ONE SAVING GOSPEL IN THE BIBLE Pastor Art Watkins of Coden Bible Church (Coden, Alabama) April 12, 2018 in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 Paul wrote: For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. Notice that Paul said the gospel he preached was according to the scriptures. What scriptures? The Old Testament scriptures. Therefore, the gospel Paul preached in the New Testament is the same one found in the Old Testament. This means there is ONE SAVING GOSPEL IN BOTH OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. That one saving gospel is the sacrificial death and resurrection of Christ for sin and sinners. It was preached or wrote about by the Prophets in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ in the Four Gospels and by all of the Apostles in the New Testament. But, don’t take it from me search and see for yourself. ---------------------------------------- ****The Prophets in the Old Testament**** Isaiah the Prophet gives us one of best descriptions of the sacrificial death of Christ in the Bible. He wrote the following in Isaiah 53: Verse 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Verse 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Verse 8 He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. Verse 10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. Verse 11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Verse 12 He hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. These are the scriptures Paul and all the apostles preached from in the New Testament when they preached the sacrificial death and resurrection of Christ for sin and transgressions. ---------------------------------------- ****Jesus Christ in the Four Gospels**** Matthew 20:28: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Matthew 26:27-28: And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. John 3:14-15: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. John 12:32-33: And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. John 6:51: I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. John 10:10-11: The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. John 10:15: As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10:17-18: Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. Five times in this chapter Jesus said he would die for the sins of the sheep as he promised in Isa. 53:6. ---------------------------------------- ****The Apostles In The New Testament**** PAUL 1 Corinthians 15:3-4: For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: Romans 5:6-8: For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. PETER 1 Peter 1:18-19: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 1 Peter 2:24: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. 1 Peter 3:18: For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: JOHN 1 John 1:7: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 1 John 2:1-2: My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Revelation 1:5: And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. ---------------------------------------- Anyone with any spiritual sense at all can see that there is one saving gospel in both Testaments. It’s the sacrificial death and resurrection of Christ for sinners. Don’t buy into the false doctrines of hyper dispensationalists who say there are many saving gospels in the Bible or that Paul was the only one who preached the cross for salvation. That’s nonsense. Paul preached the gospel from the Old Testament scriptures of the prophets like Isaiah. He said in Acts 26:22-23: Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the people, and to the Gentiles. Notice that Paul preached the gospel from Moses and the prophets. In Romans 1:1-4 he clearly says his gospel was found in the OT scriptures: Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: The mystery of the gospel in Romans 16:25 is not the gospel but that God is now saving gentiles by faith alone in the gospel without circumcision or keeping the law (Eph. 3:6). The point is, Paul preached the same gospel that Moses and the prophets like Isaiah wrote about in the Old Testament, that Jesus Christ preached in the four gospels and the 12 apostles preached and wrote about in Hebrews through Revelation. If your doctrines and theories deny these simple facts then you need to change your doctrine and theories to fit the Bible.