Jack Jurgens's Ministry Library

Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.

[0:00] I’d like to read tonight, if you have a Bible, in the book of Acts, in chapter two.
And we’ve been doing a bit of a journey through this book of Acts in the last few nights, and we’ll continue on looking at different events that took place in this book.
And last night we were considering one of the first messages, maybe like this, gospel messages that were preached by a man named Peter, a disciple of Jesus.
And he got up and he began to declare.
And we came to that crucial point in his message when he would say this, in all simplicity, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And tonight I would just like to continue reading on what he began to, or continued preaching after he made that declaration.
And so we’re gonna read it at verse number 22 of Acts chapter two.
And so we have the same scene here.
Peter is standing up with the other disciples and him announcing this gospel message.
And this is what he had to say.
Acts chapter two and verse number 22.

[1:00] Ye men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved, attested by God to you, by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves also know.
Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.
You have taken by wicked, lawless hands, have crucified and put to death.
Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
Verse number 40, it says, and with many other words, he testified and exhorted them saying, Be saved from this untoward, or this perverse, generation.
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. And that day about 3,000 souls were added to them.

[2:11] You see the result of that first message that was preached, one of the first messages that were preached, and it says all those that gladly received the word, those that heard what the preacher had to say and not because he said it, not because there was any eloquence or any good analogies in his word, but they took God at his word.
And God’s word is this, that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord, the name of Jesus Christ, shall be saved. And Peter continued to preach his message, and he began to speak to them of even more of Jesus of Nazareth, as we have read about. And he started off by telling them about uniqueness of the man, of the man he was preaching. And, tonight, as we spoke about another night, we are not here to preach a religion. We’re not here to preach about a church.
We’re here to preach about a man. The same one, the same Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, a real man who really lived in this world in a real place, far from here, yes, but in a real place.
He came into this world and it says here that that he was attested, he was approved, proven, authorized, backed, supported by God. You know the Bible is full, this book is full of, of many accomplishments, many wonders and signs that says that Jesus did.

[3:41] You know, the longest running biography, it is said, of someone who is who has lived and they’ve recorded the words of his life is the well-known leader of a country far from here.
But Sir Winston Churchill and his son began to write his biography many years ago.
And his son died almost 50 years ago. And another man has continued on writing the story of this man’s life.
Many great accomplishments, many great achievements.
This leader, and has said that now his book, his biography, is now up to 8 volumes with 16 companion volumes, and it makes up some 10 million words.
They say it’s the longest book in the world today.
You know, the largest library in the world today is not far from here.
From here, they say the Library of Congress, 1.5 million square feet, 838 miles of bookshelves, 167 items in that library.
Maybe some here have went, I would love to go.

[4:45] And I’m sure as you walk through there, it’s astonishing to see all the recorded data of different stories of different people, different books written by different people.
And here we see in this book, the Bible, It says Jesus of Nazareth, He did many signs, many wonders, many miracles, and He was authorized, He was supported, He was backed, approved, attested by God.
You know what the Bible says about what Jesus has done?
There’s another verse in the Bible, I love this verse, it says this.

[5:16] Many other signs did Jesus in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.

[5:26] And if you were to write down the Bibles as everything that he did, the world itself could not contain, the books of the things of the wonders that Jesus did. I don’t know how many books that is.
But you know what the most important thing that could be recorded in heaven tonight is your name.
And it’ll go right beside the name of the last person that, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was rescued.

[5:53] And here this Peter is preaching and he’s he’s speaking and he’s telling them of the uniqueness of this man, a man attested, approved by God, the miracles, the wonders, the signs.
You can think of his life. You can think of his birth.
Born of a virgin. What a miracle. What a show of power. What a show of authority. The uniqueness of his birth.
Record as well as the uniqueness of his baptism.

[6:20] When one day when he was a man and he was baptized in a river and they said that the heavens were open, the skies were open, and a voice was heard from heaven.
I was baptized maybe 15 years ago and I know this, there was no voice from heaven the day I was baptized.
But the day Jesus was baptized, there was a voice. Why? Because there was something unique about this man.
And it said, this is my beloved son, this is my son in whom is all my delights.
Do you want to know what delights the heart of God? We’ve read right here, Jesus of Nazareth.
He’s the light of God’s heart.
There’s something unique about him, about his life, about what he did, about what he accomplished in this world.
Nicodemus, a religious man, he acknowledged it.
He would come to Jesus in secret one night and he would say, Rabbi, we know, maybe he understood it in a portion. He would say, we know you’re a teacher sent from God and that no one could do these things unless he had God with him.
Unless he was supported, approved by God.
You know, the multitudes, they would see the miracles of Jesus and they would proclaim and say, when Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than this man?
They saw something unique about the Lord Jesus Christ.
The wonder of his life.

