Alright, brethren, let's go back
to Genesis 44 now. The gospel is this. This is the gospel. He hath made Him to be sin for us. who knew no sin. Christ knew no sin. He made Him
sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Now, the picture we have before
us here in our text shows us that. It shows us that in a type,
in a picture. And here in Genesis 44, look
there in verse 17, Joseph said, God forbid that I should do so. God forbid that I should charge
you who do not have this cup in your possession. No, he said,
but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my
servant. He'll be the one that's guilty
and you'll pay. And because He pays, He said,
and as for you, get you up in peace unto your Father. You're blameless. You can go.
Isn't that good? Isn't that good? Now we're going
to look at this and we're going to look at Joseph as a picture
of God the Father. We're going to look at the steward
as a picture of God the Holy Spirit. And we're going to look
at Benjamin as a picture of God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's our main point. By
Christ's willing consent, God made the innocent Lord Jesus
to be sin and poured out justice on Christ in place of His people. And thereby he upheld his law
and made his people the righteousness of God in him. So all his people
are free to go. Go to our Father in peace because
of what Christ did. That's what we see here. Now
first, again in type, we see that salvation is the free gift
of God. It's free. Look here at verse
1. And he, 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." Now, there's four
truths about salvation in this text right here. Number one,
salvation is of God. He commanded. That is, Joseph
commanded. It's a picture of God our Father.
God our Father commanded salvation. He wrought everything, worked
out everything for his people to be saved. Number two, it's
through his ministers. Salvation is through God's ministers.
Every preacher that God ordains and sends to preach is a minister
of God. We saw this out of Corinthians.
In 1 Corinthians 4.1, he said, let a man so account of us as
ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. He's
a steward. But the man that's preaching can't make the Word
effectual in the heart of a sinner. God has to do that. The Holy
Spirit has to do that. And He does that by His grace. And that's who we see here. God
has revealed the mysteries of the Gospel unto us by His Spirit.
That's who the steward pictures. So that's first thing God's salvations
of God number two is through his ministers number three. It's
abundant He gives salvation abundantly that mean there's nothing left
for you to do look at this fill them in sacks As much as they
can carry That's what God does for us. He fills our sack as
much as we can carry. It's finished. The work's finished.
Righteousness is accomplished by Christ. He gives you righteousness,
holiness, redemption, forgiveness. Everything's finished. And then
this is the fourth thing we see here. He's free. He said put
their money back in their sack. Put their money back in their
sack. You can't come and buy salvation. It's free. It's all
of God. It's through His ministers, applied
to you through His ministers. It's abundant. There's nothing
else to be added to it. It's abundant. They'll be abundantly
satisfied with my house, He said. And it's all free. Put their
money back in their sack. Look at Galatians 2. I want you
to see this. Galatians 2, 16. The Lord said, I'll declare your
righteousness in your works. He said, it won't profit you.
He just won't profit you. Look here in Galatians 2.16,
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ, by His faithfulness, by what
Christ did. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ. We put all our care in Him. All
our trust is in Him. That we might be justified by
the faith of Christ. By everything Christ did. By
His faithfulness. And not by the works of the law.
For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. We can't
be justified by anything we do, brethren. Now here's the second
thing we see, and this is the main point of our message. The
reason salvation is free to God's elect is because God put the
cup into the hand of His innocent Son, the Lord Jesus. The cup
we were to drink of, we're going to drink a cup here in a minute.
A cup of wine. It's not going to be a bitter
cup, it's going to be a sweet cup. We're going to eat some
bread here to remember our Lord's shed blood and His broken body.
We're just remembering Him, what He did for His people. Well,
the way we can drink this cup is because He drank the bitter
cup for us, for His people. Now look at this, verse 2. This
is what Joseph commanded. This is a picture of God doing
this to His son. He said, 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 has spoken. This
cup here is a picture of sin. This cup's a type of sin. This
cup's a type of the payment for sin. It's a type of justice,
what must be paid for sin. Our Lord said in the garden of
Gethsemane, He was anticipating being made sin for His people.
And in the garden, He said, He fell on His face and He prayed
and He said, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from
Me. This cup in Isaiah 51 is called
the cup of trembling. It's called the dregs of the
cup of My fury, God said. In Ezekiel 23, 33, it's called
the cup of astonishment and desolation. The Lord said, are you able to
drink of the cup that I shall drink of? That's what this cup
typifies. The cup that Christ bore is the
sins of His people. The cup that Christ bore is the
justice that we owe to God for our sins. The cup Christ bore
was being made a curse for us. That's the cup he bore. And notice
here, Joseph said, put my cup. He said, put my cup in his sack's
mouth. You know the cup that Christ
bore on Calvary's tree, that was God's cup. It was God's cup. First and foremost, it was God's
cup. How can you say that? Because it was for God's glory.
