Matthew 4:23 English Standard Version (ESV) And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.

People will often say “That’s the gospel truth.” Their reference to the word gospel may mean that what they say comes from a higher authority and then again maybe not. Some people use “that’s gospel” to try and solicit acceptance of what they are saying.

If we look to biblical definitions it gets more complicated. Many will try and simplify it by calling it the “Good News”. If no one has ever heard it before then the news needs to be delivered in order for the hearer to understand what is good about it.

We left off yesterday stating that Christ’s death was a game changer. Some might understand what is meant by that and then again, some will not. So let us try and explain what is so good and what has changed.

Here is a simple definition of gospel that might be understood by everyone. One definition of gospel calls it God speak. It God’s message to us of His plans for mankind. It is those plans that make things a little more complicated.

If something is to be called good, then bad has to come first in order to have something to compare bad with. There is a lot of bad in the world now and that is nothing new. What does God speak have to say about that?

When Moses came down the mountain with the tablets containing the Ten Commandments those who had just been saved from Egypt’s slavery where found worshipping a golden calf. Moses broken those tablets on the ground and people died. Not everyone died but many did. Here the people had not even received the law but broke the law and perished.

That is a clear message that we should all understand why the law was given in order not to die.

John 8:31-35 English Standard Version

The Truth Will Set You Free

³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³ They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. ³⁵ The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.

A recent study asked us to answer this question for ourselves: Who is Jesus to you?

When we first accept Jesus into our hearts by faith it is possible that the answer to that question was not on our minds. We seek God’s help for different reasons. Why we feel the need to be saved is really not the point here. It is more about our expectations of salvation and what happens next.

We might find the peace of God at first. Restless hearts might find rest first. Loneliness might find a true friend. A rebel might find a victorious warrior to follow.

In the end we all discover the abiding presence of the Son is willing to reveal Himself in truth as only Jesus can do. As disciples we will grow in Christ and discover we need another aspect of this living God who is “all in all”.

Only God can be everything to everyone and still remain personal to each one of us.

There is no perfect answer to who is Jesus without recognizing His abiding presence.

His warning about being a slave to sin was directed at those Jews that faced Him in that moment because He had not yet been betrayed and put to death.

His death was the game changer.