[7:40] This may be the most unique thing about the Lord Jesus Christ when he came into this world, we think of every person that’s existed that has walked in this earth from the very first man until the very last one that has been born today some part of the world unique about the Lord Jesus Christ is this the only one who never sin no sin no evilness in his heart no wickedness no nothing that flowed out of his heart, nothing, not a single sin, in whom there was no sin.
I love that verse that speaks of the holiness of Jesus because I think of my own sinful heart and maybe you can relate thinking of your own sinful heart you would say what is the easiest part of the body to sin with? Is it the mouth?
How quick something comes out? How easy to put someone down? How quick to tell a lie to cover or something we did.
You know what it says of the Lord Jesus Christ who did no sin?
Neither was there any guile found in his mouth. Right to the easiest part of the human body to sin.
Even there it says no sin in the Lord Jesus Christ.
He was unique. He was proven. It says here in verse 22.
Hear these words. That was his encouragement to the audience that day.

[9:01] And that would be our same heart this evening, encouragement would be hear these words not not my words but what the Word of God says Jesus of Nazareth a unique man many people in this world many many people that have existed that have religious followers that have had a uniqueness about them none ever as unique as the Lord Jesus Christ no sin, born of a virgin, the Holy Spouse, Son of God. Peter continued preaching about the Lord Jesus. He said, the wonders that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. You know, the people that day maybe even had a greater benefit than us. They saw many of the things with their own eyes. They would, have been there, some of them that day, when when they saw the Lord Jesus heal a a man who had a terrible disease called leprosy.
They would see a man who had been begging, who was blind. And one day they saw him with his sight.
You know, they saw with their own eyes, and yet they still did not believe.
You know what the Lord Jesus Christ said?
He said to a doubting disciple, Thomas, one time, he said, you believe because you’ve seen.
But how much more blessed.

[10:21] Having not seen, yet believing. And friends and I, with your physical eye, you may not be able to see the Lord Jesus Christ, this one Jesus of Nazareth, but with faith, you would look to the cross of Calvary, and you would see one who is unique.
And we’re going to see other reasons why he is unique, but the man himself, the people would hear his words and they would say this, never a man has spoken like this man.
There’s something different about him. He has an authority about him.
He doesn’t teach like all the other religious leaders, just giving us lists of things to do, as Jesus himself would say, that we’re placing burdens upon the people’s shoulders without any power to lift them.
Just play, that was the Pharisee, that was the legalist’s job.
Just put on as many burdens as you can, and not even an ounce of power to lift the burdens.
And Jesus would come along, He’d say, you follow me. My burden is light. My yoke is easy.
And this man, he is so unique. I wonder if you know him tonight.
Not just know about him, but do you know him in a special way?
Have you come to appreciate the uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Because Peter continues preaching in verse 22. told us about the uniqueness of the plan that God had.

[11:44] He said they’re Him, Jesus Christ, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge, of God. I love this verse. It tells us two things. It tells us, first of all, that salvation was God’s plan. Determined before this world ever existed in the wisdom and the sovereignty of God, God knew and He planned. He made preparation. He made provision before the world was ever created, before the foundations of the earth.
That’s the message we have. Not a good news of salvation that some man has created.
Many wise men have got together and created tremendous plans, have offered tremendous promises.
But here we read of one who came, why? Because it was determined by God. It was God’s plan.
And despite that, as scripture would say, Unto God are all his works known from the beginning of the world.
Speaking of Christ, it says, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was made manifest in these last times for you.

[12:57] It tells us here of the plan of God in salvation. Him being delivered, being sent into this world by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.
But then he changes it. He says, you, you men, have taken them with wicked hands, and nailed them to a tree.
So anyone here tonight that’s maybe trying to hide behind, it’s not my responsibility, God is sovereign, and it’s nothing to do with me, it says right here, you have taken them with lawless, wicked hands, and you’ve crucified the Son of God. And you would say tonight, well, I’ve never done anything like that to that degree with my hands. You know what Jesus Christ said?
When he would speak of one who would sin with their hand. You know what his advice was?