What Christ was doing on the cross was to declare the righteousness
of God. We need to understand that. That
was to declare that God is the just judge. He does nothing unjustly. He's the just judge. It was to
declare the righteousness of God. That He might be just. and the justifier of all who
believe on the Lord Jesus. That's who Christ, that's who
God is. He's the righteous, just judge. He keeps mercy for thousands,
He forgives iniquity and transgression and sin, but He will by no means
clear the guilty. He does both. God's the just
judge and all His ways are judgment. Listen to this. Turn to 2 Chronicles
19.6. I want you to see this. 2 Chronicles 19.6. When you look at the judges in
the Old Testament, and you hear God speak to judges, tell them
how to judge, you see in that how God judges. Now look at here,
2 Chronicles 19.6. And He said to the judges, Take
heed what ye do, for you judge not for man, but for the Lord
who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of
the Lord be upon you, take heed and do it, for there is no iniquity
with the Lord our God. That means nothing that's inequitable. Lord, everything God does is
right and just. There is no iniquity with the
Lord God, nor respect of persons, When sin was laid on his son,
he didn't spare his own son. And it says, "...nor taking up
gifts, he can't be bribed, he can't be bought off." Now that's
a just judge. That's who God is. Look at Deuteronomy
25, look at verse 1. This is how God judges. He says, if there be a controversy
between men, and they come unto judgment, they come before the
judge in the courtroom, that the judges may judge them, He
says, then they shall justify the righteous. The man who's
not guilty, you justify him. You impute to him that he's a
just man. Why? Because he is. That's what
God says. And you condemn the wicked. Why? Because he is. Because he is. Now that's how God judges. Charge
a man according to what he is. Charge the righteous, righteous.
Charge the wicked, wicked. He said in Proverbs 17, 15, He
that justifieth the wicked. He that justifieth the wicked. And he that condemneth the just.
Even they both are abomination to the Lord. God's just. Everything He does is just. God
imputed sin to all Adam's race. Why? Why did He do that? Why
did He impute sin to all Adam's race? Was He just treating us
like we were sin? I think your experience and mine
both verify that's not true. No. He imputed sin to us because
we were made sin. We were made sin by Adam. That's
why He imputed sin to us. We were made sin by Adam. As
by one man sin entered the world and death by sin and so for that
reason death passed upon all men for that in Adam all have
sinned. They have. That's why God charges
us with sin. We have done it. We have done
it. We have done it. But the good
news is Just like by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men. The good news is this. Even so,
by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men
unto justification of life. When God says to a believer,
you're justified, there is no sin to be imputed to you. There
is nothing but righteousness to be imputed to you. You know
why God does that? He's not pretending that you
have no sin. He's not pretending that you
are righteous. God is saying to you, That's
exactly what Christ has made you. You are dead to sin and
you are alive under God. That's what God said. Because
that's a fact about what Christ accomplished. It's a fact. So,
in order for God to justly charge His people with righteousness,
what had to happen? We had to die under the justice
of God for our sin. We had to die. And so Christ
the Lord came, but here's an innocent one, perfectly innocent,
who knew no sin, did no sin, never said anything, never thought
anything, never worked an unrighteous work in his life. How's he going
to be made sin for us? How's he going to be charged
with our sin? How's God going to impute our
sin to Him? God made him sin. That's what the scripture says.
I don't know. God says He made him sin. He made him sin. God wasn't pretending.
He made him sin. He made him sin. He was holy on that cross. He
was still the spotless name of God. But you know, when they
brought that lamb, that lamb spotless, they brought that lamb
and they confessed the sins and they put them on the head of
that lamb. And that lamb then, now that lamb's fit to die because
the sins are on him in type and ceremony. It wasn't a type, it
wasn't a picture on the cross, it was a reality. God made him
sin. And so he's fit to now die. And at the same time there was
another lamb who took the sins and took them away into a land
not inhabited called the scapegoat. Well, that's what Christ did
on the cross. He bore that living death now,
the judgment of God, He bore it. And at the same time, He's
carrying our sins away. And when He finished that work,
and He said, it's finished, that work was done. And you know what
He did then? He committed His Spirit to the Father. You know
what He did then? That high priest had to be holy. No spot on him. And he didn't
take that lamb, the body of that lamb. That lamb died. He just took its blood after
the sin was paid for. Justice was poured out. He took
the blood then. And that holy high priest, that
spotless holy high priest went into the holiest of holies, into
the presence of God. Not with the body of the lamb.
He went in there with just the blood of the lamb. And after
Christ bore our sins on the cross, Scripture says, He commended
His Spirit to the Father. That Holy High Priest, through
the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God. He entered
in once into the Holy of Holies by His own blood, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. And it was done. It was finished.
