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First Baptist Church, Springville

John Bunyan wrote these words: “Art thou inquiring the way to heaven? I tell thee, Christ is the way; into Him thou must get.” That last phrase stuck with me: Into Him thou must get. I thought, “How can I get into Him?”

Later I read Peter’s sermon in Acts. Peter spoke to people who were godly but were not “in Christ.” Here is what he shared.

First admit your guilt: You killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead (Acts 3:15). We cannot pass the responsibility to the Jews who delivered Jesus to be executed or to the Romans who carried out the execution. The Scripture tells us it was our sin that killed God’s Son. 

Second you must repent: “Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19). The word “repent” refers to a change of mind that results in a change of behavior. Cry out to Him to change your mind so that you see sin the way God sees it. True repentance occurs when you come to see sin from God’s perspective … and your life is transformed by it. If there is no life-change, then no repentance has occurred.

Finally into Him thou must get: “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to Him in whatever He tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that Prophet shall be destroyed from the people’” (Acts 3:22–23). You can get into Christ by hearing what He says.

I shared this with a young man in the remote mountains of Ecuador. I told him, “You must get into Christ. Do you want to know what this Prophet said?” He said, “Yes.” I said, “Christ said that you are guilty before God. Christ said He came to pay the penalty for your sins. You must repent this day and turn to Christ as your King. You must believe that your King died for your sin and was raised the third day. Do you believe this?” He said, “Yes,” and we prayed together. If he was genuine, God placed that young man in Christ.

Into Him thou must get: admit your guilt, repent and believe your King died and rose again for you.