[13:46] If you sin with your hand, cut it off. Cut it off. Because it says it’s better to walk through this life with one hand and have both hands and go into a lost eternity.
And if you were to do that tonight, you would say, I can’t stop sinning with my hand and you cut it off. What about the other hand? You say, I’ll take care of that. I’ll take off both hands and then and then I’ll be fine before God.
Is that the only way you sin?
You ever sin with your feet? With your mind, with your heart, with your mouth?
The point the Lord Jesus Christ was making that day is that no matter how much you try and prepare yourself to get away from sin, we as sinners will never be able to heal ourselves.
And as he condemned those men that day and said, it is your responsibility before God, you are guilty before God. That’s what he said to those men.
And they didn’t like to hear it.
And friend, tonight in the same way, tonight’s speaker included, according to the word of God, I can say this. We’re all guilty before God.
Wicked hands, lawless hands. And that was the condemnation that Peter, that preacher, he would emphasize to them.
Yes, it was a plan of God, but you played a part. Your sins played a part. You betrayed him.

[15:10] You gave him over to death. Guilty before God, every one of us.
But what was the outcome? The uniqueness of the victory of Jesus Christ.
Many people have died.
Many people have been crucified. Many people even still may have been crucified or died and say they were dying for someone else or someone else’s sins, what makes Jesus Christ unique?
What does verse 24 say?
Whom God raised up.
Whom God raised up. The uniqueness of Jesus Christ tonight is this, friend, is that you could go and look for his tomb, I think over in the Middle East, you can go and you can find the temple that has the tooth of Buddha, and you can go there and see that.
You know what? If you try and find where Jesus Christ was buried, or any sort of remains, you’ll never find it. Why? Because it says God raised him up.
It’s unique. This man is unique.
Because he died, he was buried, and he rose again. It’s vital to this message, the gospel message.
I remember a good friend of mine told me the story of when he was preaching when he was younger.
He said there was a couple of older brothers that were part of the church where he was preaching at it.
And one night he finished preaching, he was feeling good about the message, and he went to the back and the brother came right up to him He said, you didn’t finish the message.

[16:38] He didn’t tell us about the resurrection.
The next night he got up, and as his message was coming to an end, he said this.
He said, they put him in a tomb.
And he looked over at the two men sitting near the front, and he said this.
And they could have put a bulldozer in front of it.
He was still coming out of the tomb, and the two men just as loud as they could, amen. Whom God raised up.

[17:04] Friend, it’s so unique. It’s unique to Jesus Christ. He has risen from the dead.
He said, I am he that liveth and has died, and behold, I am alive forevermore.
What does it mean? What does it say? What is the result of that?
Verse 24, having loosed the pains of death.
Do you fear the pains of death? The results of sin is death.
He loosed those pains. He can set you free from the pain of death, of spiritual death tonight, because he rose again.
He paid it in full. He doesn’t stop there, having loosed the pains of death.
Why? Because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
The book of Hebrews says, Jesus Christ took on the flesh of man.
He didn’t take on the form of an angel. It says he came to suffer.
He was a partaker of flesh and blood. Why?
That through death, he might destroy him that had power over death.
That is the death.
Jesus Christ conquered death. Loosed the pains of death. Death could not hold.
He rose again. And friends, what more could you look for in this life?

[18:14] Who is more unique than Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who bore our sins on the tree of cruel death?
No one ever suffered like Him. His appearance, the Bible says, His visage marred, more than any man’s. Why did he do it?

[18:37] Jesus Christ, Christ died for our sins. The book of Isaiah says, he will swallow up death and victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all the faces, and the rebuke of his people shall be taken away from off the earth, for the Lord has spoken it.

[18:56] Jesus Christ is alive tonight. And you can find salvation, you can find peace and hope, in one who’s living. And that’s what makes him so unique.
It’s not being a Christian, it’s not finding old books written by some old man who has passed away many years ago and we stumble through it and we try and apply it to our lives and Jesus Christ is alive tonight.
He’s in heaven and he’s offering salvation, to whosoever. What does he mean to you? We see the wonderful reaction of those who heard the word of those last verses that we read.
Many other words he testified and exhorted them. He said this, be saved from this perverse generation.

[19:46] And the advice would not be any different tonight, the message would not change.
The gospel message is this tonight, be saved from the sinful and perverse generation.
Because each one that ends their life on this earth without Christ.
Lost for all eternity. Be saved from this perverse, sinful generation.
Then it says those who gladly received his word were baptized. You know, some people might think, you need to be baptized to be saved. Well, no, you don’t. This verse clearly shows us that.
After they gladly received with joy the gospel message, they were baptized.

