a long time. I used to have that
album by Frank Sweeney and that was on there and I don't know
if you can even get a copy of it anymore. You have it? You
have it? Okay. I'd like to get a copy
of it. Would you turn to Genesis 44? Now we learn best by illustration. You know, the Lord told parables
to illustrate to truth and we learn the New Testament doctrine
most clearly from the illustrations provided for us in the Old Testament.
And we have a beautiful type of the gospel in this passage
we're going to look at in Genesis chapter 44. I've entitled this
message, Benjamin and the Silver Cup. Now, before Joseph was betrayed
by his brothers, the last event that we hear of is the birth
of Benjamin. And Benjamin was an infant when
this betrayal took place. And he was the only brother that
did not participate in this betrayal. Joseph is getting ready to see
Benjamin for the first time since he was an infant. And he is excited
about this. This is his true brother. They were both the sons of Rachel,
and he is very excited about seeing him once again. He hadn't
seen him in years. Let's pick up reading in chapter
43, verse 26, and when Joseph came home, they
brought him the present which was in their hand into the house
and bowed themselves to him to the earth. Now this is one of
many times these brothers are going to bow in the ground before
Joseph. Remember Joseph dreamed this
would take place? It happens over and over and
over again. They don't know who he is at
this time. They just think he's the head man of Egypt and the
only way they're going to get any food is if he gives it to
them. This is all they know. He knows them, but they don't
know him. And he asked them of their welfare
and said, is your father well? The old man of whom you speak,
is he alive? And they answered, I served our
fathers in good health and he's yet alive. And they bowed down
their heads and made obeisance, once again, just like Joseph
dreamed they would. And he lifted up his eyes and
saw his brother Benjamin. He hadn't seen him since he was
an infant. His mother's son, and said, is this your younger
brother of whom you've spoken to me? And he said, God be gracious
unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste for his
bowels did yearn upon his brother. And he saw where to weep. And
he entered into his chamber and wept there. And he washed his
face and went out and refrained himself and said, sit on bread.
And they sat on for him by himself and for them by themselves and
for the Egyptians which should eat with him by themselves because
the Egyptians might not eat bread with Hebrews for that's an abomination
unto the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the
firstborn, according to his birthright. and the youngest according to
his youth, and the men marveled at one another. They watched
him set them in their birth order, and they didn't know who he was,
and they were just amazed while they watched this take place.
And he took and sent messengers unto them from before him, but
Benjamin's mess, he sent to them messes, amounts of food for them
before him, but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any
of theirs, And they drank and were merry with him. And he commanded the steward
of his house, saying, fill the man's sacks with food, as much
as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth. Now you'll remember the first
time they came and gave him money, he returned it and put it in
the sacks, didn't he? Now they had to come back to get food
once again. And he fills her sacks up, and
he puts the money back in their sacks. They don't know that,
but he's not gonna have them paying for anything. And he put my cup, he's speaking
to his steward, 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 had spoken. Now this seems almost
deceitful. he is planning on making sure
Benjamin doesn't leave. And he has Benjamin's sack, and
he takes that sack and takes his silver cup and plants it
there, knowing that he was gonna use this to make sure his son,
or his little brother came back. 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 had spoken. Now, ironically, Benjamin was
the only one of Joseph's brothers that did not participate in this
crime. And he is going to be the one
who has it brought against him because of that cup. Now, that's
very significant. I'm sure you can think about
that. He didn't commit the crime, but he's going to be the one
who's going to bear the responsibility for that crime. And as soon as the morning was
light, the men were sent away, they and their asses, they were
gonna go back to Canaan to bring this food. And when they were
gone, out of the city, not yet far off, Joseph said unto his
steward, up, follow after the men. And when thou dost overtake
them, saying to them, wherefore have you rewarded evil for good?
As well as I've treated you and you steal this cup, wherefore
have you rewarded evil for good? Is not this in which my Lord
drinketh, that silver cup, and whereby indeed he divineth? You
have done evil in so doing. And he, the steward, overtook
them. And he spake unto them these
same words. Now that's a good rule for preaching. You preach the same words that
are in the scripture, nothing else. He simply gave the words
that Joseph gave him to give them. And they said unto him,
wherefore sayeth my Lord these words? God forbid that thy servants
should do according to this thing. Now I think this is kind of interesting.