And there's where He is now. That's the picture we have here
of this cup. And you notice here, it was a
silver cup. That silver reminds us of our sin. You know, back
there in Genesis 37, if you go back there and look at verse
28, they had thrown Joseph into that pit, you remember? And it
says in the Midianites, merchant men passed by and they drew and
lifted up Joseph out of the pit. And what did they do? They sold
Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. and they
brought Joseph into Egypt. We sold Christ for 30 pieces
of silver. We sold Him. That silver cup
reminds you that He's bearing our sin. Our sin He's bearing. So here you got a type of Benjamin. Benjamin didn't commit any trespass. You know Benjamin was younger
than Joseph. He's the youngest. Benjamin wasn't
there when they put Joseph in the pit. When they stripped Joseph
and threw him in the pit, Benjamin wasn't there. He wasn't guilty
of the sin they were guilty of. Christ wasn't guilty of our sin.
He knew no sin. He did no sin. Well now, why
is this cup being put in Benjamin's sack? Because he's the only innocent
one among them. He's the only one that can be
fit for this cup to be put in his sack. But when this cup is
put in his sack, you know what's going to happen? He's going to
become guilty. He's going to become guilty.
And so Joseph put the cup in his sack. Put it in his sack.
That's the picture we have here, brethren. God hath made Christ
sin for us who knew no sin. All we like sheep have gone astray,
and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Now,
let's go now to Matthew 26. I want you to go there with me.
Matthew 26. You know, you look at this thing here and you see
Benjamin. Benjamin didn't willingly participate in this. This cup
was put in his sack without him knowing it. Well, there's a couple
of things we see in that. One, the opposite of that is
true of Christ. He willingly took the sin of
his people. He did that willingly. But the
other thing you see too is that Christ was innocent of our sin,
just as Benjamin was. do anything. It was put in his
sack. Look, Christ willingly had it
put in his. Look at this willingness here in Matthew 26, 39. He prayed
there and he said, Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Now look at this willingness.
Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt. Look down at
verse 42. It says, He went a second time
And he prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if this cup may not pass
away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. They went there, those soldiers
came to arrest him, and Peter drew out his fisherman's knife,
and he wasn't going to let them arrest him, and he cut that soldier's
ear off. You know what the Lord said? Listen to this willingness.
Peter, put your sword up. The cup that my father has given
me, Shall I not drink it? That's willingness. He willingly
took it. Innocent of our sins, never did anything and was never
polluted by our sin, but He willingly had our sin laid on Him. He did
that. Now thirdly, justice is satisfied. And because justice is satisfied,
you know what God's going to do? He's going to draw all His
people to Him. You know how He's going to make
us confess our sin? He's going to make us see Christ wounded
in our room instead. The law won't make you confess
your sin. The law will teach you you're a sinner by God's
grace, but the law won't make you confess you're a sinner.
What will make you confess you're a sinner is when you behold Christ
made sin for you. That's when you'll confess your
sin. Now look at this. Joseph sent
his steward to speak his words and fetch his brethren. That's
what God does. sends the Holy Spirit to speak
His words and fetch His people. Look at verse 4. When they were
going out of the city, not yet far off, Joseph said unto the
steward, Up, follow after the men. And when thou dost overtake
them, say unto them, Wherefore have you rewarded evil for good?
Is not this it, in which my Lord drinketh, and whereby indeed
He divineth? You've done evil in so doing.
And he overtook them, and he spake unto them the same word.
And I guarantee you this, at God's appointed hour, The Spirit
of God is going to overtake everyone for whom Christ died. And He's
going to speak the words of God into the heart of everyone and
convince you of sin. Every one of them. The Lord said,
when the Spirit of truth has come, He'll guide you into all
truth. He shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall
hear, that shall he speak, and he'll show you things to come.
He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine and shall show
it unto you. All things the Father hath are
mine, therefore I said he'll take of mine and show it unto
you." What did the steward do? Did he go there and say, I'm
the steward of the house, look at me? No. He went there and
spoke just what Joseph told him to say. The Holy Spirit's God. He's the third person in the
Trinity. But Christ said, when He comes, He's going to speak
of me. He's going to take the things
of God and show them to you. He's going to speak of me. That's
what the steward did. And the Holy Spirit's going to convince
us of sin by making us see Christ make sin for us. Look here, verse
11. They speedily took down their
sack to the ground, opened every man his sack, and he searched. began at the eldest and stopped
at the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack."
