nor the next hour, not worthy
of what our Lord did for us, but we're going to give it a
try. Scripture says, Oh, the depth
of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. Joseph, like
Solomon, received wisdom from above in doing all that he did
to his brethren, to break them, his wisdom and purposing all
that he purposed to do to them, to bring them to himself, to
make them feel guilty, break their hearts,
and finally just so grateful and thankful, feeling so unworthy
to be there and just pleased to be able to bow the knee to
and sit with the man they rejected, esteeming him more highly than
themselves. This is what our Lord does for
all of His people. In this marvelous story, Joseph,
as I said, devises one more thing, one more thing to utterly break
their hearts. This is the thing, the old saying,
the straw that broke the camel's back. This is it. This is what will bring them
to Joseph's feet, completely humbled and brokenhearted and
pleading for mercy and just grateful when it comes. Alright, let's... I was going to read it, but I've
got too much to deal with here. But let's just look at it. This
is the heart and soul of the gospel. The title, the subject,
the story here is the cup. The cup in the son's sack. The silver cup in the son's sack. Now Benjamin is the son we're
speaking of. Go back to Genesis 35. Genesis
35 where Benjamin is first mentioned. And you may remember this, if
you don't. And I saw some new things here,
but Benjamin is Joseph's brother. Joseph in this story represents
God, the Father. Benjamin is God the Son, Christ. But Benjamin and Joseph, I like
that. They're one, aren't they? They're
blood. They're one and the same. They're
equals. And that's always the Father and the Son. They're one.
Benjamin was born in sorrow to a dying woman. Look at chapter
35, verse 16. They journeyed from Bethel. There
was but a little way to come to Ephraim. And Rachel prevailed,
and she had hard labor, and it came to pass that she was in
hard labor that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, thou shalt
have this son also. So someone told her, You'll have
a son. This woman is dying. And verse
18, It came to pass as her soul was in departing, for she died.
This dying woman bore a son, and called his name Benoni, which
means son of my sorrow. Son of my sorrow. Was not Christ
born to a dying woman? A woman who was dead and trespassed
and sinned. Her name is Mary. The name Mary
means what? Sorrow. Remember, Naomi said,
call me not Naomi, call me Mara. Which means bitter or sorrowful. And you know how many women are
named Mary? Nearly how many women that followed
Christ and sat at His feet? Four or five of them named Mary.
Daughters of Abraham who sorrowed over their sin. And our Lord
was born of this woman, verse 18, but his father called him
Benjamin, the son of the right hand. All right, listen to this. The
Lord, the son that Mary bore gave her life. She was dying,
but he gave her life. Rachel lost her life in giving
birth to Benjamin Benoni, but it's the opposite with our Lord.
He gave her life. He came to die for her. And because
he was made of a woman, made under the law to redeem those
under the law, after he died and purged our sins, he went
back to the what? right hand of the Father. He's
the son of the right hand, Benjamin. What a representative. Who could
have written all this but our God? Whose book is this? Moses? No, this is our God. Who could have devised all this?
Benjamin is innocent. Benjamin did not take part in
any of the sins of his brethren, the sons of Jacob. Benjamin had
no part in their sin. He's the innocent one. He's separate
from the brethren. There's not much written about
Benjamin, is there? Up until this story here. Where
was he? Where was Benjamin before this
story where he was made sin here? Where was he? He was with the
father. Daily his delight. And the father's life was bound
up in the life of the lad. That's what Judah said, bound
up in the life of the lad. And old Benjamin was loved of
his father supremely, more than the rest. But he has to be made sin. He
has to be made guilty. All right, look at verse one
in our text, chapter 44, verse one. So Joseph, this is the father,
this is God, commanded the steward of his house, that's the Holy
Spirit, 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. Fill
their sacks. Oh, David said, if I could number
my blessings, he'd say there'd be more than could be numbered.
Do not our sacks run over. Fill their sacks as much as they
can carry. Not store up, carry. Sufficiency. And put every man's
money Christ of redemption in his sack's mouth. We saw that. With the heart man believeth.
