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who lack money, those who are brokenhearted by life’s difficulties, those who are the problem people in society. The belief is further pervaded through popular worship choruses that have splendid melodies, but carry this message: “Heartaches, broken people, ruined lives is why You died on Calvary.” Again, like many others, before I became a Christian my life was not “ruined.” At the age of twenty I was a successful businessman, with my own house, beautiful wife, car, money, and the freedom (being self-employed) to enjoy it to the full.
    Evangelistic outreaches are billed as taking the Good News to “the hurting and the needy.” Let me repeat: The gospel is not confined to the “hurting” people with ruined lives and heartaches. Both hurting and happy people need to be shown their sinful state before God, so they will seek after the righteousness that is in Christ.
    Let me further illustrate this common misunder -standing by quoting from another modem publication (I am in no way questioning the sincerity of the author):
    You will desire to be where the Lord is. And He spends His time with those who hurt. At the begin- ning of His ministry, Jesus quoted Isaiah to describe the work He was called to do: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted , to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18,19)...Thus the more you go after God, the deeper you will move into a world filled with hurting people.
    In Luke 4:18 ,19 , Jesus gives us a summation of who the gospel is for:
    ■     The poor
    ■     The brokenhearted
    ■     The captives
    ■     The blind
    ■     The oppressed
    A quick study will show that Jesus is not necessarily speaking of those who lack financial resources when He speaks of the poor. The word means “meek, humble, lowly ”—the “poor in spirit” (Matthew 5:3). These are the blessed ones to whom the kingdom of God belongs. The poor are those who know that they are destitute of righteousness. Bible commentator Matthew Henry said of this verse: “To whom He was to preach: to the poor; to those that were poor in the world; to those that were poor in spirit, to the meek and humble, and to those that were truly sorrowful for sin” (Matthew Henry’s Commentary, Zondervan Publishing House, p. 1425).
    When He speaks of the brokenhearted , He doesn’t mean those unhappy people whose hearts are aching because they have been jilted by a sweetheart, but those who, like Peter and Isaiah, are contrite and sorrowing for their sin.
    Listen to the respected Bible commentator once again: “For He was sent to heal the brokenhearted , to give peace to those that were troubled and humbled for sins, and to bring them to rest who were weary and heavy-laden, under the burden of guilt and corruption.”
    The captives are those “taken captive by [the devil] to do his will” (2 Timothy 2:26).
    The blind are those whom “the god of this age has blinded... [ to ] the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
    The oppressed are those who are “oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38).
    The gospel of grace is for the humble, not the proud. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). The Scriptures tell us, “Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 16:5). He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly (Luke 1:52). God looks on the man who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at His word (Isaiah 66:2). Only the sick need a physician, and only those who are convinced of the disease of sin will appreciate and appropriate the cure of the gospel.
    The Abundant Life
    Still, the question may arise, why not use the fact that Jesus said He had come to bring us an abundant life