The NXR Podcast - BONUS EPISODE - Baptists, Covenant Theology, & Christian Nationalism

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00:00:42 All right, welcome back to one of our live videos. We do this every Monday at 2 p.m. Central Time.

00:00:48 I'm Pastor Joel Webin with Right Response Ministries. Today, what I wanted to discuss

00:00:53 is covenant theology. I ran a poll last week on Twitter and YouTube, a few other places,

00:00:59 and that seemed to be what people were most interested in, is covenant theology. For myself,

00:01:05 that's going to be coming from a Reformed Baptist perspective, although I would probably

00:01:09 have some differences than a lot of Reformed Baptists in regards to my covenant theology.

00:01:15 So I'm going to do my best to explain covenant theology, Reformed, particular Baptist, that

00:01:21 position, how it plays into their covenant theology, and then how all of this is, you

00:01:27 know, the relationship between Baptist covenant theology and Christian nationalism.

00:01:31 So that's my goal.

00:01:32 Can Baptists be Christian nationalists with this covenant theology?

00:01:36 What does covenant theology even have to do with seeking to establish Christian nations?

00:01:42 But first, I just want to explain what my covenant theology is.

00:01:46 Real quick, just so you guys know, if you're joining us for the first time or you're new

00:01:50 to our channel, new to our ministry. The best way to follow along with all of our content is

00:01:55 simply tuning in on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. So Sunday, we have a full-length piece of content,

00:02:02 which is my sermon that I preach on the Lord's Day at the local church that I pastor, Covenant

00:02:06 Bible Church. We're in Central Texas, about 45 minutes north of Austin, Texas. The website for

00:02:13 our church, if you live in the area and you're looking for a good church, we're in Williamson

00:02:16 county north of austin texas the website is covenant bible.org covenant bible.org so every

00:02:24 lord's day we take the sermon that i preach in my local church as a pastor and we usually make that

00:02:29 available on spotify and itunes or podcast platforms as well as youtube by late afternoon

00:02:37 early evening usually by about four or five p.m on sunday so if you want to follow along with all

00:02:43 our content watch the sermon on sunday watch the live video that i do on mondays at 2 p.m central

00:02:50 time again it's on youtube but you can also get it on our app or our website or spotify or itunes

00:02:56 so the it's the sunday sermon it's the live video on monday and then lastly our last long form piece

00:03:03 of content is our flagship show called theology applied and that's on tuesday at 2 p.m central

00:03:10 time again on youtube or your favorite podcast platform so sunday monday tuesday that's a sermon

00:03:17 that's a live video on monday and that's theology applied on tuesday theology applied for those of

00:03:23 you who are not familiar with that show is my interview format where i i take notable guests

00:03:29 from all over the world with similar doctrinal and theological convictions and we talk about

00:03:34 a text of scripture or a topic or a particular doctrine. And we make sure that we're applying

00:03:41 that to Christians and their daily lives in the season that we find ourselves in. So those are

00:03:49 the three main shows. Everything else that you'll find throughout the rest of the week, Wednesday,

00:03:53 Thursday, Friday, Saturday, is usually for the most part just clips of those large form pieces

00:03:59 or long form pieces of content. It's a clip from the sermon or a clip from Monday or a clip from

00:04:04 Tuesday with Theology Applied. All right. So without discussing that anymore, let's go ahead

00:04:09 and get into our topic today. But first I have a quick announcement. Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're

00:04:20 going to want to hear this. Our next two conferences are coming up quick. We've got

00:04:24 first our fall conference. This is November 11th and 12th. That's a full day Saturday and a hold

00:04:31 over for the Lord's Day, November 12th. Who's speaking at this conference? Well, we've got

00:04:37 Jared Longshore and Chris Wiley and yours truly, Pastor Joel Webb. And what's the title? The title

00:04:43 is The Household and the War for the Cosmos. Now I know you're thinking, wait a second, you can't

00:04:48 use that title, Joel. That's the title for Chris Wiley's book. Well, I can use it because he's

00:04:53 going to be there speaking and he gave me his permission. We're going to be talking about the

00:04:58 household as the basic building block for pushing back the kingdom of darkness in this world. We're

00:05:04 going to be talking about biblical patriarchy. We're going to be talking about marriage and

00:05:08 parenting, how to keep your kids, how to shape and form them like straight arrows, like sharp arrows

00:05:15 that do damage to the kingdom of darkness, training our children in the fear and ammunition

00:05:20 of the Lord. A full day on Saturday, November 11th, and then holding Jared Longshore over for

00:05:26 the Lord's Day, November 12th, to preach at my church, Covenant Bible Church in Central Texas.

00:05:33 You can register at the early bird rate, which will not last long, but you can register at the

00:05:38 early bird rate today by going to rightresponseconference.com. Again, that's

00:05:44 rightresponseconference.com. Now, our second conference is our spring conference. This is

00:05:49 Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, March 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. The title for this conference,

00:05:56 Blueprints for Chrysidom 2.0. Blueprints for Chrysidom 2.0. We don't want to revert back to

00:06:04 Chrysidom 1.0, although it would certainly be a whole lot better than the clown world that we're

00:06:10 currently living in, but we recognize despite the phenomenal features of a prior Chrysidom,

00:06:16 there were certain bugs that we'd like to see worked out.

00:06:19 So we're not going back.

00:06:21 We are pushing forward to Christendom 2.0.

00:06:24 We believe that the blueprints are seven doctrines

00:06:28 for ruling the world righteously.

00:06:30 What are these seven doctrines?

00:06:32 Well, it's reformed confessionalism.

00:06:35 It's covenant theology.

00:06:36 It's biblical patriarchy. 0.84

00:06:38 It's presuppositionalism and Kuyperianism

00:06:41 and general equity theonomy and hopeful eschatology

00:06:46 post-millennialism who's going to be teaching us on these doctrines Voldemort he who must not be

00:06:53 named Pastor Douglas Wilson himself you also got Mr. Brighthearth Mr. Kingshall Mr. Haunted Cosmos

00:07:00 Pastor Brian Sauve and we also have Dr. Joseph Boot and of course yours truly Pastor Joel Webin

00:07:08 we'll be doing seven primary lectures as well as two 90-minute panels with all the speakers together

00:07:15 and we'll likely add a couple more speakers along the way again that's march 1st 2nd and 3rd

00:07:23 friday saturday and sunday it's blueprints for chrysidom 2.0 we've got the early bird rate going

00:07:31 right now but it will run out quickly so go to right response conference.com right response

00:07:37 conference.com to register to all right so here's my understanding of the covenants

00:07:44 First, let's go ahead and list them.

00:07:46 We have the Adamic covenant.

00:07:48 We have the Noahic covenant.

00:07:49 We have the Abrahamic covenant, Mosaic covenant, Davidic covenant, and then we also have the

00:07:56 new covenant.

00:07:58 And that's in a chronological order.

00:08:00 Now, technically, there would be one other covenant that we could biblically list that

00:08:04 would be chronologically, it would fall before all of these in terms of timing when this

00:08:09 covenant was cut, when it was ratified and made.

00:08:12 and that would be the covenant of redemption the covenant of redemption is a covenant that god made

00:08:18 in eternity past between himself within the councils of eternity within the godhead we have

00:08:24 a covenant between father and son by the holy spirit that the father covenants to the son

00:08:30 that he is going to to give to him a bride that is pure and spotless and the son covenants to

00:08:38 present back to the father a holy people that are sanctified without blemish for the father's

00:08:46 eternal glory and so we have this covenant of redemption between father and son by the holy

00:08:52 spirit and this is before the foundations of the world were ever even laid that god had determined

00:08:59 we believe in his eternal decree god had determined and ordained that he would save a people for

00:09:05 himself to the praise of his glorious grace, as Ephesians chapter 1 references, and that he would

00:09:12 do so by grace, by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, that God was going to

00:09:19 save for himself, for his own glory, a people, that he was going to do so by grace through faith

00:09:28 in Christ. Okay, so the covenant of redemption is before the foundations of the world were laid.

