Covenantal Representation

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the Apostle Paul said, "'But we did not yield in subjection to them "'for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel "'would remain with you.'".

In short, if you like smooth, watered-down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name's Mike Abendroth and I'm your host, and today I'm going to do what I have done in the past, and that is introduce one of my favorite all-time preachers, S. Lewis Johnson.

Now maybe there are some preachers that in the past have preached sermons that I have loved, but they were not recorded because it was before they were having the ability to record things. And so S. Lewis Johnson, you can go to Believer's Chapel and pull up his messages or the S. Lewis Johnson Institute, SLJ Institute.

I love listening to S. Lewis Johnson, Samuel Lewis Johnson, or to his friends, Lewis. I've been able to go to his home and sit at his desk and see his typewriter and all these kinds of things. It gave me the anointing.

So today is part one of the message from S. Lewis Johnson. I think you'll be encouraged. Southern gentleman who is a scholar, knew Greek, taught systematic theology, and could preach too, S. Lewis Johnson Institute, and S. Lewis Johnson here on No Compromise Radio Ministry.

Enjoy. All have sinned.

Adam, Sin, and Death in Romans 5

Now my text begins a parenthesis at this point, and it does seem to be true to the flow of Paul's thought. For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

This passage, incidentally, is one we're not going to deal with today. And so I'll just state what obviously is Paul's major point. It's simply this. The apostle is trying to show that men sin because of what Adam did in the Garden of Eden, and men are under condemnation because of what Adam did in the Garden of Eden.

And so his point in verse 13 and 14 is to prove that. And the way he proves it is rather simple. He says, you will remember that for the hundreds of years between the fall and the Garden of Eden, there was no law.

The law was given a couple of thousands of years later at Mount Sinai. Now, sin was in the world, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. That is, it's not reckoned, it's worthy of death in the sense in which Adam's sin was.

But nevertheless, Paul says, men died during that period of time. So from Adam to Moses, men lived and men died, but sin is not reckoned when there was no law, and there was no law then. Therefore, to answer the question, why did men die?

It's obvious they died because of Adam's sin. That's Paul's point. It's plain and clear. And the apostle continues with that in mind in verse 15 through 19. He says, for not as the offense, so also as the free gift, for if through the offense of one, many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ hath abounded unto many, and not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift, for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.

For if by one man's offense, death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. So it's evident the apostle is saying men died because of what Adam did.

Men lived because of what Christ did. It's plain he sees a very, very important comparison between Adam and Christ. Of course, most of the things are by contrast, but the fact that each affected those who were related to them is the point of comparison.

So he sums it up in verse 18 and 19. Therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.

For as by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. This is good Pauline theology. What lies back of it? Well, that's the point of the message this morning.

And we'll try to justify Paul. God doesn't need justification, but his words do demand a measure of explanation. That's why he has given us the facilities with which we can understand in a clearer way the things that are found in the word of God.

I hope that after the message this morning, you will leave with a better understanding of what Paul is trying to say. May God bless this reading of his word. Let's bow together in prayer. Our heavenly father, we give thee thanks and praise for the word of God.

And Lord, while we recognize there are many things in the scriptures that are difficult for us, some things we do not understand even yet. We rejoice, however, in the things that we do. And we ask Lord that thou will continue to enlighten us, give us motivation for the study of the scriptures and for submission to them and to our Lord of whom they speak.

And we pray that through the knowledge that thou dost give us, we may serve thee in this world in which thou hast placed us in a way that will glorify the name of our triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

We pray for the church of Jesus Christ today in all of its local manifestations. And we pray for Believers Chapel, for its elders and for its deacons and for its members and friends and the visitors who are here today.

We recognize, Lord, that there are many, many aspirations which belong to all of us and many needs and many concerns. And Lord, we bring them to thee. We ask that thou will do with them in a way that will glorify thy name.

We pray especially for the sick and ill and troubled and perplexed. We ask for healing in accordance with thy will. We thank thee, Lord, for this country of which we are a part and we pray for our president and for all who are associated with him in government.

May the ministry of the word of God in our day be fruitful. May it run and have full course. And we especially pray for the ministry of the word in the United States of America and then to the four corners of the earth.

Bless the outreach of the chapel, bless its radio ministry and its publications and other forms of outreach. We give thee thanks again, Lord, for the blessing of life and especially eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Covenant Representation and the New Covenant in Christ

We pray in his name, amen. Our subject this morning is Redemption by Covenantal Representation. When we talk about covenantal representation, it's not surprising that the message should begin with an acknowledgement of the fact that it's a neglected subject because it's not easy to speak about covenantal representation.

It's not easy to explain it. It's not easy to respond to it. Naturally, human beings do not even like the idea of covenantal representation, though they would not really know how to explain why they do not like it.

But nevertheless, in spite of that, it undergirds the whole story of human redemption and that is why in our series on the important Christian doctrines, that is the limited number that we are looking at, it should be among them.

When we think about covenantal representation, we, of course, may use that term, covenantal representation, and by that we mean simply that the Lord Jesus represents us in covenant and in a full explanation of it, we would also precede that by the recognition that Adam too has represented us by a covenant, the covenant made between the Lord God and Adam in the Garden of Eden, the covenant of works he broke, but we are related as the people of God to the Lord Jesus, the last Adam, by covenant too.

In fact, the whole covenantal program of the Old Testament reaches its climax in the ratification of the new covenant by the blood of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. All Christians remember very well that Jesus at the first Lord's Supper in last Passover took the wine and said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for many for the redemption of sins, and so he ratified the new covenant in the shedding of his blood, the Lord's Supper being a constant reminder of that important fact.

The Lord Jesus is our covenantal representative, and so he stands for us in all that he did. That's why we are so sure that we do have eternal life because it rests ultimately upon that which he has sovereignly and completely done.