That's where we receive the truth. And with the mouth confession
is made. And if you open up the heart
of every believer, they'll confess with their mouth, come out of
their mouth. It's the blood that makes the atonement. for our
soul. And oh, the blessings, he says,
give them all they can carry. The blessings, the promises,
the mercy and the grace of our God. And who did Joseph command
this to be for but for these unworthy, sinful men that hated
him? What mercy? What love, what grace
that God should command the blessings. But Psalm 3 said, Thy blessing
is upon Thy people. Thy people. Verse 2, And then
He said, And put My cup, the silver cup, The silver cup, and down in verse
5 he said, the cup wherein he divineth, that is maketh trial
and judgment. This is the cup of judgment.
This is the cup that the Lord, the governor, Joseph, over all
the land, who discerned all things, who judged all things, who made
judgment over all things, and he drank from. And verse 2 says,
he put my cup, the silver cup, And you know this, I'll tell
you again, I'll remind you that silver was the price of the redemption
of every child of God, every one of the children of Israel,
silver. And silver was the foundation
in which the whole temple and everything was laid, the sockets.
Even the fence posts were set on this foundation of silver. It's all the blood. Everything
is purged by blood, redeemed by blood. But he said, put my
cup, Joseph said, put my cup in the sack's mouth of the youngest
and his corn money. Put all the money, the food,
the bread, put it all in him, everything in him. And they did
according to the word that Joseph had spoken. We're going to see
in the next hour how everything is to fulfill Scripture. Everything
is written in the volume of the book it is written of Him. We're
in Genesis, aren't we? We've seen so clearly it's all
Christ. Christ is all in all of this. Because in the volume of the
book it is written of Me. Lo, I come to do Thy will, O
God. What's that? be made sin." This
is the whole book. The whole book is about the Son
with the silver cup. The Son whom God made sin for
us, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him, that we might dwell with the Holy God, be accepted
in the Beloved. Alright, there's much said about
this cup. Don't let me lose you here. Ask the Lord to help you here.
This is the gospel. It's not a clearer picture of
the gospel. There's much written of this cup. Remember? Our Lord
in the garden, cup, now there's good cups and there's a bad cup. Scripture speaks of good cups,
a cup of blessing, a cup of salvation. David said, I'll take the cup
of salvation. The cup which our God gives us
runneth over with blessing, with salvation, with a cup of consolation. Our Lord said, take this cup,
drink all of it. It's the New Testament in my
blood. It's the New Covenant. It's not
the old covenant. You don't have to drink that
cup. I do. This is all for you. It's all
been done for you. Take this, drink all of it, all
the blessings of God. You take this while He takes. The cup, which the Scripture
says, of God's indignation. The cup, which the Scripture
says, of God's wrath. The cup of trembling. The cup
of His fury. God is angry with the wicked
every day. Why is He not angry with us?
We've done wickedly. We still do. Why is He not angry
with us? Because Christ took this cup
and He drank it all. The cup which my Father hath
given me, Christ said, shall I not drink it? If He doesn't,
we will. If He doesn't, men will. And listen to Psalm 75. Listen to this. This is sobering. God is the judge. He putteth
down one and setteth up another. In the hand of the Lord there's
a cup. The wine is red, it's full of mixture. He poureth out
of the same the dregs thereof. Oh, the wicked of the earth shall
wring. He'll wring them out and make them drink it. But not His people, not these
sons of Jacob, not these chosen ones, but God. who will in no
wise clear the guilty, said, though these sons of Jacob, those
chosen ones of mine, though these my disciples are guilty, put
my cup in the Son's hand. Let Christ, my dear Son, drink
that cup, and in that covenant, before the world began, He said
to His Son, will you drink this cup? He said, I will. And this is what finally breaks
the heart of these sinful sons of Jacob. This is what it is,
the goodness. It's going to leave them speechless.
You know what? They're going to be left speechless. Before
this, they had much to say, but they're going to be left speechless
because of this unspeakable act. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable
gift, making our Lord to be sin for us. In the morning light,
verse 3, is when this happened. As soon as the morning was light,
the sun came up. It dawned on them. The sun arose. That's when the light comes.