00:09:33 this is a covenant that God makes with God. A covenant within the Godhead. The first covenant

00:09:39 that we find within human history would be the Adamic covenant. An understanding of the Adamic

00:09:46 covenant both within the Baptist, Reformed Baptist scheme and the Westminster scheme is that this is

00:09:52 a covenant of works. And I understand that there are some who would maybe prefer a different label

00:09:56 like a covenant of life or creational covenant and that's perfectly fine. I don't really have

00:10:02 a strong objection there i'm going to use the phrase the label covenant of works because that's

00:10:07 the one that most people are familiar with and i think that it's helpful theologically for

00:10:12 understanding as we go on to the covenant of grace or the new covenant but the adamic covenant

00:10:18 is a covenant that god made with adam it's important for us to recognize that adam was

00:10:22 given 11 commandments not one but 11 commandments 10 moral commandments written on his heart that is

00:10:30 the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments that were given, the same Ten Commandments given to Israel

00:10:35 in the wilderness from Mount Sinai written on tablets of stone. Before the Ten Commandments,

00:10:40 the Decalogue in Exodus 20 was written on stone and given to the nation of Israel.

00:10:45 They were first given by being written on the tablets of human hearts, namely Adam and Eve's

00:10:51 hearts. So Adam was given not just the one positive precept, not to eat of the fruit of

00:10:58 the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which was in the midst of the garden, but Adam was also

00:11:03 given all of the ten moral commandments that we find in the book of Exodus. Meaning that if Adam

00:11:09 never ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but he stole or he murdered Eve

00:11:17 or he broke one of the other ten commandments, the covenant of works that God established with

00:11:23 Adam in this Adamic covenant still would have been broken. So this is a covenant of works

00:11:30 that God establishes with Adam. And I think the best way to understand this is that Adam was

00:11:36 created. Many scholars would say he was created in a state of integrity or a state of innocence,

00:11:42 but I think the state of integrity, that's better language. And with that state of integrity,

00:11:46 what it means is that he did not have a sin nature, right? That's part of the curse of sin.

00:11:52 So it's only after Adam chooses to rebel against God, after Adam chooses to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, once the covenant of works is broken and God comes and curses, he curses the ground and he curses Eve, he curses the serpent.

00:12:10 It's only when the judgment and curse for sin enters the world that Adam and Eve and all their posterity now have a sin nature.

00:12:18 But Adam and Eve initially were created in a state of integrity, without a sin nature.

00:12:25 However, although Adam was made in a state of integrity, he was still able to fall.

00:12:31 So he was made sinless, but able to sin.

00:12:36 Sinless, but not immutable in the sense of being able to sin and therefore become sinful.

00:12:45 And so the position that I would hold, and many others as well, is that Adam was in the

00:12:50 garden as a federal head of all creation, so he represents Eve, he represents whatever

00:12:56 offspring they would have, all future humanity.

00:12:58 Adam is the covenantal head.

00:13:00 Notice this, God always establishes covenants with a representative.

00:13:05 There's always a covenant head.

00:13:07 It's not just with a raw democracy, with a collective group of people.

00:13:12 There will be a collective group of people in the covenant, but they're always represented

00:13:17 by one individual.

00:13:20 And it's always a male, by the way, right?

00:13:22 So it's Adam, it's Noah, it's Abraham, it's Moses, it's David, it's Christ in the new 0.98

00:13:29 covenant, okay?

00:13:30 So Adam is the federal head.

00:13:33 He is representing his wife, all their future offspring, all of humanity.

00:13:39 but also it's worth noting that Adam is the federal representative with this covenant of

00:13:43 works, the Adamic covenant. He is representative of all of creation. So notice when Adam sins,

00:13:49 God doesn't just curse Eve and he doesn't just curse the serpent, but he also curses even the

00:13:56 ground. Cursed is the ground because of you. That the world has been subject to futility.

00:14:02 that creation itself, the scripture says, is groaning underneath pains, like childbearing

00:14:10 pains, groaning, waiting as it awaits for the sons of God to be revealed. So all of creation,

00:14:17 right, the ground, the very earth itself now produces thorns and thistles. Why? Well, the

00:14:23 ground didn't sin against God. Adam did, but Adam represented the ground. Not only did he represent

00:14:29 himself and his wife Eve and all their future children all of humanity but he represented

00:14:34 the physical earthly created order and and so all of that all everyone and everything represented by

00:14:42 Adam was subjected to the curse when Adam broke this covenant and again to Adam is given not just

00:14:50 one commandment but 11 commandments 10 moral commandments written on the heart right have no

00:14:55 the gods before me. Do not make any graven images. Do not take the Lord's name in vain. Remember the

00:15:00 Sabbath and keep it holy. The Sabbath is already in play, right? God creates man on the sixth day

00:15:05 and then the seventh is a Sabbath day. The Lord ceases. He rests, as it were, from his work in

00:15:12 creation and he blesses the Sabbath day and made it holy. And man was meant to observe that one

00:15:19 and seven day pattern of rest resting in god ceasing from his work so the fourth commandment

00:15:25 is written on the heart of adam and then of course all the commandments in regards to love for

00:15:30 neighbor that he should honor his father and mother in adam's case he is the son of god even

00:15:36 the genealogy that's listed in the old testament i believe it's genesis chapter 11 right after

00:15:42 uh the narrative of the tower of babel it goes on to a um a genealogy where it might be it's

00:15:49 either genesis 11 or it might be genesis 5 uh but it tracks back you know so and so is beget by so

00:15:54 and so beget by so and so beget by so and so it goes all the way back to adam and it says adam

00:15:59 the son of god and so for the fifth commandment for adam and eve and their in their case it was

00:16:05 to honor god the father um as father sixth commandment thou shall not murder uh seventh

00:16:10 commandment thou shall not commit adultery eighth commandment thou shall not steal ninth commandment

00:16:15 do not bear false witness do not lie the tenth commandment thou shall not covet so all 10 of

00:16:21 these moral commandments were given to adam plus one positive precept not to eat of the tree of

00:16:27 knowledge of good and evil and what i believe and what other theologians would believe is is that

00:16:33 adam was on a probationary period so think about this for a second adam's created in a state of

00:16:38 of integrity so without a sin nature he's sinless but he's not immutable in the sense and i'm not

00:16:45 saying immutable meaning unable to change i'm not saying immutable unable to change in every regard

00:16:51 because because creatures are never in the full sense of the word creatures are never fully

00:16:58 immutable like in heaven for instance even with our glorified bodies even being completely done

00:17:03 away with sin, our sanctification complete, we will still be undergoing change. Not our bodies

00:17:09 subject to decay, subject to disease, sickness, and death, but we're still going to be undergoing

00:17:15 change in the sense that we'll still be creatures. So in heaven, you and I, for eons and eons and

00:17:21 eons, stretching all the way into eternity, we'll still be developing in terms of our knowledge.

00:17:27 did you know that the saints in heaven will still be eternally learning you and i will know

00:17:35 certain things 10 000 years into heaven that we did not know the day we first arrived so we're

00:17:41 not immutable meaning unable to change in every sense so when i say immutable referring to adam

00:17:50 no creature is every ever fully immutable but what i'm referencing is just one particular

00:17:56 aspect, that Adam was not immutable, rather he was mutable, able to change in terms of

00:18:03 being created sinless in a state of integrity, but able to sin, able to fall.

00:18:09 So a probationary period is what I would hold, that Adam and Eve, in this covenant of works,

00:18:15 the Adamic covenant, if they had upheld the Ten Commandments written on their hearts

00:18:19 and obeyed this one positive precept, not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good

00:18:25 and evil that eventually we don't know how long this period of time would have been but eventually

00:18:30 they would have completed and fulfilled a probationary period in the garden assigned by

00:18:36 god and the covenant of works would have been uh fulfilled and then god would have held out to adam

00:18:43 and eve the tree of life that other tree in the garden the tree of life and that they would have

00:18:49 been able to eat to the fruit of the tree of life and at that point not only would they be in a state

00:18:54 of integrity which they already were they just needed to not sin to maintain that but they would

00:18:58 then go to a state of immutability in terms of that integrity uh not only sinless but now unable

00:19:05 to sin unable to sin that's how we will be for the record in heaven uh in heaven the saints it's not

00:19:12 just that we'll be sinless in heaven but we will also be unable to sin that's what the westminster

00:19:18 confession and the 1689 confession says not only about regenerate men glorified men those that god

00:19:26 has elected among mankind but also elect angels right we know that a third of the angels were

00:19:33 sinless for a time so they were they had a state of integrity they were sinless in heaven before god

00:19:39 but they were able to fall and they did fall a third of the angels chose to rebel alongside

00:19:45 lucifer and uh but we believe that this other two-thirds uh that that that remain um that they