They sell their brother into slavery. They tell their dad
that he's dead and fool him, give him the coat of many collars
with blood. They committed one atrocious
act after another. I mean, these guys were a piece
of work. But God forbid we do this. Of course we would never
do anything like this. I can't believe you're even accusing
us of this. Behold, forsaith, the money which
we found in our sack's mouths. This is the first time they came,
we brought it again into the out of the land of Canaan. To
make sure you know that we weren't trying to rip you off. How then
should we steal out of thy Lord's house silver or gold? We wouldn't
do anything like that. With whomsoever of thy servants
it be found, both let him die, and we also be my Lord's bondman. Now here's what we want. We're so sure that we're not
guilty. If you find that cup, and they knew it wasn't there,
if you find that cup, Let the person you find it with die,
and we'll be your slaves. And he said, now let it also
be according to your words. He with whom it shall be found
shall be my servant, and you shall be, what's the next word? Blameless. Blameless. Utterly without blame. Now, if you've ever wondered
how you could be blameless before God, this passage of scripture's
gonna tell us. You shall be blameless. Do you know what it means when
you're blameless? There's nothing to blame you for. You're without
guilt. You're without sin. Now, whoever
has this cup, he's going to bear the full responsibility Ironically
enough, it was the one who didn't participate in the criminal activity
his brothers did. He bears the cup. He bears the
responsibility. He's going to be my slave. You're
going to be blameless. Verse 11. Then they speedily
took down every man in sack to the ground and opened every man
in sack. I think it's interesting how
they did this speedily because they were sure they were not
guilty. This silver cup's not gonna be found with us. And he
searched and began at the eldest and left at the youngest and
the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. Now, how do you reckon
Judah felt about this? Remember, Judah said, I'll take
full responsibility for him. If I bring him not back to thee,
let me bear the blame forever. And now, Judah sees my plans
have been destroyed. I'm not gonna be able to bring
him back to my father the way I wanted to. What'd they do? Then they rent their clothes
and laid it every man his ass and returned to the city. And
Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house. Now I can't help
but wonder at all the things they're saying to each other.
I bet there's all kinds of accusations going on from the past, all the
things, you did this, you did that, I can hear it. And Judah and his brethren came
to Joseph's house, for he was yet there, and they fell before
him on the ground. That's the third time we read
this. They fell before Him. You know,
they knew that their destiny was in His hands. They knew they had no control.
It was totally up to Him as to what took place with them. And I can see them down on the
ground, their faces in the dirt, scared to death, not knowing
what was going to take place. Verse 15. And Joseph said unto them, what
deed is this that you've done? What ye not that such a man as
I can certainly divine? He planted the silver cup in
Benjamin's sack. So yeah, he knew it was there.
Could he actually, from this cup, see the future and know
what's going on? I don't know. I mean, the best
thing to do is say, I don't know, because Scripture doesn't say.
But he says, don't you know that such a man as I can divine? I
can see what's happening through this silver cup. And I knew you
did this. Verse 16, and Judah said, What shall we say unto my Lord?
What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves?
They didn't say we've been framed. Somebody put this cup in his
sack and we've been framed. They said nothing like that.
They said, what can we say? We have no excuses. What's he
say? 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. As for you, get ye up in peace
unto your father. Now, you see the gospel there,
don't you? I know you do, it's a beautiful
gospel type. But this story begins, Joseph
is a type of the Father, the Steward is a type of the Holy
Spirit, Benjamin is a type of Christ, and Judah and his brethren
are a type of the men that Christ saves. And I love the way this
story begins chapter 44, verse one, and he commanded, Joseph
commanded the steward to fill the sacks. The gospel begins
with God's command. It doesn't begin with men. It
begins with God's will. It begins with God's command.