That's when our light really comes in. When we see Christ,
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God and what Christ
has done, For us, verse four, 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,
not if you find them, when you find them, when you overtake
them, when you apprehend them, say unto them, here's what you
say, why, wherefore have you rewarded evil for good? Is not
this it? When you find that cup, say,
Is not this the cup which my Lord drinketh, and whereby indeed
He divineth? You have done evil in so doing,
and so He overtook them, and spake unto them these same words. Exactly what it was said. Listen
to Romans 2, and you know these passages, don't you? Romans 1
speaks of the guilt of this godless world, doesn't it? So clearly. Romans 2 is about religious people,
the Jews. And he says this, Thou art inexcusable,
O man. who judges another and condemns,
and judges another, and you do the same things. He said, we're
sure the judgment of God is according to truth. God looks on the heart.
And you think, oh man, that judges them that do such things that
you shall escape the judgment of God. And he goes on to say,
despise thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and
longsuffering. You know how Jacob has been,
Joseph has been longsuffering with his brethren. You know how
He's been putting up with them and dealing with them in mercy and
goodness and filling their sacks and filling their sacks and filling
their sacks? And He says, do you not know
that the goodness of God will lead you to repentance? And in chapter 3 of Romans, you
know these verses, these same words. We keep saying these same
words. This is what the steward kept
saying. He said, these same words. Joseph said, you tell them this.
And he went and said, this is what he told me to tell you.
And it's not grievous to me to say these same words. Romans
3.19, Whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them that are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
become guilty before God. Are we better than they? No wise. God has said they're all guilty.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But then
it goes on down to say, but being justified freely by the redemption,
by the grace that's in our Lord Jesus Christ, we don't do anything
to deserve this complete justification. Why? Because Christ was made
sin. Oh, we're given a new heart.
These brethren, we're going to see they have been given a new
heart already. And we've been given a new heart,
but that's not our title to heaven. Christ is. That's not the condition
of heaven. That's the result of salvation. And that's not what we look to. We
look to Him. He said, you go after them, you
overtake them. And the Holy Spirit through the
preaching of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit is a steward
and so is the preacher of the Gospel, steward of the grace
of God, of the Gospel of God. Paul said, I've been entrusted
with the Gospel. And he speaks roughly to them, doesn't he?
He speaks accusingly. Our Lord said this in John 16
verses 8 through 11. Now you've heard these same words,
but this was brand new to me in light of this story. When He has come, He'll convince
the world, a people out of the world, of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not on Me. Of righteousness, because I go
to the Father. Of judgment, because the Prince
of this world is judged. He says He'll come, He'll convince,
He'll overtake His people and convince them of sin because
they believe not on Me. When Joseph first came to them
to see how they do. Remember? They're out in the
world. And He came to them and haven't
they not heard? They heard the words. And Joseph
said, Brethren, I'm sent by the Father to do you good. What did
they do? And they rejected him. He said, you're going to bow
the knee to me? No, we're not. You're convinced of sin because
they believe not on me. And every one of these brethren,
when they were brought before Joseph, they all said, it's because
we've sinned against our God and the Son. Didn't they? Every
one of them, without exception. This is salvation. This is when
salvation comes. Not when somebody dies or somebody
gets sick, when Christ dies. You see Christ died for your
sins that you rejected Him. But you believe not on Him who
came to do you such good and this goodness will lead you to
repentance that needeth not be repented. of righteousness, he said. He'll convince the world
of sin because they believe not on me, of righteousness because
I go to the Father. Are you with me? Some of you
are. You recognize in this story. Where is Joseph right now? He's
on the throne. Our Lord went back to the right
hand of the majesty on high, to the Father. How are we going
to get there? Only if He brings us. I go to
the Father of righteousness. He has made unto us righteousness. Every one of these men realized
when it's all over, if Joseph hadn't found favor with Pharaoh,
we'd have been dead men. If Joseph hadn't found favor
with Pharaoh, we wouldn't be sitting with him. We wouldn't
be accepted by him. Every Israelite was an abomination
to the Egyptians. That's what Pharaoh said. Joseph
told him that. Every Israelite is an abomination
to the Egyptians. And everything about man is an
abomination to God. May Christ be sent for... This is amazing. Why do we look
at the Old Testament Scriptures? So that we'll be amazed by these...