[20:29] And maybe there’s some here tonight and you have gladly received the Word in times past, but yet you’ve lingered. What God would desire for those that are saved is this, if you’ve gladly received the Word. It’s so evident from the Word of God, He desires you to be baptized. It’s a public declaration. It’s an announcement.
Nothing to do with joining a church. It never is in Scripture.
It’s everything to be identified with Christ. Christ, gladly receive the word, we’re baptized.
Wherever you find yourself tonight, may be saved, may be far from the Lord in need of restoration.
The first step of obedience is always this after being saved, to be baptized.
And for those that are still outside that uniqueness of enjoying who Christ is for the first time, be saved from this perverse generation.
He’s so unique.
You never find anyone more wonderful. He’s a wonderful counselor.
He’s a Prince of Peace, and tonight he offers you salvation by the blood of his cross.
What will you do with Jesus Christ? Our hope would be that you would gladly receive the word, and trust in him for your soul’s salvation. May the Lord bless his word to your heart.
But I can look back over 50 years and a few months.

[21:54] Having known Jesus Christ as my Savior.
And I really feel badly for those who are living in 2023, who have never discovered the uniqueness of this lovely man, Jesus Christ, that you’ve been hearing about.
None can be compared to him.
He is the one who died, and was buried, and was raised the third day, according to the scriptures.
I have no regrets. I have a lot of regrets about myself, and my own failures, but I am so thankful that I know this very one.
I have a personal relationship with him, the one that Corey’s been talking to you about.
I have known him for over 50 years. Yes, I’m a bit of a fossil, but I’m so thankful for the joy that God’s salvation brings.
Now if you’re sitting in the audience this evening and you’re saying, hmm, I don’t know anything about that.
I know a lot about, I’ve heard a lot about Jesus, but, um, I’m not just so sure where I’m at in life.

[23:15] Well, our role here for the next two weeks is sort of, we’re giving you the good news, we’re giving you the answers from the word of God, who you need, not what you need, but who you need.
But we’re a little bit like troubleshooters. And so the last part of this service, we’re gonna do some troubleshooting just to help you figure out what is wrong?
Why don’t I have the joy that Corey has?
Why don’t I have the peace? Why don’t I have the personal connection?
I know all about Jesus, but what is wrong? So I’m gonna lift a verse out of a Bible story in the Old Testament that states a timeless principle about God in contrast to ourselves, how we look at things.
I’m looking at all of, well, I didn’t look at everybody.
I’m looking at everyone just now, scanning the audience very quickly with my impaired vision and everyone looks pretty good.
Okay, so relax. You look good on the outside.

[24:31] So the Bible story, perhaps you heard it in Sunday school or catechism, there was an old prophet Samuel, his name was, and he was told, God told him to go and anoint the next king of Israel. And a man by the name of Jesse had a number of sons. That’s how the story it begins and one son was going to be selected to be the next king of Israel.

[24:59] So Papa, uh, Jesse brought in all his boys one by one. They stood before the prophet Samuel, starting with the oldest boy.
And the Lord told the prophet to be careful not to be wowed or to be swayed by what they look like externally, if they had big shoulders or if they were at a certain height, don’t let that be a factor in determining the next king of Israel.
Not external appearance.
And so that’s where we’re picking up the story. in 1 Samuel 16, in the Old Testament, and verse 7.
1 Samuel 16 and verse 7, The LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him.
Now here’s the part that I want to sort of bring bring the meeting to a close on to help you figure out why things are the way they are in your life.

[26:19] For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. For a man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh or looks on the heart.
Do you get that? It’s really easy to understand. The Lord sees not as humans see.

[26:42] Humans just look at the outward appearance, just like I scan the audience, and you know, like you’re all mighty nice-looking people.
And you look so respectable from the outside. That’s how humans look.
But the Lord looks on the heart. Sometimes people don’t enjoy a gospel service like this.
They say, I don’t know whether I will come back because I worked so hard at presenting myself to be a very nice person.
And then you open the Bible and I’m starting to have a second thoughts about how nice I really am.
Maybe I’m not as good as I thought I was.

[27:29] The Lord is looking at your heart and the gospel isn’t superficial, the gospel goes deep, the gospel goes right to your heart and the condition of your heart. So seven of them were escorted in, but despite their age and their stature and their attributes, none of the seven boys qualifying. So the prophet Samuel said, is there another son? And Papa said, yes, but he’s out looking after the sheep. He’s the youngest. So they brought in young David, And sure enough, to the surprise of Papa and to the chagrin of his older brothers, David is the one, the most unlikely person, David is the one that God had selected because God was looking at the heart.
Have you ever thought about God looking at your heart?