00:19:52 are now immutable that the bible teaches uh that their angels are unable to fall these angels that

00:19:58 god has preserved and so uh both in the case of um angelic beings and in the case of human beings

00:20:05 for the elect elect angels and elect people uh that when we reach our glorified state with god

00:20:13 in heaven not only will we be sinless that's what first john says when we see him speaking of christ

00:20:19 when we see him we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is be like him in what in what sense

00:20:25 in what way sinless as christ is sinless so when we enter heaven we will be sinless as christ is

00:20:32 sinless but not only sinless in a state of integrity but also a state of immutable integrity

00:20:38 unable to sin unable to fall so adam and eve in the garden in this adamic covenant this covenant

00:20:46 of works were created in a state of integrity sinless without a sin nature but not immutably

00:20:53 sinless not immutable integrity they were able to fall and they did had they not we believe that i

00:21:01 believe it would have been a probationary period with an eventual expiration date, a finality

00:21:08 that eventually God would have said, well done, good and faithful servant, and held out to Adam

00:21:13 and to all his posterity, the tree of life. And the reason I'm saying this, think about this for

00:21:20 a moment. A lot of Christians don't think about this. They think, you know, Adam needed the tree

00:21:23 of life so that he would live, right? That's what God says when Adam and Eve sinned, they're then

00:21:28 removed they're kicked out expelled from the garden and god actually sets up angels with a

00:21:34 flaming sword to guard the garden specifically so that god says so that they cannot come in and eat

00:21:41 of the tree of life and live forever now think about this for a second

00:21:46 adam would have lived forever without actually ever having eaten of the tree of life simply

00:21:54 if he didn't sin right what did god say he said uh but if you eat of the tree on the day that you

00:22:01 eat of it you shall surely die what did what did adam need to do in order to attain forever life

00:22:07 to never die well he didn't need to eat of the tree of life he just needed to resist eating of

00:22:15 the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you see what i'm saying for adam to live to have forever

00:22:20 life to never die he did not need to eat of the tree of life he just needed to not eat of the

00:22:28 tree of the knowledge of good and evil not eat of that tree because that's ultimately what brought

00:22:33 death into the world before the covenant of works was broken by adam eating of this tree of the

00:22:40 knowledge of good and evil that god forbid before that covenant of works was broken death had not

00:22:46 yet entered the world that's what romans 5 says the apostle paul says by one man sin entered the

00:22:51 world and through sin death right so before adam sinned their sin had not yet entered the world

00:22:59 and therefore death had not yet entered the world so how does adam ensure that he never dies that

00:23:05 he has forever life not by eating of the tree of life but by simply not eating of the tree of the

00:23:11 knowledge of good and evil. So then what does the tree of life do? What is its purpose? Because Adam

00:23:16 doesn't need to eat the fruit of that tree, the tree of life, to live forever. He just needs to

00:23:21 make sure he does not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Well, I believe that

00:23:25 the tree of life, that would have taken Adam from a state of integrity and having forever life to a

00:23:31 state of immutable integrity, having eternal life. Now, let me briefly break that down. There is a

00:23:38 difference, and Christians need to be aware of this, there's a difference between eternal life 0.63

00:23:43 and forever life, eternity and forever. When the Bible speaks of eternal life, you and I, if you

00:23:49 are in Christ, if you've been saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone,

00:23:53 you're not only promised to receive eternal life when you die and go to be with the Lord,

00:24:00 to be absent from the bodies, to be present with the Lord. It's not just that we will inherit

00:24:04 eternal life when we finish this life, this earthly life, temporal life, and then we begin

00:24:10 eternal life. But the Bible actually says that for the Christian, even the Christian living now

00:24:14 on earth, that the Christian currently, presently possesses eternal life. Eternal life is not just

00:24:21 something that we will receive, but if you're in Christ today, eternal life is something you

00:24:27 already have. It's something you already possess. And what makes it eternal is not just that it's

00:24:34 goes on forever but that it cannot be lost it cannot be lost it's not just forever life

00:24:42 adam already had forever life if he just obeyed god and didn't eat of the tree of the knowledge

00:24:47 of good and evil and obeyed the other ten commandments written on his heart he would

00:24:51 have forever life but there's a difference between forever life and eternal life forever life in a

00:24:56 state of integrity or sinlessness versus eternal life in a state of immutable integrity

00:25:03 no longer being able to fall that's what you and i will have in heaven in heaven not only will we

00:25:10 be sinless but we will be sinless in such a way that we will never fall again god will not allow

00:25:17 any of his elect to ever fall away so in this life salvation is not something we can lose

00:25:23 and in the next life heavenly life salvation is not something we can ever lose so it's not just

00:25:29 integrity and sinlessness, forever life, but eternal, secure, immutably, immutably eternal

00:25:38 life. So all that being said, that's the Adamic covenant. That's the covenant of works,

00:25:44 which Adam broke by sinning against God. Sin entered the world, all of creation, not just

00:25:50 humankind, but all of creation. The earth itself was placed under a curse and through sin entering

00:25:58 the world so has death right that's the adamic covenant i believe that if adam had succeeded

00:26:03 if he had succeeded eventually it would have been temporary a probationary period eventually he would

00:26:11 have been given the tree of life and not just no longer just forever life in a state of integrity

00:26:15 but eternal life unable to fall and in a state of immutable integrity so that's the adamic covenant

00:26:22 Okay, so moving on now to the Noahic covenant.

00:26:26 I believe that the Noahic covenant is kind of, in some sense, it's a revision, a 2.0,

00:26:33 a ratifying of the covenant of works.

00:26:36 However, it's kind of like a ratifying of the Adamic covenant.

00:26:41 However, it's a little bit different.

00:26:42 The way that I would describe the Noahic covenant is that it is a covenant of common grace.

00:26:48 So it's not the covenant of grace in the proper sense.

00:26:52 the covenant of grace, that is special grace, saving grace that God makes with his elect

00:26:57 people, but rather it is a covenant of common grace.

00:27:03 And so Noah, I do not believe, he's the federal head, right?

00:27:06 There's always a federal representative.

00:27:07 I do not believe that Noah is standing in, right?

00:27:10 The question should always be, who is he representing?

00:27:13 Who's included in this covenant? 1.00

00:27:15 I don't believe that Noah is standing in as the federal representative of Christian people

00:27:20 or the church. But I believe that like Adam, Adam represented all of mankind, future believers and

00:27:28 unbelievers, all human beings alike. Likewise, I think that Noah is the federal representative,

00:27:34 the federal covenant head for all of humankind, all people. Now, the reason why I'm not calling

00:27:42 the Noahic covenant a covenant of works 2.0, right? So the Adamic covenant is a covenant with

00:27:48 all people covenant of works no way covenant covenant with all people but i'm calling it not

00:27:54 a covenant of works 2.0 but a covenant of grace but not the covenant of grace that is saving grace

00:28:02 for god's people but a covenant of common grace the covenant of common grace and the reason why

00:28:08 is because um in this covenant god sets his bow in the sky promises never again to flood the earth

00:28:15 One of the differences also is that in the covenant works with Adam,

00:28:19 God gave every green plant for food.

00:28:22 Whereas in the Noahic covenant, meat is on the menu.

00:28:26 As the orcs would say, meat's back on the menu.

00:28:29 So God gives animals now for man to eat.

00:28:32 So steak is now available.

00:28:33 Praise God. 0.57

00:28:34 I'm a fan of the Noahic covenant.

00:28:36 But it's not a covenant of works like God established with Adam

00:28:41 because God promises to do certain things.