because it's interesting. No! To prove to us this is God's
Word. There's not a doubt in my mind
that this is God's Word. It's too marvelous, it's too
glorious, it's too wild, it's too... it's too... it's too Christ. These men could not have made
this up. Nobody in a thousand years could have made all this
up. All these things brought together. The Scriptures were
written, I think, about 40 some different men. Most of them didn't
know each other over a period of 1,500 years. They didn't collaborate. They all tell the same exact
story. God did this. Scripture is not
of any private interpretation. Holy men spake as they were moved.
Write this down, God said to Isaiah. Write this down, he said
to Ezekiel. Write this down, Jeremiah. And they'd tear it
up and destroy it, and God said, write it again. Because the Word
is forever settled in heaven. And of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged, our Lord said. They're going to find out whose
hand judgment's in. Joseph. Our Lord said, I have
the keys of hell and death at my side. I decide. You don't
decide. Men don't decide who goes where. All judgment, Christ says, has
been given me of my father. Now, kiss the son. And not his
cheek, his feet. Trembling. And He'll receive
you. He's so merciful. I want you
to see what they have to say in a different light here. I
saw it in a completely different light studying this again. We've
looked at this story four or five times. You may not remember.
About every five years I went back over my note. And in verses 6 through 9 it says,
He overtook these men and He spake unto them these same words.
And they said unto him, wherefore saith my Lord these words? Why have you done that? God forbid
that thy servant should do according to this thing. Behold the money,
which we found in our sack, we found in our sack's mouth, 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
thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we'll also be
my Lord's bondmen. Now, before they denied any wrongdoing,
remember when he first came to them, he said, you're spies.
They said, no, we're not. We're true men. No, they weren't. No, they weren't. They thought they were, but he
knew them, and they weren't. And he had to make them feel
their guilt. And buddy, they did. Remember,
they did. They finally realized to a man,
all of these sons of Jacob realized we're guilty concerning our brother.
And they're broken. These men are broken now. They
are. Now listen to this in a new light.
This was amazing to me. Because they've already bowed
to Joseph. Remember they kept bowing and bowing and bowing
and bowing. They came for corn in the beginning,
but now they realize... Look at... Remember they were
sitting with Joseph and dining and they marveled one another.
We can't believe this. What grace, what mercy. And they
feel unworthy to receive anything. And they all to a man are convinced.
They told the father, the man did solemnly protest, will not
see his face unless the son be with him. And they brought the
son, John. They brought the son. And he sees the son. Now, this is kind of like a young
believer, you know, or that blind man in John 9 who the Lord came
to heal and revealed, opened his eyes, but he said, what do
you see? He said, well, I see men walking in the trees. I see
a little bit. I don't see it all clearly. We're
going to see clearly when we see Him as He is, aren't we?
see our Lord, but we do see something of our guilt. We do see something. Oh, someday folks, when our Lord
truly reveals Himself to us, we've never sung in our lives
like we're going to sing then unto Him who loved us and washed
us from our sin in His own blood. Oh, we'll see. We've never done
that. You've never done that. I've
never done that. What a shame, God said. But here's the testimony
of every son of Jacob, okay? When confronted by the Word of
God, the Law of God. And this is what... God sends
the Law first. He does. And here's the testimony. Verse 7 says, God forbid that
we should do this thing still. God forbid that I should glory,
Paul said, saving the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. God forbid
that I should steal the glory that belongs to Him and Him alone.
I know now. Verse 8, they said, the money
we found in our sack's mouth. We didn't bring this money, we
found it. It was put there. Remember the
steward said, they said, where did this money come from? He
said, I put it there. You're God. I had it. I put it there." So they all
come back and say, it's by grace. We received this by grace. This
is not ours. In our hands no price we bring.