Now look what happens. Here they are. They're so convinced
they don't have any sin. They haven't sinned. They've
done nothing wrong. And all of a sudden, they've
taken their sacks down, and they're searching their sacks. This steward
is searching their sack. And the cup's found in Benjamin's
sack. Picture Christ made sin for it. And when they saw Benjamin with
that cup, Look what they did. Verse 14. I'm sorry. Verse 13. Then they rent their clothes,
and they laid it every man his eyes, and they 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. And Joseph said unto them, What
deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that such a man
as I can divine? I know your heart, he said. And Judah said, What shall we
say unto my Lord? What shall we speak? How shall
we clear ourselves? He said, There is nothing we
can do. God hath found out the iniquity
of thy servants. You see what they did? They saw
the one who was made guilty in their room instead. And when
God makes you see Christ made guilty in your room instead,
all those beautiful garments you're wearing that you think
are so pretty, all your good works and all your righteousnesses
and all that, you know what you're going to do? You're going to
just split them in two. Tear them off. Say they're not
worth anything. Because they're not. And here's
what happened. They loaded all they had on their
asses. He's going to make you take all
your burdens and load them all up and they return to Joseph's
house. He's going to make you take all
your burdens and go to God with them. And they fell down before
Joseph. He's going to make you come fall
down begging God for mercy. And you're going to confess your
sin. That's what they do. They come
saying, what can we do? We're guilty. Listen to this. You mean that's going to happen
to me when I behold Christ? How do you know that's so? Because
the Lord said in Zechariah 12.10, I'm going to pour out the Spirit
on them. And when I do, He said, they're
going to look upon me whom they have pierced. Just like they
saw Benjamin. They are going to look upon Me
whom they have pierced, and they are going to mourn for Him as
one mourneth for his only Son, and there will be in bitterness
for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. That is the
only way you are going to confess your sin, is to see Christ made
sin in your room instead. And when we see Him, at first
you know what we think when we see Christ made sin for us? We
think we are so guilty, God is going to kill us. God is going
to kill us. That's what you think. When you
see your sin, you think, God's going to kill me, and He'll be
just to do it. Look here, verse 16. They said,
God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants. Behold, we are
my Lord's servants. They're saying, we're guilty. Both we and He also with whom
the cup is found, we're guilty. But God is just, and God will
declare to His child this good news in our hearts. Since Christ
willingly took the cup, since Christ willingly drank that cup
dry, He says this to you, verse 17, God forbid that I should
do so. God forbid that I should charge
one of my children with sin. God forbid. Why? Why does God
say that to His child? Because the man in whose hand
the cup is found, he's been my servant. He paid. He paid all
the debt. He paid it all. And so what does
God say to His child now? As for you, get up in peace and
now go to your father. You're free. You're blameless
because Christ paid it all. That's what He says to His child.
If Christ has my discharge procured, and freely in my room endured
the whole of wrath divine, payment God cannot twice demand, first
at my bleeding surety's hand, and then again at mine." He just
won't do it. Why? God's just. When God purges
your conscience with the blood of Christ, and imputes to you
the righteousness of Christ in accord to your conscience. He's
not doing it because He's just going to treat you like you're
righteous. He's doing it because you are the righteousness, you've
been made the righteousness of God in Christ. Do you want to
just be treated like you were righteous? I don't. I want to be made righteousness. Isn't that where we're going?
Isn't that where we're headed? When we get to glory, we're not
going to be just staring at glory in His presence and God going,
well, here's a bunch of sinners, but I'm treating them like they're
righteous. No. We're going to be totally conformed
to His image. Perfect. Because God doesn't
do anything unjustly. He does it justly. Justly. We're pleading the righteousness
of God when we preach the gospel. We're pleading the righteousness
of God. That's what Christ came to do. And now, brethren, now,
there's the good news. Because he drank that cup. Turn
to Isaiah 51. I'll show you this. Here's what he says to you. To
the believer that cast all his care on Christ. Listen to this.
Now, this is the good news. Listen to this. Isaiah 51, 22.
Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the
cause of his people. Behold, I've taken out of thine
hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury. Thou shalt no more drink it again."
Not ever. Why? Because Christ drank it
dry and satisfied God. He says what he says in our text.
Get you up in peace unto your Father. Isn't that good news? Alright, brethren. Kevin, would
you pass out these elements here? This is for those who trust Christ. All your worthiness is Christ
and Christ alone. If your only worthiness for coming
into God's presence is Christ, then your only worthiness for
partaking of this table is Christ. That's it. Don't put anything
else between. Don't put the church between
you and Him. Don't put church membership between
you and Him. Don't put this denomination and
that denomination. If Christ is your only worthiness,
He says, he don't say this is an option. He says, this do.
Were you baptized because Christ was your only worthiness? Well,
here's the next ordinance. This do. Why? In remembrance
of me. It's the only worthiness is Christ.
But if you think you've got to do something to make yourself
worthy, stay away from this table. It ain't for you. Christ is the
only worthiness for this table. Alright, Brother Kevin. When he finishes, he's going
to come up here and pray, and then he's going to sit down,
and we're going to take this together. We'll wait until he
finishes praying and sits down. Alright. Yeah.