Reddit mentions of Redemption Accomplished and Applied

You err when you conflate causal links with temporal links.

If you want to understand Reformed soteriology (which I would unfortunately question based on this thread), I would recommend reading John Murray's Redemption Accomplished and Applied.

Let me quote a few relevant portions:

> The priority of regeneration might create the impression that a person could be regenerated and yet not converted. These passages in 1 John (2:29, 3:9, 4:7, 5:1, 5:4, 5:18) should correct any such misapprehension. We need to remember again that the leading emphasis in these passages is the invariable concomittance of regeneraton and the other graces mentioned.

> We must not think of regeneration as something which can be abstracted from the saving exercises which are its effects...We are warned and advised, therefore, that while regeneration is the actions of God and of God alone we must never conceive of this action as separable from the activities of saving grace on our part which are the necessary and appropriate effects of God's grace in us.

So...there you have it. Your post is doing exactly what Murray says that Reformed theology does not and cannot do regarding regeneration.

As for your objection to the Lordship of Christ, your issue is not so much with Reformed thought as with the New Testament. Christ is the one who proclaimed that He had all authority (Matthew 28). Paul expands this in our understanding in Ephesians where he emphasizes that Christ rules and reigns right now over all things. Christ is king over all at this moment - over all people, all nations, all governments, all associations...whether they recognize it or not. What could be wrong about calling people to recognize what is already true?

The Covenant of Redemption was a covenant of love involving our Triune God.

Here’s a book recommendation for you and your pastor
https://www.amazon.com/Redemption-Accomplished-Applied-John-Murray/dp/080287309X/ref=nodl_

I suppose you could start here:

Q. 58. How do we come to be made partakers of the benefits which Christ hath procured?

A. We are made partakers of the benefits which Christ hath procured, by the application of them unto us,[249] which is the work especially of God the Holy Ghost.[250]

Q. 59. Who are made partakers of redemption through Christ?

A. Redemption is certainly applied, and effectually communicated, to all those for whom Christ hath purchased it;[251] who are in time by the Holy Ghost enabled to believe in Christ according to the gospel.[252]

For more on this, you could see John Murray's first section "Redemption Accomplished and Applied" which he speaks about the atonement.