the servant did as
he was instructed. And you'll notice over in verse
6, it says here, And he overtook them, and he spake unto them
these same words. He never changed what was given
to him to say. He didn't change it. Our Lord
said this, As I hear, I speak. And the Holy Spirit is the same
way because they never work, the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit, they never work independently of each other.
They are one. They are one. Now in verse 3, they head for
home at daybreak not knowing the working of Joseph on their
behalf. They don't know that the famine,
they don't even realize that this famine that's in the land
is for the purpose of bringing them into Egypt, multiplying
them, and God's going to bring them out in 400 years 400 years down the road. God's going
to bring them out with a great deliverance. A great deliverance. They went in 70 people, they
came out a million plus strong. And God brought them out with
a great deliverance that they might know, in the way that He
brought them out, that they might know He's the Lord. He's the
Lord. They didn't realize that. They
didn't know that the famine was for them. Everything, everything,
and this is not an exaggeration. Everything going on in this country,
everything going on in this world is for the sake of God's elect.
It's for your sake. Everything in this world is being
orchestrated for your and our sakes. They didn't know that. The brothers didn't know that.
They just thought a famine was in the land. That famine had
a purpose. It didn't just happen. It didn't
just happen. It had a purpose, and that purpose
was to bring them to Egypt, and Joseph would take care of them,
and there would be a great deliverance in 400 years. Our Lord does the same for us.
He does the same for us. Now the servant, in verse 4,
the servant is sent to fetch. I wrote that down because that's
fetching grace. You've heard of that, fetching
grace. He sends the servant, he tells him exactly what to
say, and he sends them to fetch his brethren. Go fetch my... Listen, not just anyone. Go fetch
my brothers. Go fetch my brothers. Sinners saved by grace must first
be arrested by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes and fetches
us and brings us to Christ and reveals Christ to us. But one
of the first thing that's gonna happen when the Holy Spirit is
sent to fetch us by the grace of God, one of the first thing
is gonna happen, we see something of it in verse five, sin is exposed. For the first time, we really
become sinners. We're not just people who do
things wrong once in a while, or I know I'm not perfect. No, we're sinners. Sinful through
and through. Wicked to the bone. And I tell
you this, you don't want God to let you find that out fully. I know He makes us to know our
sins, but I really don't want to know my sinfulness by God
turning me loose on myself. I would much rather the Holy
Spirit reveal to me what I am, who I am, and constrain me from
being what I am, who I am." But sin has to be exposed. He said,
"'Is not this it in which my Lord drinketh, and whereby indeed
He divines, and He makes trials, you have done evil in so doing?' The Holy Spirit reveals sin. The Holy Spirit arrests the sinners
and speaks the words that he's given, and he reveals sin. And listen to what they say in
verse seven. Basically what they're saying
is this, why are you condemning us? I'll tell you why, you're condemnable.
Why are you condemning? They said, we didn't do this.
You know, I've learned this. There's a lot of things I haven't
done. I mean, there's a lot of things you and I haven't done
outwardly, but we're guilty. We're guilty. We're not innocent
people. We're guilty. To offend in one point of the
law is to be guilty of the whole law of God. We are always like them, quick
to justify ourselves. But when God makes us to understand
Something of who we are in the light of who Jesus Christ is
because we really never learn who we are till we learn who
he is. Because it's in the light of Jesus Christ and him crucified
that we actually learn what sin is. We don't really know what
sin is until then. Until we look at Calvary and
we see what our sins deserved. Such
punishment, such punishment. Now they said in verse eight,
we're innocent men. We're innocent men, we're not guilty, really? I know, as I've already stated,
I'm guilty of everything. I'm guilty. I'm not just saying
that to sound religious, I mean it. I'm guilty of everything
and you are too. Christ said to look on a woman
the lust after her is to commit adultery in your heart. He said
to hate your brother without a cause is to commit murder.
What goes on in the heart is what God sees. What goes on in
the heart is what God judges. That's who I am, is what I am
in my heart. Now they were so sure of their
innocence that they even put a death sentence on the one who
stole it. They said, let the person who
stole it, if this is true, if this is so, if we're guilty,
whoever took it, let him die. I quoted this. I think I read
it to you here. It might have been Thursday or
last Sunday, but the scripture says, by thy words thou shalt
be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. They
said, whoever you find that cup with, let him be put to death.
Let it be according to thy words. And so they speedily jumped down
off their donkeys there in verse 11, and they take down those
sacks so confident, just so confident they were innocent. And the search happens, and the
cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Now we start to get the picture.