Everything that takes place is according to his command. Listen, if you're saved, it's
not God responding to something you've done. It's God commanding. The absolute sovereign, glorious
God. Don't you love it that way? It
begins with His command. He really is God. God indeed.
Not God in word only, but God indeed. He controls everything. And he's controlling everything
that's taking place here. And he tells his steward, fill
the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put
every man's money in a sack's mouth. Fill the sacks with food. Do you know that if you're one
of his, if you're saved, you're so filled up you can't get any
more saved than you are? You can't get any more loved.
You can't get any more justified. You can't get any more accepted.
You can't become any more redeemed. You can't become any more holy.
You are full in Christ. He filled those sacks up. In Him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you are lacking nothing. He filled their
sacks and he would not take their money, put their money back in
their sacks. They're not going to pay for
this. You see salvation by grace. It doesn't have anything to do
with anything you do in order to pay for it. Now, I love to
think of the aspects of salvation Elections by grace, if it's not
by grace, he won't choose me. It's got to be all by grace.
Redemption, Christ redeeming work, it must be by grace. Because
if he's looking for something out of me, it won't happen. Justification,
being declared not guilty before God, being without sin, being
without spot before God, being blameless before God. That's
what you are if you're justified, means you're blameless. You've
never committed a sin if you're justified. You stand before God
without guilt, holy, unblameable, and unreprovable in his sight.
That must be by grace. Calling, if it's up to me to
be able to respond to the call, I'm in trouble, but that calling
is by grace. He called me by his grace, I'm preserved by grace.
Every aspect of salvation is by the grace of God. Aren't you
thankful he wouldn't take their money? He wouldn't take their
money. He had it put back in their sacks. I know that when I get to glory,
I love the hymn we sing, and I shall see him face to face
and tell the story saved by grace. Verse two. and put my cup, this is his command,
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 Joseph
had spoken. Now Benjamin was the only one
who was not guilty in the betrayal of his brother. He was an infant
when it took place. The last story we have in Genesis
chapter 35 is the birth of Benjamin. That's when Rachel died. And
then you have the genealogy of Esau in chapter 36. And then
in chapter 37, you begin with the story of Joseph. Benjamin
was not involved in this. Yet, he is the one Joseph selected
to have the silver cup, the instrument of guilt. God can do this. He's God. He took my sin and
he gave it to his son who knew no sin. Now, it wouldn't do me
any good if he had sinned, but he never sinned. And God can
do this. Scripture says, for he had made
him. God did this. He had made him
to be sinned for us. I remember one time hearing a
preacher say, it was one of those preachers back a long time ago
that got caught up in some kind of scandal. And they were interviewing
him about it. And he said, I put that sin under the blood. And
I remember thinking, Huh, you can't do that. You don't have
the authority to put your sin under the blood. The only one
who can do that is God. And He has the authority to take my
sin and cause Christ to bear it. For He had made Him to be
sin for us who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Now, the only way he could bear
somebody else's sin is if he had no sin. And Benjamin did
not have any of this sin that his brothers had. He did not
participate in this. Just as Joseph had the cup put
in Benjamin's sack, it was the Father who gave Christ the cup
of our sins to drink. Now, I always feel reluctant
to even talk about this when You think of the Lord having
that cup pass before his eyes? And he said, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.
What was in that cup? Somebody says the wrath of God.
Well, I wouldn't deny that, but what was specifically in that
cup is what causes God's wrath, the sins of his. He drunk the
sin of his people. He bore their sins in his own
body on the tree. And that is what is taking place
at this time. Benjamin, the one who had no
guilt of his own, has the instrument of guilt given to him. The only one who is not guilty
became guilty. Verse three. And 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, I love that
detail. If I belong to the Lord, I can't
get too far off for him. He said, overtake him. And that's
exactly what God's grace has done with every one of his people.