We might simply speak of this as representation, and if we understood something about the scriptural story, we would know it's representation by covenant. Strictly speaking, representation is not a big term or should I say a meaningless term for moderns at all.

President Reagan is our representative, and he carries on foreign policy for us as our representative. We have two senators in Washington, and those senators are our representatives in the Senate. We have representatives in the Congress also who are our representatives, and there are many ways in which we are acquainted with the idea of representation.

Sometimes in scripture, this is referred to as simply union with Christ, or union, since we were joined to Adam as our natural and federal or covenantal head. Those two terms are synonymous, federal and covenantal.

The Latin word foidas means covenant. So our federal head was Adam, and the federal head of the people of God is the Lord Jesus Christ, but you can speak of that in the sense of union. We were united with Adam in covenant, and we are united with the Lord Jesus as his people in covenant, God the Father having given us to him.

So he says in John 17, verses one and two. Now, the natural man's enmity to the truth of the Bible, in my opinion, centers around this. The natural man does not like to recognize the fact that Adam was our federal head, and the natural man does not like to think that Jesus Christ is the only federal head that saved men shall ever have.

We do not like to think of Adam as our federal head because that might suggest that we all fell in Adam, and we are all sinners. And then we don't like to think of Jesus Christ as our federal head because the world does not respond to the truth that salvation resides only in Christ.

They like to think that they may be saved in other ways as well. And so the idea that Jesus Christ is the federal head of all the people of God is a truth that usually provokes enmity. That's why Paul says the mind of the flesh is enmity against God.

It is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. I think some one of these days when you are dreaming, and if you should ever dream about a service in Believer's Chapel, you'll probably dream about me reciting Romans 8, 7, and 8.

Paul says, for the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness to him, neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned. We do not like to be told that salvation is only through Christ.

As a matter of fact, we're often accused of arrogance and pride and a lot of other things when we affirm this. But if we read the Bible, we understand that's what the Bible says. Then in that case, we transfer our enmity to the scriptures themselves.

But in the scriptures, we have representation. In other words, God does make distinction in men. In Isaac shall thy seed be called, not Ishmael. Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. These are biblical facts.

And if we respond to the Bible, then of course, we must acknowledge those things. We must seek an explanation for them. For they are there, very plainly. When Paul preached in the city of Athens, there were three responses.

Many of the people who were listening to him said, we'll hear you again about this resurrection. It sounded to them, they were so scripturally ignorant as if resurrection was a new God. And then there were those who scoffed, but a few believed.

That's always the case. There are always scoffers. There are always people who find it difficult to respond to the word of God. The reason being that they were covenantally represented by Adam in the garden of Eden.

And when Adam fell, the rays fell and they've inherited the enmity manifested by Adam after he had fallen by the fact that when the Lord God came down in the garden of Eden, they hastily hid themselves in order to separate themselves from him.

Penal Substitution and Covenant Headship

Now it's my contention that you cannot understand the Bible if you do not understand covenantal representation. I do not think it's possible. Ultimately, what is involved in this is an understanding of penal sacrifice through substitution.

Put it another way, penal satisfaction through substitution. In other words, the Lord Jesus has come, has borne the penalty for a sin, and he has satisfied the holiness of God and the justice of God by the blood that was shed.

And he did it as a covenantal substitute. He bore what his people should have borne. And because he has borne it, all those for whom he has borne it can no longer be judged by heaven. Their judgment has already taken place.

So right at the heart of the Christian doctrine of salvation is covenantal representation. But does the Bible teach it? Well, I'm thoroughly convinced the Bible does teach it. Do I understand it fully?

No, I don't understand it fully. But I think I understand it a whole lot better than I did 20 years ago. And I think I understand it a little better than I did about 10 years ago. Now, let's take a look at it.

I think you will see the covenantal representation, though the world turns a deaf ear to it, though the world does not like it, that there is no more marvelous way by which God may have dealt with men than by covenantal representation.

I think if you will study this for yourself, you will become convinced that God was as gracious as a human mind can conceive grace to be in the way in which he has dealt with us. So let's look first at the critical passage, Romans 5, 12 through 19, and I'll not try to expound it in detail because I've done that before more than once in your presence.

And if you're interested in a fuller justification of the few points that I want to lay stress upon, I suggest that you go and get the tapes. In fact, others here in the chapel have taught the epistle to the Romans and generally, I'm sure, will give the same approach.

And I recommend the tape ministry for you. I just lay stress on two or three things that are important. The apostle begins by saying in the 12th verse, wherefore, as, or in the original text, for this cause.

Now, one might ask, what's the connection? Well, I think it's something like this. For this cause, referring to verses one through 11, in which it is stated we have salvation through one man, Jesus Christ.

So for this cause, this likeness exists between Christ and Adam. Just as all men are saved through Christ and through the representation of them by him, so also all men are lost by what happened to them in Adam, as he represented all men.

Now, the master thought of this little paragraph is the unity of the many in one. That idea is true of Adam and it's true of Christ. The idea of the many in the one. In Adam's case, the race was in him.

In Christ's case, the people of God are in him. Now he says, sin, condemnation and death find their origin in Adam. On the other hand, righteousness, justification and life find their origin in the last Adam.

The rest of the paragraph is largely contrastive. There is a solidarity between Adam the first and Adam the last. That's why the Lord has called the last Adam. There is a solidarity between those two, but in almost every way, they are to be contrasted.

The one way in which they are alike is that what they do affects those who are in them. For example, in verse 12, he says, all die because all sinned. That's a simple thought, isn't it? Wherefore, or for this cause, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, so death passed upon all men for all sinned.

All die because all sinned. That's plain. Even a neophyte in Bible study could understand that.

No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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