What makes you a Christian according to the Bible?

To be saved therefore, to have eternal life, you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It is thus a question not of doing, but of believing. For it is now, not what the sinner can do, but what Christ has done, for "He took what I had earned; I get the fruit of what He has done." Therefore it is, and ever must be, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." There is no other way; and hence salvation is always connected with faith. Take a few instances: "Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace" (Luke 7:50); "Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole" (Luke 17:19); "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36); "He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation (judgment); but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24); "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life" (John 6:47); "To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins" (Acts 10:43); "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1, etc. etc.).

But what is the jailer told to do? God's answer to man's query is exquisite in its simplicity. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house," falls on the ears of the awakened sinner. How divinely simple. He had only to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and he would be a saved man. There is no word of anything that he must do in order to get salvation. This is a gospel that exactly meets helpless sinners without strength, and no wonder the jailer believed at once. His conversion was a rapid one indeed. One minute asleep in his sins, the next awake and deeply anxious about these sins — and straightway thereafter he hears the gospel and believes it, and rejoices in God with all his house.

When the question, "What must I do to be saved?" rang from the agonised lips of the prison warder at Philippi, the inspired answer did not bid him pray, or strive, or make vows, or anything of that sort. He was told to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Nothing that he could do could secure God's salvation. The doing had all been done by Christ. All that is left for the sinner is the appropriation of the results of His mighty work by simple faith.

Dear friends, I warn you tonight. Do you ask, What must I do to be saved? I say again that there is nothing for you to do — it has all been done — but believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; that is, take Him at His word, rest on His finished work, His sin-cleansing blood. You may be sure He will be true to what He says. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

Paul sums up his gospel by saying he preached "Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). Repentance is the confession toward God of our lost and ruined condition. Faith is the acceptance of the good news concerning Christ. One has said, "Repentance and faith are inseparable where there is reality; … as there is no genuine repentance without faith, so there is no faith of God's elect without repentance". Repentance is more than sorrow for having done wrong, or the shame that mere natural conscience may feel. Repentance is the change of mind in regard to self, produced by the knowledge of the grace of God. It is the consciousness and confession of my true condition before God. Repentance toward God is the acceptance of what God says about myself. Faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ is the acceptance of what God says about Christ. Peter repented when he said, in the presence of the Lord, "I am a sinful man". The publican repented when he said, "God be merciful to me the sinner": the prodigal repented when he said in the presence of the father, "I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight": the thief repented when he said, "We receive the due reward of our deeds". There may be different measures of repentance, even as there are different measures of faith. With some repentance may be deeper, and faith more distinct and simple than in others; but, wherever there is a work of God in the soul, there these two things will be found.

Naturally the subject-matter points to his work from the beginning of his arrival at Ephesus, but also to that which every soul needs as the first testimony of the gospel. Hence we hear of testifying to Jews and Greeks. It is what every man wants that he may come to God. Repentance and faith are inseparable where there is reality, and the language is as precise as we are entitled to expect from one who not only had the mind of God but expressed it like the apostle. As there is no genuine repentance without faith, so there is no faith of God's elect without repentance. Repentance toward God is the soul judging itself, and confessing its ways as in His sight. Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ is the soul receiving the good news God sends concerning His Son. 'Repent', said Peter on the day of Pentecost to the Jews already pricked in heart, who accepted the word and set to their seal that God is true. 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house,' said Paul and Silas to the Philippian jailer and to all that were in his house. How unfounded it would be to imagine that in the one case there was repentance without faith, or, in the other, faith on the Lord Jesus Christ without repentance toward God! In a divine work both are given and found.

And so it ever is. Everywhere the gospel proclaims for all, because all are sinners, the good news of a salvation provided just for sinners. The call is to "repent, and believe the gospel," — that is, to take the place of sinners, and just drink in the mercy provided for sinners. To "repent" is to give up the pretence and effort at self-justification. To "believe the gospel" is just to believe in the justification which God has provided.

"But must I not first repent?" Let me then ask, What is meant by repentance? It is simply taking the place of self-judgment, the place of a sinner before God, taking God's view about my sins. The confusion arises from the misconception that it signifies "the feeling sorry for, and the determination to forsake, sin"; and hence many probe themselves to discover whether they are in this state of mind. But the only thing you have to consider is, Do I know that I am a sinner? and, Do I accept God's judgment of myself as a sinner? If you do, there is nothing on God's part between you and the sinner's Saviour. For the only message of the gospel is, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house (Acts 16:31).

The new birth, we may say, is God’s secret. Repentance and faith we can take cognizance of. We are never told to have faith in order to be born again. Point to any Scripture that says so, and we will gladly bow to it. But such does not exist. We can however, point you to Scripture that exhorts men to repent. “God … now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30) We can point to Scripture that exhorts men to believe. Our Lord said, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

Preaching begins with the Person of Christ. It is "the gospel of God … concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." Then Paul says that he is not ashamed of the gospel, because the righteousness of God is therein revealed. I should be very sorry to weaken the full place of repentance, for you will never build up a soul, if you have not smashed him. The jailor at Philippi had been brought to repentance, in measure, and was trembling about his sins. You may say that, in one sense, no one can believe fully until he has repented, or repent until he has believed. There must be conviction of sin before forgiveness is received; nor will a sinner ever have conviction of sin until there is something for him to judge sin by, and that is what he believes. It may be through the judgments or the law, but then he must believe that. There is a certain sense of goodness in God that attracts, else there is no repentance; it may be very feeble, but there must be something to attract. Mere fear does not go far enough. Ask the first person you meet, for nobody would like to be damned, that is clear. Even when Peter says, "depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord," he goes straight up to the Lord.