00:28:45 whether whether Noah and his posterity are faithful or not but the things that God promises

00:28:52 in the Noahic covenant are not eternal things he doesn't promise God does not promise to Noah in

00:28:59 this Noahic covenant to eternally save Noah and his posterity regardless of what they do instead

00:29:06 God promises that there will always be seed time and harvest it's temporal earthly things he says

00:29:13 as long as the earth remains throughout this age, there will be seed time and harvest. There will be

00:29:21 food to eat. I will never again flood the whole earth, but I put my bow in the sky

00:29:28 as a reminder. So it's a common grace covenant. It's not a covenant of works where Noah has to

00:29:35 do something in order for God to uphold his end of the deal. It's something that God promises

00:29:41 regardless of the faithfulness of mankind but the things that god promises are not eternal things

00:29:47 they're not heavenly things salvific things but rather they are temporal earthly creational

00:29:54 things like seed time and harvest and not flooding the earth and and animals being provided by god

00:30:01 as a source of food for his image bearers to eat okay so that's the noaic covenant so covenant works

00:30:08 Adamic covenant, a covenant of common grace made with all mankind, Noah representing all mankind,

00:30:14 just like Adam did, a covenant of common grace, Noahic covenant. Then we have the Abrahamic

00:30:19 covenant, all right? And this is where, as a Baptist, I would differ from my Presbyterian

00:30:24 brothers and sisters that I respect immensely, but I am a Baptist. Within the Abrahamic covenant,

00:30:29 I do not see this as the covenant of grace. Rather, what I see is that the covenant of grace,

00:30:36 So as a Baptist, I believe the covenant of grace is synonymous with the new covenant.

00:30:41 Christ as the federal head, the covenant head, within the Westminster, you know, Pato scheme,

00:30:49 they would say there's, you know, the big banner would be the covenant of grace.

00:30:52 Underneath this banner, the covenant of grace, there are two administrations, right?

00:30:57 Abrahamic covenant, but also the new covenant, right?

00:31:00 Abraham as one head and then Christ as another.

00:31:04 So you have the covenant of grace in the Old Testament scheme, the old covenant scheme

00:31:09 with Abraham, but then you also have the covenant of grace with the new covenant scheme with

00:31:14 Christ.

00:31:15 Whereas as a Reformed Baptist, I would hold that the covenant of grace is synonymous,

00:31:21 completely synonymous with the new covenant, that those are simply two different labels

00:31:26 describing the same covenant.

00:31:28 So I'm going to speak in synonymous terms between the new covenant and the covenant

00:31:32 of grace.

00:31:33 Therefore, the Abrahamic covenant that God establishes with Abraham, I do not believe

00:31:38 is the covenant of grace.

00:31:41 However, I do think that we see what you might call an Easter egg, right?

00:31:46 For lack of a better word, you know, if when you were a kid, if you ever played, you know,

00:31:51 like old Nintendo video games, you know, some games would have like a little hidden, you

00:31:56 know, hack built in by the programmer into the game that very few people would be able

00:32:01 to find.

00:32:01 but if you find this thing, it would open, you know, a hidden map, you know, or some kind of

00:32:05 thing, and they would call it like an Easter egg. And in each of these covenants, there's an Easter

00:32:13 egg of the new covenant, right? So even when God's dealing out the curses, when the Adamic 0.95

00:32:19 covenant is broken, and God is cursing with Adam and Eve, cursing the ground, cursing the woman

00:32:25 and childbearing, cursing, the serpent.

00:32:28 In that, there's an Easter egg of the new covenant.

00:32:32 And the Easter egg is, you know, 1.00

00:32:34 I will put enmity between the seed of the woman 1.00

00:32:37 and the offspring of the serpent. 1.00

00:32:41 You, the serpent, will strike his heel, 0.98

00:32:44 but he will crush your head. 0.97

00:32:46 How were Adam and Eve saved?

00:32:48 The same way that we're saved, not by works.

00:32:50 They failed in that regard.

00:32:52 They broke the covenant of works.

00:32:53 adam and eve who i believe are in heaven right now they were saved the same way we are by grace

00:32:58 alone through faith alone in christ alone well how do they have faith in christ before christ

00:33:04 even came in the incarnation well they had faith in the promised messiah well how did they know

00:33:09 the messiah was promised because god said so god said that there would be a singular seed of the

00:33:16 woman and that this seed his heel would be stricken by the serpent a serpent will strike his

00:33:24 heel but that the seed of the woman would ultimately crush the head of the serpent so

00:33:30 adam and eve they trusted in they had faith in the serpent crusher they didn't know his name

00:33:36 they didn't know necessarily that he was going to be born of a virgin mary and die on a cross

00:33:42 and suffer under Pontius Pilate, they didn't know all the details. On this side of Calvary, you and

00:33:48 I, we look back to the work of Jesus, the finished work of Jesus, with far more clarity. But Old

00:33:54 Testament saints, such as the first two Old Testament saints, namely Adam and Eve, they were

00:33:59 looking forward. They had less clarity looking forward, but they still had the same object of

00:34:05 their faith, who is Christ, the Messiah. So you have an Easter egg, even in the curses being

00:34:11 dealt by god handed out by god these curses are right after the adamic covenant the covenant of

00:34:17 works is broken there's the easter egg of the new covenant that jesus was messiah he would crush the

00:34:22 head of the serpent and that he would establish a covenant of grace and that we were saved

00:34:27 ultimately not by our works but by our faith in him okay same with the abrahamic covenant

00:34:34 with the abrahamic covenant i would say that this is not uh the covenant of grace and just

00:34:40 you know, the first administration of that covenant of grace under Abraham, and then a

00:34:45 better federal head with Christ, the new administration of, you know, the new covenant

00:34:50 under the big banner of the covenant of grace. That's the Westminster scheme. That's something

00:34:54 that ultimately I reject, although I have much respect and much in common with the covenant

00:34:59 theology of somebody who is a Presbyterian. However, what I would hold is that the Abrahamic

00:35:04 covenant was a further ratification of the covenant of works not grace but works and that

00:35:12 god is assigning works to abraham as the federal head the covenant head primarily two works two

00:35:20 acts of obedience that abraham is expected by god to obey and then two not salvific not eternal

00:35:28 but two temporal promises, earthly promises that God will fulfill through Abraham. And these

00:35:36 promises, they play into the Messiah because God providentially is going to bring about the

00:35:41 Messiah, Jesus Christ, through a literal Jewish line, lineage. But nonetheless, Abraham is called

00:35:49 to certain works, particularly two acts of obedience with two temporal physical promises.

00:35:55 What are those? Abraham is called to go and circumcise. Go and circumcise. Go to the land 0.93

00:36:05 that I will show you. He's called to leave behind his father's land, his pagan land with pagan gods, 0.98

00:36:13 his father's household, all these things, and to be a sojourner, a stranger and an alien in a land

00:36:20 that he has never known. And he's called in faith to blindly go forward to a land that God will

00:36:27 show him that he does not yet have knowledge about. He's called to go. That's the first act

00:36:32 of obedience. And then he's also called to circumcise all the male members of his household. 0.68

00:36:39 So go, circumcise. Now, that's the two commandments, the works that Abraham needs to 0.93

00:36:46 perform what are the promises that god's going to give well the promises is land and people

00:36:53 so go and circumcise are the commands given to abraham land and people are the promises that god

00:37:01 will fulfill if you go i'll give you land if you circumcise the members of your household right now

00:37:09 without any biological children of your own but merely the servants in your household if you

00:37:15 circumcise now, or even in Abraham's case, your nephew Lot and certain members that are part of

00:37:21 his household, if you circumcise, I will make you a great people. So if you'll go and leave your

00:37:27 father's land, I'll give you a new land. And if you circumcise the members of your household as

00:37:34 it stands now, a smaller household, I will make you a great many people. So the promise is, I'll

00:37:40 give you land and i'll make you a great people the commandments are go and circumcise and i don't

00:37:46 believe that that is a covenant of grace simply in its old testament old covenant first administration

00:37:54 i believe that that is a a further narrowing honing and and specifying of a covenant of works

00:38:03 that god establishes with abraham that is a covenant in this case abraham is standing in

00:38:08 um adam is federal head of all humanity noah in this common grace covenant federal head of all

00:38:14 humanity abraham is federal head of all of israel israel according to the flesh all of physical

00:38:22 physical national ethnic israel that if abraham goes and circumcises god will give to all his

00:38:32 physical descendants he will give them land and make them a very great people however genesis 15

00:38:41 and 16 what we see is sprinkled in right in the middle and this is why it gets confusing we see

00:38:49 another easter egg just like with adam and eve uh here's you know this is a covenant works and now

00:38:55 you've broken the covenant works and here's the curse right the judgment for breaking uh that

00:38:59 covenant but here's the promise here's here's a foreshadowing of the new covenant right that the 0.86

00:39:06 serpent will strike the heel of your seed but he will crush his head likewise with with uh abraham

00:39:13 we have again that that singular uh seed that same language that paul paul plays off of in the

00:39:20 new testament in galatians that uh to abraham he god will make him a great many people and give him

00:39:26 a land of promise the land of canaan but but that one of his descendants in the singular not

