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Being a Christian means that God’s spirit has united or bonded the heart of a sinner with the gospel. Becoming a Christian happens when, through the work of the Holy Spirit, your heart says, “yes” to the gospel – your heart is welded to the gospel.

Luke 8:15 – As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

So, we have two things here. First – we have a truth – the gospel. Second – we have a heart that says, “yes” to it. If I am to be a Christian, my heart must unite with the gospel. When this uniting happens, when this welding happens I am a Christian.

SO, WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “THE GOSPEL”?

A term taken from the Greek euangelion meaning “good news”. So when we speak of the gospel of Jesus we’re speaking of the good news of Jesus. The term “gospel” is used many times in the Bible.

SO, WHAT EXACTLY IS THE GOOD NEWS?

At it’s heart, the good news is something that happened 2,000 years ago. Jesus – who is God – left heaven to be one of us. He lived our life and was tempted like we are – but he did not sin. He did not just appear to be one of us – he was one of us. He came and lived a sinless life here so that he would qualify as the One who could represent us before God – so that he could take our place before God. When Jesus was slaughtered on the cross he absorbed God’s judgment for the sin of all who would take him as their substitute. Then he rose from the dead demonstrating his complete and utter victory.

So, THE GOSPEL – Forgiveness of sins has been gained in the person and work of Jesus. Or, Jesus, the perfect One, absorbed the judgment of God for those who want it. Or, we might simply say, “Jesus is the gospel.”

I am the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Good Shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way, the True Vine, the Beginning and the End.

THIS IS GOOD NEWS. The gospel does NOT depend on me or any one else – it is an objective reality. The truth or reality of the gospel does not depend on be or anyone else believing it.

2 Corinthians 5:21 – For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Romans 5:6 – For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

1 Timothy 2:5–6 – For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all…

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Mark 1:1 – The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Acts 8:40 – But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Acts 20:24 – But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

So, first we have the gospel, second we need a heart that are unites with this truth, we need a heart that embraces this reality, we need a heart that says, “YES – THIS IS FOR ME!”. The Bible calls this belief IN the gospel.

Mark 1:14–15 – Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

John 11:25 – Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

Romans 1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Acts 10:43 – “To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Acts 19:4 – And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.”

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In the beginning I said that being a Christian means that God’s spirit has united or bonded the heart of a sinner with the gospel. Abandoning self and taking Jesus as my greatest treasure is NOT something I am naturally inclined to do. My inclination is toward self. My inclination is toward “religiosity”. The last thing sinful humans – like us – are inclined to do is abandon self and cling to Jesus, or abandon the thought that I can do the right things to win God’s favor. The last thing we are inclined to do is abandon our pride and embrace Jesus as our treasure.

1 Corinthians 1:18 – For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:22–24 – For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

John 1:11–13 – He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

Do you need your sins forgiven? YOU DO. There will come a time when we each will stand before a just God to give an account. There are two options here: I can stand on my own – or – I can have an acceptable Champion. Jesus came to be your best friend, the lover of your soul, your substitute before God’s justice.

John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”