The Gospel of Peace
The Good News of Christ
Jesus preached the good news.
Gospel – euaggelion – good news.
A more defined definition from the Greek would be – the almost too good to be true good news.
The Gospel is so good that it’s almost too believable to be true.
So what happens when people hear the good news and accept it in their hearts?
- People get healed.
- They see and experienced miracles.
- They turn from their sins.
Religious leaders of Jesus’ time and today preach:
- Bad news.
- They don’t set people free.
- They load them down with more rules and regulations.
- Make people afraid of God.
- Cause people to view God as mean, hard, and judgmental.
When people are afraid of God, they not only fail to establish a relationship with Him, but they also never have real productivity in their lives.
Fear binds, destroys, and restricts.
So what took place in the heart of the people when Jesus preached the good news?
- Their faith was established.
- Their hunger for God was heightened.
- Their trust for the One who had once seemed so far away and unconcerned was revived.
- When they found out God was a good God, miracles happened.
Gal 1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that person be condemned!
We have departed from the good news.
Our religious system of today is built on the premise of an angry God. When people go to church, they are often “beaten” instead of fed.
Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for the salvation of everyone who believes, of the Jew first and of the Greek as well.
The good news of Jesus is the power of God. Without good news, there is no power.
Salvation – sozo – is more than a new birth. It means healing, protection, deliverance, safety and a host of other good things.
If we do not preach the Good News, the power of God cannot come and bring salvation (sozo) into the lives of hurting people.
The Good News is not life for everyone – only for those who believe it.
Who is the Good News for?
- The poor.
- The brokenhearted.
- The captives.
- The blind and the bruised.
The Good News is found in Luke 4:19.
Luke 4:19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
The acceptable year of the Lord, is the Year of Jubilee.
Every fifty years all debt was cancelled no matter how legitimate. The individual was free from the debt without any effort or merit on their part.
The penalty of the debt was also cancelled.
Every good Jew knew the penalty for breaking the law was the curse, as described in the old covenant. When those curses came, he knew he deserved it. He could in no way hold God responsible for the curse of the law.
But to all those curses – poverty, broken heartedness, captivity, blindness, and bruising- Jesus was saying, “The debt is now cancelled.”
The debt of the law is cancelled. You can now be free from the penalty of your sin.
Jesus repeatedly proved that this applied to the forgiveness of sin as well as to the curse of the law. The Pharisees never believed that, and they never partook of it.
In the Archko Volume, the Pharisees revealed some of their fears concerning Jesus’ message.
They were afraid that when the people believed in the Good News, they would fall into sin. They failed to understand that the law affects the outer man, while mercy and love affect the inner man.
Jesus’ message of forgiveness was accused of promoting a loose and lascivious lifestyle. Religious leaders today believe the same thing.
So what does the Good News cause people to do?
- They trust the God they have grown to dread.
- They draw near to the One from whom they had been hiding.
- It causes them to come out of the stronghold of sin by entering into intimacy with God.
Jesus’ preaching of the Good News succeeded where law had failed. By His preaching and demonstrating the good news of God, the people were able to:
- Respond properly.
The natural response to goodness is:
- Appreciation.
- Thanksgiving.
- Commitment.
- Relationship.
Thus, we see the reality that the Gospel (Good News) is the power of God unto salvation, healing, deliverance, and every other promise that God has made.
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