They've been overtaken. Against the God who ruled the
sky, I fought with hand uplifted high, despised the mention of
his grace, too proud to seek a hiding place, but thus the
eternal counsel ran, almighty love, arrest that man, overtake
him. I felt the arrows of distress
and found I had no hiding place. He said, overtake him. Well,
I'm glad the Lord overtook me, aren't you? Didn't leave me to
myself. If he didn't overtake me, I'd
still be gone, but you can't get too far off from him. Verse four, and when they were
gone out of the city and not yet afar off, Joseph said unto
his steward, up, follow after the men. And when thou didst
overtake them, say unto them, he tells them exactly what to
say, wherefore have you rewarded evil for good? Is not this it
in which my Lord drinketh? And whereby indeed he divineth,
you have done evil in so doing. This was totally wrong. Verse six. And he overtook them. And he spake to them these same
words. He gave the same words that Joseph
gave him to say. Now that's the preaching of the
gospel. That's what God the Holy Spirit uses. The word of God. Not, you know what? Not even
so much the preacher's comment on the word, but the word itself,
the word of God. Verse seven, and they said unto
him, wherefore saith my Lord these words? Evidently he had
made this accusation. And they said, God forbid that
thy servants should do according to this. Now, at this time, they're
not really convicted of their sin. They're saying, we wouldn't
do this. How could you make this accusation
against us? We wouldn't do this. Do you know
the only time you and I will be truly convicted of sin is
when we're born from above. You don't have any understanding
of sin until you're born again. It takes a holy nature, a new
nature. Somebody says, well, I don't
think I'm that sinful. That's because you've never been
born from above. Anyone that God has saved, they're going
to have the guilt the brothers did later on. But right now,
they don't see it. They're trying to justify themselves. We would have never done anything
like this. Verse eight, behold the money
which we found in our sack's mouth we brought again unto thee
out of the land of Canaan. We proved ourselves the first
time when we brought the money back. How then should we steal
out of the Lord's house our silver and gold? We wouldn't do anything
like this. With whomsoever of thy servants
it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my Lord's
bondmen. They were so certain that they
were not guilty of what he was accusing them of. They said,
here's what, you find him, kill him, and we're your servant's
slaves for the rest of our lives. Verse 10. And he said, now also
let it be according to your words. He with whom it is found shall
be my servant and you shall be blameless. Now I'm sure that
in their conscience they were feeling pretty wretched about
this. You mean that one of us that
didn't do anything, he's the one that's gonna be blamed and
we're gonna be blameless? How can that be? Now, my dear
friends, that's the great mystery of the gospel. How Christ took
my blame. He took my sin and my sorrow
and made it his very own. The instrument of guilt became
his, my sin. And now I am blameless. Now think about that. I hope that washes over your
soul. before God because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
you are blameless. You have never sinned. You stand without guilt. Now,
this is better than being forgiven. Now, I want to be forgiven, but
the only reason you're forgiven is because you're blameless.
Then He forgives you. You're justified. This, as I said, this is actually
better than being forgiven. It's being justified, it's being
blameless. According as he hath chosen us
in him, that we should be holy and without blame before him. And I can't understand this,
but I believe it, love it. When I'm in heaven, the Lord's
not gonna look at me and say, I remember what you did. No,
I didn't do anything except perfection. holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. That's what Jesus Christ has
done for the believer. He's made them blameless. Now,
you got all kinds of things you feel blameworthy about. I realize
that, I do too. I walk around with a cloud over
my head all the time. But the fact of the matter is,
justification means I'm blameless, blameless, without sin. I have
nothing to feel guilty about. The reason God doesn't remember
my sins is because there's nothing there to remember. I'm blameless.
He put away my sin. When he said it is finished,
it's gone. Blameless. Verse 11. Then they speedily took down
every man of sack to the ground and opened every man of sack.
They were in a hurry to get this sink. And he searched and began
at the eldest and left at the youngest and the cup was found
in Benjamin's sack. Now, can you imagine how horrified
they were? The cup was found in Benjamin's
sack. I can't imagine what Judah thought.
Look what Judah said back in chapter 43, verse nine. Or verse eight, and Judah said
unto Israel, his father, send the lad with me. We will arise
and go that we may live and not die, both we and thou and also
our little ones. I will be surety for him. Now,
if you'll remember, Jacob didn't want to send Benjamin. And Judah
said, I'll be surety for him. of my hand shalt thou require
him. If I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee,
let me bear the blame forever." And that's exactly what the Lord
did before time began when he agreed to be our surety. But
here Judah is thinking, my promise to my dad is not gonna work.