00:39:32 collective one of them will be a savior and that through him not only will israel be saved but

00:39:39 through him i will bless save all the nations and so how was abraham abraham is in heaven right now

00:39:47 he's another old testament saint uh we as new testament saints look back to the finished work

00:39:52 of christ at calvary abraham was looking forward what what was he looking forward to well he was

00:39:58 looking forward to a promised seed and this seed would bless all the nations and abraham put his

00:40:04 faith in him all right so again an easter egg of the new covenant but the abrahamic covenant itself

00:40:10 was a further ratifying of a covenant of works now more particularized not just from adam

00:40:17 representing all of humanity, but Abraham now representing a particular nation within humanity,

00:40:24 namely Israel. Okay. So that's my view of the Abrahamic covenant. Moving on now, the Mosaic 0.50

00:40:30 covenant. This again, I believe that Moses is standing in for Israel. So not a federal head

00:40:35 representing all of humanity, but that he is a federal head representing Israel again, according

00:40:41 to the flesh but now it's it's moving from abraham i will make you a great people um and with uh with

00:40:50 moses uh you're having a further ratifying of this covenant works um as the people now has has

00:40:56 actually that promise of god has already been fulfilled now uh that israel is a great many

00:41:01 people by the time of moses arguably many biblical scholars would say probably around a couple

00:41:06 million people at this point. And God is further ratifying this covenant of works with Abraham

00:41:12 and giving not just two commandments to Abraham, go and circumcise, and I'll give you land and

00:41:18 make you great people. But now God is giving more promises to Israel, more land promises and promises

00:41:25 about defeating some of their enemies and pushing out the wicked inhabitants of the land and all

00:41:30 these things uh promising um to uh to uh that they're uh that the women you know uh will uh

00:41:38 have healthy births and and not have stillbirths miscarriages all these different promises but

00:41:43 again they're temporal promises uh but also more commandments not just uh the commandments given

00:41:49 to abraham go and circumcise but now you have the 10 commandments given through moses at mount

00:41:54 Sinai and many other judicial civil codes, civil commandments given to Israel through Moses. Okay,

00:42:01 so that's the Mosaic covenant. Then further, the last Old Testament covenant that we have is the

00:42:07 Davidic covenant. You can kind of think of it like this. Abraham, it's, I'm going to make you a people.

00:42:13 Moses, it's, I'm going to make you a nation. And then David, I'm going to make you a kingdom.

00:42:19 David is a type of Christ.

00:42:21 Moses is a type of Christ also.

00:42:24 But David sits on a throne in a palace.

00:42:27 It's a kingdom now.

00:42:29 And this Davidic covenant that God establishes with David,

00:42:33 again, within it, there is an Easter egg of the new covenant

00:42:36 that one of your descendants,

00:42:39 the government shall be laid upon his shoulders, right?

00:42:42 And he shall rule with an iron scepter.

00:42:44 You shall establish peace and justice and equity

00:42:47 from sea to shining sea so you have the davidic covenant is not the covenant of grace um it but

00:42:54 what contained within it is another easter egg promise to the new covenant which is synonymous

00:42:59 with the covenant of grace but the davidic covenant once more has certain um works that

00:43:06 david and israel are expected to fulfill and certain earthly temporal promises and some of

00:43:14 those are ultimately dropped the ball is dropped which is why Israel in the days of Solomon or

00:43:21 or after his days is actually divided from Judah and Israel because Solomon doesn't keep in step

00:43:29 with his father David David appoints Solomon to be his successor but Solomon in his later years

00:43:36 Israel is in its heyday with prosperity the queen of Sheba comes because she's heard the rumors of

00:43:41 how wise Solomon is and how prosperous the kingdom is, but ultimately Solomon marries wives from

00:43:48 other pagan nations with pagan gods, and he tolerates and even sets up, allows for high

00:43:55 places to be set up for his wives so that they can go and worship false gods, and his heart is

00:44:01 turned away from the Lord. And because of that, the Davidic kingdom is divided under the reign of

00:44:09 solomon's successor his son david's grandson um it's it's divided between israel and judah

00:44:16 so there are certain promises given to david but certain things that david has to be faithful in

00:44:21 and and he's not david fails in some sense and then solomon fails even further but there's also

00:44:27 the easter egg contained wrapped up in that davidic covenant which is that david will have

00:44:33 again a seed right so adam the woman eve will have a seed that will crush the serpent's head

00:44:39 Abraham will have singular a seed who will bless through him will be blessed all the nations

00:44:44 likewise David will have a true successor a descendant a seed who will eventually come and

00:44:51 sit on his throne a Davidic throne and he will rule not just Israel but all the nations he will

00:44:58 be king of kings and lord of lords and that is not the Davidic covenant in and of itself but it's an

00:45:05 easter egg foreshadowing to again the new covenant which is synonymous with the covenant of grace

00:45:10 contained in that davidic covenant right now lastly actually gets to the new covenant and again i

00:45:17 believe the new covenant is synonymous with the covenant of grace the covenant of grace is the

00:45:22 new covenant and the new covenant is the covenant of grace and the federal head there's only been

00:45:28 one administration for this new covenant and the covenant head federal representative is jesus

00:45:35 christ he is the better covenant head but he also he also is not just the better federal head but

00:45:45 it's also a better and deeper covenant that the new covenant is not just wider in its scope for

00:45:51 you your children and all those who far are far off it's not just wider in its scope but it's

00:45:58 deeper in its promises it's not just bigger but it's better and one of the promises i believe per

00:46:05 ezekiel 36 per hebrews chapter 8 is that this new covenant has a 100 retention rate that no one will

00:46:14 be lost that every member of the new covenant is born again and has eternal security immutable

00:46:24 integrity that they not just forever life but eternal life that they will not fall away that

00:46:30 every member of the new covenant will be in heaven forever that they are regenerate that

00:46:37 regeneration is actually one of the promises of the new covenant a new heart and it's not just

00:46:44 that the law would be written upon our hearts but further the scripture says i will cause you

00:46:50 to walk in my ways right i will put the fear of myself within you and cause you to walk in my

00:46:59 ways what does romans 3 say about the unbeliever and you know comparing and contrasting with those

00:47:06 who are believers and regenerate well with the unregenerate the reprobate romans 3 in describing

00:47:12 the unbeliever says there is no fear of god before their eyes the unbeliever is not that they have

00:47:19 some fear of god but not enough no the unbeliever has no fear of god no fear of god people in hell

00:47:27 are not people who had some faith little faith but not enough faith no people in hell had zero faith

00:47:34 no faith in christ um people in hell had no fear of god no faith in god no love for god none none

00:47:44 right if you have a little bit of faith and it's faith in christ true saving faith in christ

00:47:50 that's enough yes we want to grow in faith but even faith of a mustard seed can move a mountain

00:47:57 namely the mountain the chasm in between a sinful man and a thrice holy god that's that's gospel

00:48:03 language so um when when god promises that behold the days are coming when i will establish a new

00:48:12 covenant right uh and and i will put the fear of myself within them uh this is saving language

00:48:19 this is salvific this is regeneration language i will cause them to walk in my ways not just i'll

00:48:26 write my law upon their heart so they'll know my ways instinctively not just on tablets of stone

00:48:32 outside of themselves but on tablets of human hearts within themselves they will know my ways

00:48:38 no i will also then cause them to walk in my ways um that that's more than just making god promising

00:48:45 to make his new covenant people painfully aware of his commandments but god is actually going to

00:48:50 cause them to obey his commandments cause them to obey his commandments and if it's just writing

00:48:56 his law upon their hearts well here's the thing even those who don't belong to the new covenant

00:49:01 even within a Westminster scheme of view of the new covenant even those who who aren't new covenant

00:49:08 members they have the law of God written on their hearts because everyone does that's what Romans 2

00:49:13 sets of Gentile pagan nations even those who have never received even a word a an ounce of special

00:49:21 revelation they've never had an evangelist or a preacher or a prophet or a page of scripture 0.87

00:49:26 or a tablet of the law, even the Gentiles, their own conscience testifies against them. 0.89

00:49:32 And why does their conscience testify in line with what God has said in his law?

00:49:38 Because the law of God is written even on pagan hearts, right? 0.93

00:49:42 So if we're saying, well, the promise of the new covenant is that new covenant people will 0.90

00:49:46 have God's law written on their hearts.