Simply to the cross of Christ we cling. Is that your testimony
when confronted? And we know this, verse 9, with
whosoever guilt is found, he'll die. We know this. If we're found guilty, if one
sin is found in us, we'll die. And that's the truth. That's
according to God's Word. Verse 10 says, Let it be according
to your words. With whom it is found, so be
my servant, and you'll be blameless. And every one of God's people
know that if sin is found on me, I'll die. The soul that sins
must surely die. We know that, don't we, John?
We know that. And our Lord said, the man is
justified by his words, or condemned in them, by the Word of God,
who justifies freely, and by our testimony. What's your testimony? What you bring, what you've done, Do you seek the glory or glorify
your Lord? You do know, don't you, it must
be holy to be accepted. It must be righteous. It shall
be holy to be accepted, Leviticus 21 says. It shall be perfect
to be accepted. You know that, don't you? And
we know if iniquity will be found on us in that day, we're going
to die. So the search began. Let the
search begin." And God looks on the heart and opens every
man's sack. And the iniquity of Israel was
sought, and it was not found. Do you
know where it was found? They speedily, everyone took
down their sack, opened up their sack, opened every man a sack. Did not David say, search me,
O God? Try me. See if there be any wicked
way in me. Lead me in the way of everlasting.
And God does. He looks on the heart. He sees
what's there. The heart man believeth. Righteous, he that believeth.
And verse 12 says, And they searched, beginning at the oldest, beginning
with Abel, beginning with the first, the
oldest, Adam, all the way to Zerubbabel or Zerachariah. And
God looked for sin on his people and it would not be found. Because
you know where it is? It was in Benjamin's sack. And then they rent their clothes. They rent their clothes. This is what rends the heart.
This and this only is what breaks the heart. It says they laden
every man as that. This is what will laden us with
repentance and sorrow, love, gratitude. This and this only.
The innocent make guilty and the guilty go free. And it says they returned everyone
to the city. This is what will keep us returning
to hear the gospel. This and this only is what's
going to keep us returning to the Lord and returning to the
city called Mount Zion. Gratitude and thanksgiving and
great grace and a heart amazed that Christ, the innocent one,
would be made sin for us. My, my. Judah and his brethren
came, verse 14, to Joseph's house, and he was yet there. He's always
there. They came to him and fell before
him on the ground. And Joseph said unto them, What
deed is this that ye have done? What ye not that such a man as
I can certainly divine? And Judah spoke on their behalf,
just kind of like Simon Peter had spoken. What shall we say
unto my Lord? What shall we speak? We're speechless.
How shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity
of thy servant. Behold, we are my Lord's servant,
both we and he also with whom the cup is found. You know, though
the cup Sin is not found on us by God. Though God looks on us
and sees us holy, acceptable, accepted, holy, unblameable,
unreprovable in God's sight, this new man, yet we know that
we're still guilty. We know we're deserving of judgment.
And repentance is a constant thing. It's never ending. These
brethren will never quit repenting of what they've done. Broken
though they are, believing though they are, they'll never quit
repenting. Repentance is what makes the gospel sweet. If we
ever quit needing to repent before God and saying, I'm sorry, we'll
never hear Him say, it's okay. And they say, we're all guilty,
we're all guilty, we all deserve to be bonded under our Lord,
but He says, no. Verse 17, look at it. Nope, God
forbid that I should do so. Nope, you're not guilty. The
man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant. Look, read on. I ask for you.
Get up in peace to your Father. Christ said, I go to my father
and your father. Oh, he who being in the form
of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant,
made in the likeness of man, found in fashion as a man, and
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, made sin, even the
death of the cross. And wherefore God hath highly
exalted him, giving him a name which is above every name." When
all this is over, Benjamin is going to be sitting right beside
Joseph where he belongs. When all this is over, Joseph
is going to fall on the neck of Benjamin and weep and hug
him and put him in the place of prominence. And right there
beside him is all those sorry sons because the son was made
guilty. Glory to God. Oh, did you notice? Benjamin never
spoke a word. He uttered no word. Had to admit.