SOUND DOCTRINE VERSUS PRIVATE AGENDAS

Pastor Art Watkins of Coden Bible Church (Coden, Alabama)

April 2, 2018

Did you ever hear someone teach a doctrine that sounded like nonsense to you and you wondered why they would teach it? In many cases it’s because they have a private agenda they are protecting. False doctrine always requires other false doctrines to prop it up. If a man preaches something that is false he will have to preach other things that are false to prop it up.

Today, I hear people say and teach that the 12 apostles did not preach the cross for salvation prior to the salvation of Paul. I received a letter from a lady who told me I was wrong in saying the 12 apostles preached the cross for salvation. She told me that her teachers taught her that Paul was the only apostle who preached the cross for salvation and that nobody preached the cross for salvation prior to Paul’s conversion in Acts 9. Why do some people believe this? It’s because they have a private agenda they are protecting. You see, if the 12 apostles knew and preached the cross for salvation before Paul their whole system collapses, for its built upon the false theory that Peter and Paul preached different and opposing gospels and that no one preached the cross for salvation prior to Paul. To many of you this sounds ridiculous, but you would be surprised as to how many people believe this nonsense.

But what saith the scriptures?

Prior to the cross the 12 apostles did not understand why Christ had to die. It was hidden from them according to Luke 18:34. But after Christ was raised from the dead he appeared unto his apostles and Luke 24:44-47 says:

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the LAW OF MOSES, AND IN THE PROPHETS, AND IN THE PSALMS, concerning me. THEN OPENED HE THEIR UNDERSTANDING, THAT THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND THE SCRIPTURES, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

The purpose of Christ’s death was hidden from their understanding in Luke 18 but in Luke 24 Jesus opened their understanding to understand why he had to die from the Law (Genesis – Deuteronomy) and the prophets and the Psalms. What did the prophets say about the death of Christ?

Isaiah the prophet said that Jesus Christ:

****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. The LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

****For he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

****Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin.

****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.

****He was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah the prophet plainly says Jesus Christ died as a sacrifice for our sins and was raised again from the dead and that God was satisfied with his atonement for our sins. These are just some of the scriptures from the Law and the prophets and the Psalms that Jesus Christ used in Luke 24 to show the apostles why he died and what he died for. What was hidden from them in Luke 18 was fully revealed unto them by divine revelation by the Lord himself in Luke 24. But yet we are told by many people that Peter and the 12 apostles did not know why he died until they learned it from Paul years later! I heard Pete Ruckman say on radio that Peter did not know why Christ died until 15 years after the cross! In other words, according to Ruckman and many like him, Peter walked around 15 years scratching his head trying to figure out why Christ died! Why do they teach such nonsense? Because if Peter and the 12 apostles preached the cross for salvation BEFORE Paul (which they did) then their gospel is the same as Paul’s. They don’t believe this is true and this is why they must reject the fact that Peter and the 12 preached the cross for salvation before God saved Paul. It destroys their whole system.

But as you can see from Luke 24 they understood why Christ died when the Lord opened their understanding to see why it behooved him to die from the scriptures of the Law and the prophets and the Psalms. It was revealed unto them by divine revelation from the Lord himself. And once they saw it, he sent them to preach it. This idea that they did not preach the sacrificial death of Christ after the Lord revealed it unto them is absolutely ridiculous. It’s one of the greatest doctrines in the entire Bible and yet there are people who say they didn’t preach it or that the Lord didn’t reveal it unto them. Why? Because their false theories about Peter and Paul will not allow them to believe it. It destroys their whole religious system if it is true. The preaching of the cross not only saves sinners but it destroys false doctrines too. If your doctrines do not allow you to believe that the Lord revealed the purpose of his death in Luke 24 to his apostles then you need to change your doctrine and believe the Bible. If your doctrines will not allow you to believe the Lord sent them to preach the sacrificial death of Christ after the Lord revealed it unto them in Luke 24, then you need to change your doctrine and believe the Bible means what it says and says what it means. Some people get hung up in Acts 2:38 about water baptism but ignore Acts 10:47 where Cornelius was baptized after he was saved and had received the Holy Ghost.

Also if the 12 apostles preached the cross for salvation (which they did) they could not preach works with the cross for if they did it would have made the cross vain and useless according to Galatians 2:21 which says: I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Some people do not believe Peter preached the cross for salvation because it’s not recorded in Acts that he did. But Acts does not say that Paul did either, but we know they both did BECAUSE OF WHAT THEY WROTE. Just in case some of you do not believe that Peter preached the cross for salvation, read what he wrote;

----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:

----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 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:

Also when Paul preached the gospel, what scriptures did he preach it from? The same ones that Peter did. The Law and the prophets and the Psalms.

He said in 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.

Paul preached his gospel from the Old Testament scriptures such as Isaiah 53.

Act 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.

You can’t miss it even if you tried. Paul preached the gospel from the Law and the Prophets. The same Law and prophets that Jesus used to reveal it to the 12 apostles in Luke 24.

Acts 17:2-3: And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days REASONED WITH THEM OUT OF THE SCRIPTURES, Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ.

What scriptures did Paul reason with them out of? According to Acts 26 the Law and the prophets.

After the Bereans heard Paul preach the gospel what did they do? Act 17:11: These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES DAILY. WHETHER THOSE THINGS WERE SO.

After they heard Paul preach they searched the scriptures that he preached from. What scriptures? The Law and the prophets according to Acts 26:22-23.

Jesus Christ revealed the gospel to Paul by divine revelation (Gal. 1:12) from the same scriptures he revealed it to the 12 apostles by divine revelation (Luke 24:44-47) years before Paul was saved. Out of the Law, the prophets and the Psalms. The mystery Paul reveals about the gospel in Romans 16:25-26 is not the gospel. It’s that God is saving heathen gentiles by faith alone in the gospel without circumcision or the law or works (Ephesians 3:6).

What many people over look also is the fact that Jesus Christ preached his sacrificial death even before any apostle preached it. In Matthew 20:28 he said: 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 26:26-28: And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. 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 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 10:11: 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.

These verses are very clear; Jesus Christ preached his coming sacrificial death and resurrection throughout his public ministry years before any apostle preached or wrote about it. But even before Christ and the apostles preached his sacrificial death, Isaiah the prophet wrote about it 100’s of years before Christ and the apostles. Read Isaiah 53.

Think about it: The gospel of Christ we preach today is found in the Law and the prophets and the Psalms. Jesus Christ preached it throughout his public ministry in Matthew - John. The 12 apostles preached it in the book of Acts and wrote about it in Hebrews through Revelation. Paul preached it in the book of Acts and wrote about it in Romans through Hebrews.

Dear Christian friend start reading the King James Bible through at least once a year. And become bound and determined not to believe any doctrine preached by any man unless you can prove it yourself with the word of God. It is one of the best things you will ever do to improve your understanding of what the Bible says. The best method of Bible study and interpretation is the same one Paul used: It’s the: What saith the scriptures method. If the scriptures say it then believe it. If the scriptures do not say it then don’t believe it.