00:49:48 Well, all people have God's law written upon their hearts.

00:49:50 what what's what's particular or specific unique for those belonging to the new covenant is not

00:49:57 just that the law of god is written on their hearts but that god promises to put the fear of

00:50:02 himself within them so that they would adhere to his law and that god himself will cause them to

00:50:07 walk in his ways it's the similar language of philippians where paul says a work out your

00:50:13 salvation with fear and trembling but then he goes on and says knowing that it is he who wills

00:50:18 and works in and through us that which is good and pleasing in his sight so it's not just that

00:50:23 god calls calls us to do good works by making us aware of his law both externally and internally

00:50:31 writing his law in our hearts but for new covenant people god actually works in and through us in

00:50:38 accordance with his law he causes us to do good works he brings about fruit and obedience so

00:50:45 i believe that that's the new covenant so instead of new covenant and then within that

00:50:51 a bifurcation of external new covenant members and then internal right a smaller circle internal

00:50:58 new covenant members the decretal elect those who are actually saved and then those who are just

00:51:03 external new covenant members that have some kind of external blessings and union with christ

00:51:07 somehow but not true unity with christ and therefore no eternal you know internal spiritual

00:51:13 blessings um that would be the westminster view instead as a 1689 baptist i believe that um that

00:51:21 the new covenant people of god uh that it's it's just one circle new covenant people of god and

00:51:28 the elect those who are regenerate same circle the new covenant people are the eternally elect

00:51:35 people okay so um there's a little bit of my covenant theology uh i'm going to land the plane

00:51:42 by telling you a little bit of,

00:51:44 you know, well, so then as a Baptist,

00:51:46 can you be about Christian nationalism? 0.59

00:51:47 Can you be about restoring your Christendom 2.0

00:51:50 with your covenant theology?

00:51:52 Because it's less inclusive, right?

00:51:53 The Westminster scheme of covenant theology

00:51:56 includes not only the elect,

00:51:58 but also members, you know,

00:52:00 those who are not regenerate

00:52:04 are still under the new covenant.

00:52:07 Not all those who are not regenerate,

00:52:09 but, you know, the children of believers

00:52:11 and this and that,

00:52:11 the new covenant is wider for the presbyterian right for the reformed baptists within the 1689

00:52:18 framework you know we would say here's god's elect and that same circle that encompasses god's elect

00:52:25 people those that he's promised to save is the same circle that defines that marks out the new

00:52:31 covenant whereas presbyterians would say there's a circle that is the elect the decretal elect

00:52:36 And then a wider circle beyond that, that encompasses the new covenant.

00:52:41 And so, therefore, because the Presbyterian has a wider circle for the new covenant, they're able to, therefore, encompass and include in this wider circle, in their covenant theology, perhaps, you know, whole nations, which, that doesn't work.

00:53:00 I think that's silly. 0.56

00:53:01 um you know but that's been the argument is you know that if you're a paedo-baptist and if you

00:53:06 have westminster you know covenant theology then then you have a a covenantal framework for

00:53:12 uh a christian nation and a baptist doesn't but again i i think that's silly um being able to say

00:53:19 that the children of believers are new covenant members uh still is not a wide enough circle

00:53:25 to encompass a whole nation with entire households where father and mother aren't professing.

00:53:32 Because even in the Westminster Presbyterian scheme of the new covenant, they still wouldn't

00:53:37 be a part of the new covenant. So to pretend that because the Presbyterian way of defining the new

00:53:44 covenant is wider than the Baptist way of defining it allows them to have Christian nations in a

00:53:51 christian world uh well their their understanding of the new covenant is still not that wide so so

00:53:59 at the end of the day whether you have the the presbyterian framework of new covenant what is

00:54:04 the new covenant or the the baptistic particular baptist reformed baptist framework for the new

00:54:10 covenant both of them both of them um westminster new covenant theology not new covenant theology

00:54:17 but westminster covenant theology and as it pertains to the covenant of grace and the new

00:54:21 covenant and 1689 federalism reform baptist covenant theology and how we see the new covenant

00:54:28 both of them i will i will concede and say it's not really a concession because i don't want

00:54:33 i i just i disagree with the presbyterian but their their view of the new covenant that circle

00:54:39 is wider than the reform baptist view of the new covenant but neither neither reform baptist or

00:54:45 the reformed presbyterian neither of their ways of defining the new covenant makes the new covenant

00:54:49 big enough to encompass a whole nation you need another framework for that and i think the

00:54:58 framework for that is actually not covenant theology but kingdom kingdom and i'll briefly

00:55:05 explain what i mean by that the difference between kingdom and covenants in just a moment but real

00:55:13 quick i want to remind you guys of one more important announcement fight by flight why

00:55:24 leaving godless places is loving godless places i've had a lot of people tell me recently pastor

00:55:31 joel you're post-millennial you claim to believe that jesus is king of every square inch but

00:55:37 apparently you don't think he's king of california because i've heard your personal story that you

00:55:42 used to be a pastor there and that you left for the state of texas notice the title not fight or

00:55:49 flight but fight by flight think of the prodigal son he comes to the end of his rope he's longing

00:55:57 to be fed with the pods given to the pigs and the parable says no one gave him anything no member

00:56:05 of the father's house tracked him down to give him a handout he was hurting he had to lie in the bed 0.99

00:56:12 that he had made for himself by his foolish choices. You know what the next words in that

00:56:17 parable are? No one gave him anything and he came to his senses. He began to repent. There are 10

00:56:26 million professing Christians currently living in the state of California. What if they're fighting

00:56:32 but at the same time while well-intentioned they're also funding? What if California could

00:56:39 be brought to its knees simply by the faithful not fighting there but leaving there and forcing

00:56:46 Gavin Newsom and other tyrants like him to actually have to take a spoonful of their own

00:56:53 medicine the book has been forwarded by Douglas Wilson it's been endorsed by Michael Foster

00:56:59 it's good to be a man also Meg Basham the Daily Wire and Steve Dace from the Blaze Network it's

00:57:06 available on amazon as well as a cheaper copy that can be purchased right from our website

00:57:13 which is right response ministries.com check it out today all right let me just go ahead and read

00:57:21 a text okay uh matthew chapter 13 the entire chapter talks about the kingdom uh the kingdom

00:57:27 of god is you know shall uh to what shall i compare it jesus says it is like and he tells

00:57:33 parable after parable after parable describing the kingdom of god now there's all these parables

00:57:42 um they they help to define and describe and help us to further understand what is the kingdom of

00:57:49 heaven or what is the kingdom of god um and for the record i don't believe that the kingdom of

00:57:53 heaven the kingdom of god are two different kingdoms some guys get weird and say well

00:57:56 there's this kingdom and this kingdom and like um no i i think heaven right matthew is um a jew

00:58:04 and so matthew says uh you know he's going to say kingdom of heaven um and other guys uh like mark

00:58:11 writing for peter uh is going to say god um i i think that's that's the difference but i think

00:58:18 that those are two interchangeable uh labels or phrases kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of god

00:58:23 the kingdom of God is the kingdom of heaven. So all that being said, multiple parables that Jesus

00:58:29 gives describing and giving us a further understanding of different aspects of what

00:58:33 the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven is like. But there's one in particular that I think

00:58:38 is very helpful. This is Matthew chapter 13. All this is in Matthew 13. The whole chapter is very

00:58:44 helpful. But Matthew chapter 13 verses 47 through 50, I think is particularly helpful. It says this,

00:58:53 And again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish

00:58:59 of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good

00:59:06 into containers, but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will

00:59:14 come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that

00:59:22 place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth so john gill who's a baptist um john he was he was

00:59:32 the baptist preacher in the same church that charles spurgeon became pastor of uh but charles

00:59:36 spurgeon was about a hundred years after john gill um and so john gill and and many other

00:59:42 presbyterians and baptists on both sides of the aisle um in in interpreting and exegeting this

00:59:48 particular parable uh they say that the the sea represents the world uh the net of course is the

00:59:55 kingdom right the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea so the sea is the

01:00:02 world the net is the kingdom the kingdom of god or the kingdom of heaven and the fish are people

01:00:09 mankind now but notice what happens um the net is thrown into the sea into the world and it gathers

01:00:17 people the fish but then these people at the end of the age are separated there are good fish in the

01:00:25 net and bad fish now the angels are the ones who come at the end of the age and separate the

