In the Bible’s Big Picture, there are only these two possibilities: every human is spiritually either in Adam or in Christ. Adam failed to heed God’s wise warning and automatically made everyone who was born thereafter (except Jesus) a “loser.” What did he/we lose?  Daily, direct fellowship with Almighty God in the Garden; right-standing with God, Eve and future offspring; harmony with God, Eve, and within himself, and with future offspring and with all the animals; dominion over the earth; a perfect life in a perfect world with no guilt or shame or condemnation; every need perfectly met; no anger, evil, fear, hatred, lack, pain, worry, depression, sickness, disease, plagues or death, etc.

And what happens when a human is reborn of God? All that is reversed spiritually because he or she is spiritually relocated into Christ, in God, and none of that “bad stuff” is in heaven, ✞ Ephesians 2:6. That is the essence of Paul’s Fifth Gospel from Jesus – some hints of which Jesus was promising in the Four Gospels before He died. None of these promises were available for His listeners until Calvary – but it is the Unseen Reality that all saints are spiritually a part of now – whether we believe it or not.

Jesus’ Fifth Gospel To Paul

The Fifth Gospel declares the main three aspects of Jesus’ whole Gospel of salvation that He accomplished for all reborn believers at Calvary. Most Christians don’t take them seriously because they are not “tangible.” But Paul did because he experienced the results of all three aspects when he visited heaven, ✞ 2 Corinthians 12:1-6.  So, what are they?

First, our Adamic nature was crucified, died and was buried with Christ, by faith in Him and in His Finished Work on Calvary, described in ✟ Galatians 2:20.

Second, we were made spiritually alive by rising with and in Christ as a new creation being that never existed before. The risen Jesus is the firstborn of many brothers, ✞ Romans 8:29.  So, in Him, you are part of …

… a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of His own, so that you may announce the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. For you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy, according to ✞ 1 Peter 2:9-11

Third, we have ascended with Christ into heaven and are seated with Him ✞ (Ephesians 2:6), perfectly holy, righteous, blameless, sanctified and compatible with our new Husband and perfect home. It is by identifying with and focusing on this Unseen Reality of your new identity in Christ Jesus by faith, trust and rest in His Finished Work of the Divine Exchange of natures, that you can increasingly come to mentally …

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. And finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things, Philippians 4:6-8.  NASB 1995

The Living Bible expresses it this way:

Don’t worry about anything. Instead, pray (dialogue with Father-God) about everything. Tell Him your needs, and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers.  If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you increasingly trust in Christ Jesus. And now, brothers, as I close this letter, let me say this one more thing: Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely, and dwell on the fine, good things in others. Think about all you can praise God for and be glad about.

And who or what else is all the above but Jesus Himself? Paul’s whole, Jesus-centered Gospel of lavish Grace was in direct contrast to the demands of the Mosaic Law system that Jesus sometimes preached on in the Four Gospels. And in ✞ Matthew 5:27-30, Jesus actually increased the requirements of the Big Ten, which was limited to “wrong doing” such as adultery, killing, stealing or coveting (listed by Paul in ✞ Romans 13:9). But in this Gospel passage, Jesus greatly upped the ante to even “wrong thinking” about doing them – and He spelled out these frightening consequences.

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Now, if your right eye is causing you to sin, tear it out and throw it away from you for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand is causing you to sin, cut it off and throw it away from you for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.

Wow! That sounds terrible – and it was meant to sound terrible and impossible. Jesus was highlighting how devastating “wrong doing” can be in the Seen Realm and what the “just” consequences should be for even thinking any bad things, not just doing them. In fact, the just wages and judgment for sin – any sin – is death, ✞ Romans 6:23. That is far worse than having one’s hand cut off or eye plucked out for just one sin, right? It doesn’t sound very loving and merciful. But yet, Jesus did not enforce these consequences on Zacchaeus who stole stuff or on the adulterous women who was about to be stoned to death – as the Law demanded.

So here, we see a drastic difference – even a “contradiction” – from what Jesus said versus what He actually did within the Four, pre-Cross Gospels.  The difference is even greater in what Jesus revealed directly to Paul in the Fifth Gospel, which states that all of mankind’s sins are totally forgiven by God, ✞ 2 Corinthians 5:18-19. Why? If you have been tracking with this Blog, you already know the answer. (If so, stop reading and say the answer to yourself or, better yet, write it out on paper so you can give your renewed mind an A+ as a winner in Christ!)

“I don’t like this Post because you are accusing the Bible of having “contradictions” when we know it is “the inerrant, infallible Word of God” – who does not lie or ‘repent’ or contradict Himself.” Well I certainly agree Father-God is Holy and Perfect and, therefore, cannot lie. But we did see in a previous Post that He “repented” on a few occasions listed in the Bible. So, if saying the Bible has “contradictions” in it bothers you, you must not have taken Matthew 5 and 6 very seriously – or have skipped my Post on the differences in the five Main Covenants in the Bible.