Now we're starting, it's like watching, you know, take a negative
and it starts to develop. Now we're starting to see the
gospel develop here. The innocent one, Benjamin, becomes
guilty. Guilty. Benjamin didn't steal the cup,
no more than Christ committed sin. Christ knew no sin. Benjamin
didn't steal the cup, but sin is imputed to Benjamin now. Sin
is charged to Benjamin now. Just as our sins were imputed
to the Lord Jesus Christ, just as he was made sin for us, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Benjamin, the
innocent one, becomes guilty that the guilty ones, his brothers, might be blameless. He said,
whoever has this cup, he's the guilty one, and the rest of you
are blameless. Blameless. You know that before
God Almighty, we are blameless? We who believe, and all who shall
believe, and all who have ever believed since the world began,
are blameless. And they are blameless for one
reason. The innocent one was made guilty. Our sins were imputed
to the Lord Jesus Christ. They were laid on Him, charged
to Him, and He suffered for them. And He died for them. And you
and I, because of that, are blameless. We're blameless. Now they knew
they were guilty because they say here a little bit, God has
found us out. God has exposed us. Benjamin was innocent of what
his brothers did to Joseph. He was innocent. However, he has been given a
cup that made him guilty, and the guilty are held blameless.
Now listen, Matthew 26.39, And our Lord, our Lord, he went a
little further and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my
Father, if it be possible, let this cup, this cup of sin, this
cup of guilt, this cup of wrath, if it be possible, let it pass
from me. If it be possible, I believe
he's saying it, if it be possible for thine elect to be saved,
for them to be blameless any other way, let this cup pass
from me. It didn't pass, did it? because there's no other
way. There's no other way. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as I will. There in Matthew 26, 42, he went
away again the second time and prayed, said, oh my father, if
this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will
be done. John 18, 11, then said, Jesus
unto Peter, put up thy sword into the sheath, the cup, which
my father hath given me. You see, Joseph put it in Benjamin's
sack. Benjamin was innocent. He had
never done anything to the brothers or to Joseph. He was innocent
of all that. But now he's charged as being
guilty. And the rest of them are held blameless. Put up thy sword into the sheath,
the cup which my father hath given me. Shall I not drink it?
Shall I not drink that cup? Before the world began, our Lord
was given a cup to drink. And in that cup was the fury
of God's wrath against the sins of his people. and our Lord drank
it, our Lord became guilty, our Lord suffered, and our Lord died,
that you and I might go free, that we might be blameless of
all the wretchedness and all the sinfulness that we are and
that we've done, that we might go free. The innocent one becomes
guilty, and the guilty become innocent. And as He says there
in verse 17, He said, The man in whose hand the cup is found,
he's My servant. He'll be My servant. He'll serve
Me. It is written in Isaiah 42, Behold
My servant. My servant. The Lord Jesus Christ came into
this world and He served His Father. He kept the law. Perfectly. He did all that was
demanded of him. All that was actually demanded
of us, we couldn't pay it. We couldn't do it. He did it. He did it. And now we are innocent. We are innocent. And another thing we see here
in this chapter, remember the dream? Remember the dream that
Joseph had and told his brethren about them bowing down, and even
Jacob got upset about it. And they got upset. Who do you think you are that
we, your elder brothers, are gonna bow down to you? Who do
you think we are? Look at verse seven. And they said unto him, wherefore
saith my Lord these words? For God forbid that thy servants.
Now look in verse nine. With whomsoever of thy servants it be found. Look in verse 10. And he said, now also let it
be according to your words. He with whom it is found shall
be my servant. Look in verse 16. He says there in verse 16, down
in the latter part of that verse, we are my Lord's servants. Look in verse 18. He says, then
Judah came near unto him and said, O my Lord, let thy servant. And then he goes on down into
that verse and he says, let not thine anger burn against thy
servant. And in verse 19, my Lord asked
his servants, 19, 23, verse 24, verse 27, verse 30,
31, 32, 12 times they call themselves thy servants. I thought you weren't
going to do that. I thought you weren't going to
bow. I thought you said, we're not going to do that. We're not
going to bow. Oh, yes, you are. 12 times, 12 times they said,
we are thy servants. Here's the message, and I'll
close. It's not until the innocent one is made guilty that the guilty
ones go free. Joseph, now listen, Joseph found
satisfaction in Benjamin. He found satisfaction in Benjamin. And they let the brothers go
free. This is the gospel of substitution. This is the gospel that's of
God. The way Joseph handled his brothers and the way Joseph brought
them to himself is the way the Lord brings us to himself. And
he brings us to himself and gives us an understanding of how he
can be a just God and a Savior. Christ, the innocent one, was
made guilty that us guilty ones might go free and might be blameless. That's the gospel. That's the
gospel. All right.