01:00:31 righteous from the evil from the wicked it's the same as a parable again in the same chapter

01:00:36 matthew 13 that talks about the wheat and the tares right and when it comes to the wheat and

01:00:42 the tares um you know that the servants of the master the field is the world and um and the good

01:00:50 seed is uh is people not just the seed of the gospel like the parable of four soils with the

01:00:56 four soils the soil represents different kinds of people right like with a hard and stony heart or

01:01:02 those who are receptive and uh to the gospel and the seed represents the gospel but in the case of

01:01:07 this other parable the wheat and the tares uh the the field is not just the church now notice that

01:01:13 the field is not the church but but jesus and we know this one for certain because jesus actually

01:01:19 interprets the parable he says this is the meaning of the parable all this is earlier in in the 13th

01:01:24 chapter of of matthew but he says the field is the world it's the whole world and god sowed good seed

01:01:30 and the seed represents people the righteous but he had an enemy that sowed bad seed bad seed and

01:01:39 then the servants of the master they notice you know this happened in the night and then they

01:01:43 notice hey there are weeds weeds not wheat but weeds tares growing up in your field didn't you

01:01:50 plant good seed why is there you know tares and weeds growing up should we go and remove them

01:01:55 and the master of the field right the creator of the world it's his world the father's world

01:02:00 says, no, wait until the harvest, lest you damage the wheat. And so the tares, the weeds,

01:02:08 are allowed to grow up alongside the wheat. Well, that's very similar to, again, this parable that

01:02:14 we're looking at now, Matthew 13, 47 through 50, about the kingdom of God being like a net.

01:02:20 In this case, instead of the field being the world, the sea is the world. And I believe that

01:02:28 that what jesus is getting at here um that the necessary inference certain that at bare minimum

01:02:35 the plausible implication of what jesus is saying in this parable is that the net is not just thrown

01:02:43 out once but it's going to be thrown out again and again throughout this gospel age and this is what

01:02:50 not matthew henry but john gill would say the net is going to be thrown out not just once

01:02:58 but multiple times again and again throughout this gospel age, meaning from the coming of Christ

01:03:05 and his earthly work, his earthly ministry, and Christ's final physical return at the end of the

01:03:10 age, gospel age or church age, the net is going to be thrown multiple times. And the implication

01:03:16 is that eventually it's going to be thrown again and again and again until every single fish in the

01:03:24 sea is hauled up and caught into this net and then the fish will be separated by the angels

01:03:33 and we know that we know that the angels right this is verse 49 so it will be at the end of the

01:03:39 age the angels will come and separate the evil from the righteous so it's the angels at the end

01:03:46 of the age after christ's final return that will separate the good fish from the bad fish which

01:03:52 represent people good righteous people saved people elect people and bad people wicked people

01:03:59 but the implication is that until the end of the age when the angels do the separating

01:04:05 until then the net is going to be thrown now who works the net because jesus does not say in this

01:04:13 parable again matthew 13 47 through 50 jesus does not say that the angels are casting the net

01:04:20 no the angels come later they come at the end of the age to separate the fish that were caught

01:04:26 in the net but the the people who are working the net even john gill says this are men look verse

01:04:33 48 when it was full men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but

01:04:42 threw the bad away so it will be at the end of the age the angels will come and separate the evil

01:04:47 from the righteous. So the angels are going to separate good fish from bad fish, but those who

01:04:51 are working the net throughout this gospel age, John Gill says this, I believe Matthew Henry says

01:04:57 this as well, they are not angels, but gospel preaching men. They're all men, all Christian men

01:05:04 who are tasked to do the work of an evangelist, but particularly gospel preachers, ministers,

01:05:10 ministers not angels as ministering spirits but but men who are gospel ministers and so what

01:05:18 john gill says is that without within each generation in every uh every nation until the

01:05:26 end of this age you will have gospel ministers who preach the law and gospel who faithfully

01:05:33 preach the word of christ and that is likened to casting a net out into the world the sea which

01:05:42 represents not just the church but the whole world again and again these gospel ministers men

01:05:48 casting the net until at the end of the age all of the fish have been brought in but at the end

01:05:55 of the age some of those fish over the entire course of this gospel age some of them will have

01:06:01 been bad fish and some of them will have been good fish but all of them got caught up in the net

01:06:07 now what is this net the net is important for us to recognize the net jesus says this is the kingdom

01:06:16 the kingdom is like leaven that works through the whole batch of dough what's the dough the

01:06:21 dough is not the church the dough is the world that the kingdom will permeate the whole world

01:06:27 the whole world every institution every worldview every culture every tribe tongue and nation

01:06:35 and that the whole world will be permeated by the kingdom um that that the kingdom is like a net

01:06:42 the whole all the fish in the sea eventually will be brought in now that doesn't mean that

01:06:47 all of them will be saved that all of them will be regenerate and elect but all of them will be

01:06:52 caught up in this world-encompassing net that is the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is so

01:07:00 pervasive. Now, it's not sudden and cataclysmic, but it is slow, gradual, gradualistic, and

01:07:08 progressive. But slowly throughout the gospel age, as the gospel goes forth, as the great commission

01:07:13 is carried out, it ultimately will not fail. It will be successful. The word of God will go out

01:07:19 and the nations will in fact be discipled and they will be baptized and they will be taught

01:07:27 God's law and the nations will flock to Mount Zion for equity and justice where God's law

01:07:34 goes forth, right? That's Isaiah 2. And so this is going to progressively happen throughout this

01:07:41 gospel age, throughout human history until the whole earth, the whole world, not just every

01:07:47 person but every institution every nation every culture is caught up in the kingdom in the net

01:07:54 the leaven of the kingdom works through the whole batch of dough the the tree its branches cover

01:08:01 the whole earth the stone cut by no human hand grows into a mountain that encompasses the whole

01:08:07 earth and that kingdom here's my point and i'll land the plane that kingdom is not the church

01:08:15 the net is not the church shall um uh to what shall i compare the church it is like a net no

01:08:25 that's not what jesus says to what shall i compare the kingdom i think part of the problem both with

01:08:31 baptists and presbyterians is that we have truncated the church and the kingdom to where

01:08:39 we think that these two things are one in the same. So as a Baptist, I believe that the New

01:08:46 Covenant and the Covenant of Grace are one in the same. I believe that the New Covenant people

01:08:53 and the invisible church are one in the same, the same circle. But I do not believe that the 0.97

01:09:00 kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven and the church is the same. So as a Baptist, as a Reformed

01:09:06 baptist i would have three circles okay um the the tightest narrowest circle in the middle would be

01:09:14 the invisible church which would also be synonymous with new covenant people regenerate people

01:09:20 a little bit wider than that would be the but not much wider let me specify that uh invisible church

01:09:28 is the smallest circle that's the new covenant a little bit wider than that would be visible church

01:09:35 but not much wider because that's uh because i i do believe that that most people in the church

01:09:41 will be saved i really believe that so uh visible church visible church members those who have made

01:09:46 a a credible gospel profession and receive the signs and seals of the new covenant namely

01:09:53 baptism of the lord's supper but ultimately don't have faith are not regenerate that would be people

01:09:59 who are part of the visible church, but not invisible church, and therefore are not truly

01:10:05 New Covenant members. So the Titus circle is invisible church, which is synonymous with the

01:10:11 New Covenant. The next circle, a little wider than that, would be visible church, and that is not

01:10:17 synonymous with the New Covenant. That's what the Presbyterian would say. The Westminster guy would

01:10:21 say the visible church, that's synonymous with the New Covenant. And the invisible church,

01:10:27 that's synonymous with the decretal elect which is a sub category within the new covenant you see

01:10:33 i know it's complicated but hopefully you understand but here's the deal here's my point

01:10:38 being presbyterian doesn't help you with chrysidom it doesn't it doesn't um because at the end of the

01:10:45 day both the presbyterian and the reformed baptist we both still need a bigger circle a third ring

01:10:52 if you will uh invisible church visible church and now what i would call world encompassing

01:10:59 kingdom kingdom that's the third circle that encompasses everything and and that's what uh

01:11:07 the the category the theological framework and category that we need to be working from primarily

01:11:13 when it comes to christendom when it comes to this idea of of the christianizing of nations

01:11:19 and cultures and institutions that is kingdom language not new covenant language so all that

01:11:28 being said as a baptist i think that i am well within biblical bounds to be about the work of

01:11:35 establishing christendom 2.0 while still holding that the new covenant is synonymous with regenerate

01:11:43 hearts and the invisible church not visible church because i'm not using new covenant language i'm not

01:11:51 using new covenant language for the christianizing of the world in terms of christianism and christian

01:11:57 nations or christian nationalism i'm using kingdom language in that regard so i have three distinct

01:12:04 categories invisible church as the smallest circle which is synonymous with the new covenant

01:12:09 then visible church which is a little bit wider and then kingdom which is a lot wider that's the

01:12:17 net that catches every single fish in the sea and plenty of those fish will be bad fish the last

01:12:24 thing and i'll say is this here's the funny thing according to john gill who is a baptist who a lot

01:12:31 of our baptist brothers and sisters would cite baptist reform baptists who aren't big fans of

01:12:37 Christian nationalism or Christendom, they would say, you know, we're in line with John Gill.

