THE SOURCE OF THE APOSTLES GOSPEL

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

September 19, 2017

The gospel by which we are saved is that Christ died for our sins and was raised again from the dead. All of the apostles preached and wrote about it, but who revealed it to them and how was it revealed to them?

We know from reading Luke 18:31-34 that prior to the cross the 12 apostles did not understand that Christ came to die for their sins, for when he told them he was going to die it says: And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.

But after his resurrection it’s obvious they understood his sacrificial death perfectly for they wrote of it. Peter said in 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.

The question is: when and where did they come to understand the sacrificial nature of Christ’s death? The answer is in Luke 24 a few days after Christ’s resurrection: It says: And they (apostles) gave him (Christ) a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. And he took it, and did eat before them. 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 (In Moses, the prophets and Psalms) AND THUS IT BEHOVED CHRIST TO SUFFER, AND TO RISE FROM THE DEAD THE THIRD DAY.

What was hidden from the apostles in Luke 18 they saw in Luke 24. What they could not understand about Christ’s death in Luke 18 they understood in Luke 24. This is when and where they came to understand why Christ died and what he died for and who he died for. The Lord opened their understanding to understand what Moses and the prophets and the Psalms wrote about his sacrificial death and resurrection. (Read Isaiah 53)

The Lord also used these same books to open Paul’s understanding to understand who Jesus was and why he died and it was these same books that Paul convinced sinners to believe Christ died for their sins. It says in Acts 26:22-23: Having therefore obtained help of God, I (Paul) 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 SHOW LIGHT UNTO THE PEOPLE (Jews) AND TO THE GENTILES.

The source of the 12 apostles gospel and Paul’s gospel was the same. They all received it from the Lord himself by revelation. The Lord revealed it to them by opening their understanding to understand why he died from Moses, the prophets and the Psalms. This is why when Paul preached the gospel he said, Christ died for our sins and was buried ACCORDING TO THE SCRIPTURES.  What scriptures? Moses, the prophets and the Psalms.