I'm in trouble. How are we gonna go back to our
father without Benjamin? It'll kill him. And that's what
he tells Joseph later on in this chapter, if you go on reading
the rest of this chapter tonight. Then they rent, verse 13. Then they rent their clothes
and laid it every man in his ass and returned to the city. Now, verse 14. And Judah and his brethren came
to Joseph's house, and he was yet there. You know, Joseph was
waiting on him to get there. He knew exactly what was gonna
take place. He had orchestrated every event just to how he wanted
it to take place. And Judah and his brethren came
to Joseph's house, for he was yet there, and they fell before
him on the ground. There they go again, hitting
the dirt. Now, this is the posture of every
sinner who comes to Christ. Let me repeat that. This is the
posture of every sinner who comes to Christ. You come like the
leper did. The leper fell on his face and worshipped. You
see, the Lord's to be worshipped whether he saves you or not.
Amen. If He sent you to hell, is He
still worthy of worship? Yes, He is. He's the Lord. In this thing of coming to Christ,
I'm going to come like the leper did. I'm going to come, I'm going
to fall on my face before Him. I'm going to understand that
my salvation is completely in His hand. It's up to Him as to
whether or not I will be saved. And I'm going to cry out with
the leper, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. You see, you only worship an
absolute sovereign. Listen to me, we don't, yes,
we love the doctrine of God's sovereignty, but we love the
God who is sovereign, and we worship him, and we know our
salvation is in his hand. We can't manipulate him. We can't
get him to respond to us. We're in his hand and they bow
in the ground, in the dirt. And Joseph said unto them, verse
15, what deed is this that you've done? What ye not that such a
man as I can certainly divine? And There's nothing said about a
silver cup being planted. I want you to see the full responsibility
Judah and his brethren took for this sin. And Judah said, what should we
say to my Lord? What should we speak? Or how
should we clear ourselves? I think of that scripture in
Romans chapter three, verse 19. We know that whatsoever things
the law say, if it's said to them who are under the law, that
every mouth be stopped. No excuses. No self-justification. Every mouth is stopped. And you look at Jesus' language.
He didn't excuse himself. He didn't blame his circumstances.
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 the cup is found. God has exposed our iniquity. And look at his reply. And he said, God forbid that
I should do so, but the man in whose hand the cup is found,
he shall be my servant. He's going to bear the responsibility. He's going to bear the punishment. As you know, God brings good
out of all this as you go on reading. Jacob and his family
are brought into Egypt and prosper and so on. Right now they don't
know that. They're scared to death. But here's the way Joseph
answers. God forbid that I should do so.
Now Christ paid for my sins. I'm going to have to pay for
them. God's just. He has the authority to take
my sins and give them to Christ. If Christ bore them and paid
for them, I don't bear them. And I owe nothing. And look what he says. God forbid
that I should do so. I'm just. But the man in whose
hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant. But as for you, get you up in peace unto your
Father. Peace. Now the only thing that
gives me peace is if I have no sin. The only thing that gives me
peace is to know that everything God requires of me, I have. The only thing that gives me
peace is to know there's nothing for me to do. He did it all. And I am to rest. Rest in what he did. Now, the one who had the cup,
he's the one who's guilty. He's the one who's gonna pay.
That's for you. Go in peace to your father. He was delivered for our offenses.
He was raised again for our justification, therefore being justified. There's
the point, therefore being justified. By faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is just one of many examples
of how the Old Testament stories Make the doctrine of the New
Testament come alive to us. I'm so thankful for the Word
of God. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank You for Your
Word. Lord, we know this is Thy Word.
Men could not write this. You magnified Your Word above
all Your name. And Lord, how we thank you for
the gospel that your word declares, how that because Christ bore
our sin, we're blameless and we can go in peace. Bless this
word for your glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray.
Amen.