01:12:42 And they're not. I mean, they are in many regards, but they're not entirely on a couple things.

01:12:47 Number one, John Gill explicitly believed that all Ten Commandments, that the civil magistrate

01:12:53 had a moral obligation before God to enforce not just the second table of the law, but all

01:13:00 Ten Commandments. John Gill was for blasphemy laws and Sabbath laws. Now, he might have had

01:13:07 certain variations and not wanting to be too strict on those and praise god i i would i would

01:13:11 agree i would agree a mere chrysidom right not a not a totalitarian you know oppressive crushing

01:13:18 chrysidom but a mere chrysidom much in line with doug wilson but john gill held that both all ten

01:13:24 commandments both the first table and the second table of the law the civil magistrate had a moral

01:13:29 obligation under god to enforce okay uh secondly uh john gill um he you know in talking about you

01:13:37 know the net this parable um the gospel ministers those aren't angels but men who are working the

01:13:44 net so during the angels will sort the fish at the end of the age but it is men gospel ministers

01:13:50 who are working the net in the meantime throughout this gospel age and here's the funny thing okay

01:13:56 so again you know i've talked about this before but you know uh our g3 brothers who i love

01:14:02 um you know they they're concerned about nominal christianity they are concerned about um nominal

01:14:10 christian culture right they're concerned about chrysidom because they they you know their

01:14:15 assessment is that chrysidom um it lends towards nominal christian culture and nominal christian

01:14:21 culture is going to lend towards nominal Christian seminaries and nominal Christian doctrine and

01:14:27 nominal Christian pastors with nominal Christian preaching and a nominal Christian gospel

01:14:34 proclamation that's going to ultimately lend towards mere professing Christians and not

01:14:42 actually truly regenerate Christians. It's going to lend towards false assurance where a bunch of 0.72

01:14:46 people are Christian in name, but they're not actually Christian because they're hearing a

01:14:50 nominal gospel from nominal pastors in nominal churches coming from nominal seminaries in this

01:14:56 nominal christian culture and see the funny thing with that is um that if we work the net

01:15:07 the net which is the kingdom if we cast the net again and again as faithful gospel ministers as

01:15:14 i know for a fact that our brothers with g3 are doing faithful uh faithfully and will continue

01:15:20 to do faithfully, we're going to catch bad fish. That's what Jesus told us. If we work the net, 1.00

01:15:28 according to John Gill and his interpretation of that particular parable, gospel ministers

01:15:33 working the net of the kingdom, casting it out again and again and again, the more you cast the

01:15:38 net, the more you commit yourself to faithful gospel ministry, the more fish you'll catch.

01:15:46 and the more fish you catch the more bad fish you catch and here's the thing the bad fish are

01:15:52 are mere professors fish that are are christian in name only but not actually regenerate and the

01:16:00 more bad fish you catch culture actually comes from so the only way i know how that i can think

01:16:08 of to mitigate nominal christian culture is to not do the faithful work of a gospel minister

01:16:14 because the more you faithfully preach the gospel the more people are going to be caught up into

01:16:21 this nation and world encompassing net of the kingdom and the more people who are caught into

01:16:28 this net you're going to have the likelihood of a greater number of those people being bad fish

01:16:34 christian in name only but not actually regenerate and they're the purveyors those are the ones who

01:16:42 are going to permeate and spread nominal Christian culture. So nominal Christian culture is inevitable 0.98

01:16:52 so long as godly men are committed to doing godly ministry. There's nothing really that we can do 0.98

01:17:02 about it. God determines. We just, our job is to sow the seed. Our job is to cast the net again and

01:17:10 again and again god will determine how many fish are in the net and what percentage of those fish

01:17:17 are good fish and bad fish god will determine those things and god will determine what if that

01:17:24 lends towards nominal christian culture or a more robust healthy christian culture

01:17:30 for us to say that we're going to somehow try to not have christian culture by not having the state

01:17:39 call itself christian or have an explicitly christian preamble like like zambia before

01:17:45 their constitution is silly see see what that implies and this is the last thing what that

01:17:51 implies is it that there are some brothers who think uh that that a faithful state is the cause 0.75

01:18:00 of nominal christianity faithful states are not the cause of nominal christianity

01:18:08 i would say that that the cause of nominal christianity is simply any time that that

01:18:15 there's a lot of fish in the net some of those fish are going to be bad and those bad fish are

01:18:21 going to permeate and and multiply and push forward nominal christian culture that's just 0.89

01:18:31 going to happen and so what we need then is for good fish in the net and especially the men working

01:18:36 the net faithful gospel ministers to stay true to solid doctrine sound doctrine in a nutshell i would

01:18:45 say that what happened in america um and and really in the west in general england right they

01:18:51 they have a christian nominal christian culture but it's in name only it's faithless uh but what

01:18:58 happened was it's not it's not having a a a faithful christian state it's having a faithless

01:19:06 christian church it's the church's failure if if the if the state if the civil authorities

01:19:15 decide to be faithful to christ and have a distinctly christian preamble to their constitution

01:19:20 and enforce in righteous ways, in good ways, all 10 of the commandments, that's not going to cause

01:19:29 nominal Christianity. But if the church, a faithful state, doesn't cause nominal Christianity,

01:19:36 a faithless church causes nominal Christianity, what happened in America is not that the state

01:19:43 was Christian. What happened in America is that the church stopped being robustly Christian.

01:19:49 the church started saying the mantra of doctrine divides so let's you know let's bring all of our

01:19:56 theology down to the lowest common denominator let's you know and we it all became instead of

01:20:02 jonathan edwards it became charles finney and then it became billy graham and it'd be you know that

01:20:08 that's what happened is that the church dropped the ball having a faithful christian state in the

01:20:15 civil realm is not going to hurt us it's having a faithless doctrinally watered down church that's

01:20:23 going to hurt us and ironically if the church is faithful and gospel ministers cast this net of the

01:20:30 kingdom again and again and again then there's really it's inevitable there's no way to inhibit

01:20:37 the fact that we're gonna have some bad fish in the net and bad fish right christians in name only 0.98

01:20:44 are the purveyors of nominal Christian culture and that's just part of the lay of the land 0.85

01:20:50 so those are my thoughts on Christian nationalism

01:20:55 Baptist being you know about Christendom and covenant theology I know that's a lot I know a

01:21:03 lot of that was complicated and I know a lot of you guys you follow me you're Presbyterians and

01:21:07 so you hated this episode well stick with me this isn't the only thing I talk about there's a lot

01:21:12 that we'll have in common that we'll agree with.

01:21:14 But a lot of people are asking,

01:21:16 Joel, how do you theologically with your covenant theology,

01:21:19 your idea of kingdom and your idea of being a Baptist,

01:21:21 how do you reconcile all these different things?

01:21:24 Well, there you go.

01:21:25 That's my best attempt at it.

01:21:28 All right, God bless and thanks for tuning in.

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01:21:49 financially supporting this ministry and from the bottom of my heart i say thank you i cannot thank

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01:22:03 it let's be honest i mean we're living in joe biden's ridiculous economy our nation and our

01:22:10 totalitarian political elites lost their minds over the last three years due to COVID. We have

01:22:18 written checks that we simply cannot cash. It doesn't matter if people change the definition

01:22:24 of a recession. We are living in a recession right now regardless. Some of you are struggling

01:22:31 to afford a carton of eggs at the grocery store. You cannot support financially this ministry at

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The NXR Podcast - May 25, 2023

BONUS EPISODE - Baptists, Covenant Theology, & Christian Nationalism

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