Again, the terms of each covenant are very different in many ways and, therefore, God treats people according to the terms they are under, not uniformly. Abraham was under a grace-based covenant of faith-based righteousness – before the Law was given. So even though he did some “immoral” things, he was not punished for “bad behavior.” Rather, in some of those circumstances, he was actually blessed while living in the Promised Land.

However, Moses was under the Law-based covenant of works-based self-righteousness. When he did not follow God’s instructions on how to bring forth water from a rock in Numbers 20:12, for example, God prevented him from going into the Promised Land as a punishment. So God clearly dealt differently with different people because of the differences in the different covenants. Jesus came at a time of transition between two drastically different covenants. He was about to demonstrate, on Calvary, that God’s mercy would triumph over the just requirements and punishments of the Law. In fact, He abolished the Law for reborn saints under this New, revolutionary Covenant of total Grace, ✞ Hebrews 8:13.

Can a Winner in Christ experience Losing?

However, even when you are a winner in Christ, it is possible that you could be living like a “loser” by:

1) mentally “going back under the Law” to supposedly “stay in right-standing with God,” and thereby “fall from grace,” ✞ Galatians 5:4. While a saint who does this will not lose the gift of salvation, he or she will not be enjoying the victory over sin that Jesus died to give us. (See The Eight Harsh Realities of the Law.) Paul warned the Galatians about that when they started to listen to the legalistic Judaizers from Jerusalem who were mixing Moses with Jesus, as described in ✞ Galatians 5:1-6, and needlessly subjecting their mind to the false accusations of the devil or

 2) not taking seriously your new position and authority  in Christ or the benefits of your New Covenant that Jesus went to unimaginable efforts to provide for you and me or

3) calling yourself a “sinner,” rather than agreeing with God that you are His righteous child in Christ, holy and dearly loved, regardless of what you might “do” in the Seen Realm.

So, below is a list of amazing revelations to help you “repent” – change/renew your mind – to help you agree with what God says about YOU. It is drawn from the deep well of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians of how God regards you because you are His precious child. I recommend reading them aloud to yourself – or with others – because faith to believe the truth comes by hearing and hearing by the New Covenant – the living Word of God addressed specifically to YOU, dear saint.

Ephesians, ✞ Chapters 1 to 3

Many of the benefits of Jesus’ Gospel of total Grace for all believers are listed in the first three chapters of Ephesians. Joyfully declare “In Christ Jesus I am:”

 1) Blessed with every spiritual blessing (1:3);

 2) Chosen before the creation of the world (1:4);

 3) Loved by God (1:4);

 4) Predestined (1:5, 11);

 5) Adopted (1:5);

 6) Accepted (1:6);

 7) Redeemed 1:7);

 8) Forgiven (1:7);

 9) Lavishly given God’s grace (1:7- 8; 2:7);

10) Shown the mystery of His will (1:9-10);

11) Given a guaranteed inheritance (1:11, 14);

12) Made “for the praise of His glory” (1:12);

13) Secured by the Holy Spirit (1:13);

14) Called to a glorious hope (1:18);

15) Made a recipient of God’s power (1:19);

16) Made alive together with Christ (2:5);

17) Raised up with Christ at His ascension (2:6);

18) Seated with Him in the heavenly realms (2:6);

19) Created as God’s masterful workmanship, for the purpose of good works (2:10);

20) Brought near to God (2:13);

21) Brought into a relationship of peace between Israel and the Gentiles (2:14);

22) United into one body of Christ (2:15, 16; 3:6);

23) A fellow citizen with God’s people (2:19);

24) A member of His household (2:19);

25) Created for the Spirit’s habitation (2:21-22);

26) Made a partaker of God’s promise (3:6);

27) Given the revelation of His mysteries (3:8);

28) Given bold and confident access to God (3:12).

Do you comprehend the fullness of all those revelations about YOU? Probably not initially. But the more you scrub your natural mind and agree with God about these truths about your New Covenant spirit-self – and about your inheritance in Christ – the more you will experience the freedom and abundant life that Jesus offers us through the Holy Sprit. You can reinforce all this by learning and singing this week’s song to yourself on a regular basis: I’m A Winner Not A Sinner and/or last week’s song: I’ve Been Adopted By The One True God.

Also, I strongly recommend studying the specific terms of your New Covenant in Christ Jesus, described  in Hebrews, Chapters ✞ 8:7-13 and ✞ 10:16-18 in particular.

For a more thorough, year-long scrubbing/renewal of your mind, I also suggest reading my book, Every Christian’s Testimony, and meditating on the 500+ scriptures woven together in a continuous tapestry of revelation of Who God is and who you are in Him. It is the written result of discovering my identity in Christ by renewing my mind daily – over a ten year period – by focusing on Jesus’ New Covenant revelations to Paul on the mysteries of Jesus’ Finished Work of His Divine Exchange with us that he explains throughout his thirteen books. It is on Amazon Kindle for only $.99 – and your Kindle reader will even read it to you out loud! Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God – especially the Fifth Gospel of the Kingdom of God. Keep your eyes on Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of your faith, ✞ Hebrews 12:2.