A Better Covenant

We all know of the epic account of the Fall. Many times we read the story and just skim through its lines. We have heard so many times that we are almost deadened to its veracity, power and effects on the entire world. I had a conversation with a brother today and he asked about where he should start with a new convert as it relates to his discipleship. I thought for a while and said man start at the cross. It is there where the Gospel is proclaimed, God’s wrath is satisfied and the historic event of the resurrection gets its genesis.

I believe it is critical that a new believer understands the Federal Headship of Adam that he was born under and the Federal Headship that they are not represented by. Without understanding their position as being totally justified and sanctified before a Holy God who will pour out His wrath on the unrighteous and put His holiness on display, the Christian Life will be lived trying to pay a debt that was cancelled in Christ.

A young Christian must understand that discipleship, scripture memory, morality, loving ones neighbor, being a good husband, being a good employee, serving in ministry, going to church, being a faithful steward of your resources, and even creating more disciples are not ends of themselves. None of these things rise or fall on themselves they are all means to an end. That end is found in Philippians 3:

 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

This brothers and sisters in Christ is the end goal of everything we do! Paul’s says “that I may know him and the power of His resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead”. Everything we do rests on this brothers and sisters and NOTHING ELSE MATTERS!

The Grace extended to us through the cross and resurrection of Christ is where all water flows! This is the center of the Christian faith, this is the meta-narrative of the scriptures and the Christian life. Christ! That is it folks, nothing more nothing less and  every new Christian should understand this folks. Just as a gracious God covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve, He covers ours in Christ.

We have to tell the young Christian, that when he is alone and the lights are off and your shortcomings are fully exposed and seeds of doubt come whispering in your ears, that as Paul so clearly articulated in Romans 8:1 “There is now NO CONDEMNATION”. That is why I believe Paul tells us in Ephesians 6 to put on the “helmet of Salvation”. We have to get our minds wrapped around the fact that we have “a tent not made with hands” and that “those he glorified”. The current state of the Christian is one of full assurance in the work of Christ, with no need to worry (unless we fall under the category of examining ourselves) about our position before our Master!

Sometimes it is so difficult for me to fully grasp positional sanctification.  Sometimes in the quietness of life, I think that this is way to easy, that God has to require more than mere faith, but then I am arrested by the clear text “for it is by grace that you have been saved through faith” and then you hear “and that not of yourselves” and the clear teaching of my deadness in Adam and ransom in Christ rings clear in Ephesians 2.

So the new Christian and the seasoned veteran has to continually be engulfed in humility by the mere fact that Paul says this in Ephesians 2:

 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

We see our total inability to do anything on our own and our passivity in the entire work of redemption. Oh how beautiful it is saints. It was the Love of God that snatched from under the representation of Adam. Just as he and Eve tried to duck and hide, we duck and hide, behind works and religion, but all the while fully ashamed which is proven by our guilt and our fear of condemnation. But God reaches down kills an innocent animal and covers their shame and guilt while simultaneously satisfying His own wrath. Just as Adam and Eve stood aside helpless and hopeless so do we. We see God send His only begotten, takes our sin, guilt and condemnation and pours it out on Christ while we stand by helpless and hopeless and then without any input or help from us,  clothes us (as He clothed Adam and Eve with the animal skins) with the righteousness of Christ. Just as the innocent animal takes the wrath of God, an innocent takes the same wrath and in that we are declared righteous for eternity!

Oh what a beautiful truth that all new Christians have to understand, for without this, they will continually try to work to repay a debt they is infinitely too expensive for them to pay. They will carry the guilt, weight and condemnation of sin throughout their Christian walk, never being able to fully enjoy Christ in them, never being able to experience the Abundant Life Christ purchased for them. In Pilgrim’s Progress we see Christian lay the burden he carried at the foot of the Cross and every Christian has to have this experience if they are going to be effective and make an impact for the Kingdom. So if you have young Christians teach their state before regeneration and show them the promise of their current state under grace. Oh how much more effective they can and will be once this truth is embraced!