[28:45] The Lord Jesus talked about this too, it’s not just in the Old Testament.
The Lord Jesus stressed numerous times the danger of just judging by appearance.
He looked at people coming out of church, the synagogue, they were religious people, and he said, you look like righteous people. That’s what he told them.
But inwardly, your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
You can imagine them swallowing heart and me. What a message.
This wonderful Jesus that you’ve been hearing about, he looked at the most fine looking people dressed in their Sunday finest, their Sabbath finest.
And he said, Matthew 23, verse 28, you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
In other words, he was saying, cosmetically you look good, but structurally you’re in bad shape.
I don’t know if you ever dine at McDonald’s, it’s a five-star dining experience.
And people go there often at their lunchtime and grab a Big Mac or a quarter pounder with cheese.
And I was here one day and people were just in a rush, you know, and gobbled down the Big Mac.

[30:14] There was a lady sitting right across from me and she finished her Big Mac quicker than I finished mine.
And then she reached her handbag and she took out a little mirror, I guess.
And then she got something else and then she was going like this.
I don’t know how they do it. And then she got something else out and she went…

[30:41] But that. Do you know what that is? Cosmetics. She was looking good on the outside.
And a lot of people like to go to church to look good on the outside.
Oh, I saw you at church.
You look good on the outside. But the Lord Jesus is not concerned about the outside.
He’s concerned about the inside, the condition of your heart.
And so this is the answer. This is the question I want to pose to you tonight.
And if you don’t get anything out of what I say, I want you to figure out whether your problem is cosmetic, or structural. Is it just on the outside your problem is?
Like my family, we’re known for long noses.
So I look in the mirror and I would think, I would like to have a smaller note.
Cosmetically, it would look better.
And a lot of people are concerned about how they look to other people.
They don’t think about what they look like to God.
God looks on the heart.

[32:00] Cosmetic has to do with the externals. You can look like a good, righteous person, Jesus said, But inside you have a structural problem.
In your heart, a structural problem.
And this will be a very worthwhile 25, 20 minutes here at the end of this service, if you could figure out whether your problem is cosmetic or structural, deep inside.
We were having our house painted, and I just wanted Craig, I tried to slap on some paint.
I wasn’t in for any

[32:45] job. And so I see Craig coming down off the ladder. He says, Peter, you have some rotten boards up by the eaves there.
And my impulse was, Craig, I don’t want to go there. Like, just get the paint over the rotten boards. Well, he said, now is the time to attend to it and it won’t be healthy for your house. If you leave those, just paint over the rotten boards. And sure enough, he went to Home Depot or wherever, got the boards and he replaced the rotten boards. See, I just wanted a surface job to look good on the outside. But Craig thought I had a structural problem with the house and I needed to attend to that before further damage happened to it. Have you ever thought about your own spiritual needs? Do, Do you think it’s just external, if you clean up a few bad habits you do?
Some of those curse words that escape your lips in a moment of rage?
If you could just reduce the cuss words to a minimum, and not spend so much of your hard earned cash on online gambling, if you could make some nice changes like that, is that all that is needed?

[34:09] The Bible says no. The gospel goes deep, right into the depths of our heart.
So is your problem structural or cosmetic?

[34:28] There is a danger of surface treatment. People, I’m sure the lady that did this and went back to the office, she felt more confident for her colleagues at work.
She felt good on the outside.
The blemishes were hidden and ketchup was gone. And, you know, you can highlight your beauty marks with cosmetics.
It’s a big it’s a huge industry. I looked it up.
But 2022, the latest stats for 2022, $262 billion a year around the world spent on cosmetics.
And then I said, what would that be over a five-year period, $1.3 trillion.

[35:18] Just all on the externals. Is there anybody interested tonight and going deeper than the external?
Is there anyone willing to face the depths of their heart and confess to God, I may look good on the outside, but in my heart, I’ve lived with myself.
I don’t know how long you’ve lived with yourself, but I’ve been living with myself for 66 years.
I suppose 59 or 60 of them or at least I was conscious of myself.
Have you ever told the Lord what you really are? Not what people think you are, but who you really are?
Don’t settle for just an outside job, a cosmetic thing.
It’s a big thing, feels good.

[36:17] But it’s reckless, dangerous. In fact, spiritually, it is disastrous.
If you have a structural issue tonight, it will be disaster eternally for you, if you never address the structural issue in your life. If you only go with the cosmetics.
Jesus spoke sternly and urgently to the respectable people of his day.
He said, you get the most beautiful cup and saucer and you make it look so beautiful on the outside.
Jesus was so vivid in his illustrations.
He said, you polish it and you have the saucer and the cup looking mighty fine.
And then you look within, nothing but filth inside. And that’s how Jesus saw people every day.
He was here for 33 years, and every day you could see people’s hearts.
He saw their exterior, and he saw what they were inside. Don’t settle for a quick fix.
Don’t just wipe off the external side of yourself.
Let God work deep in your heart.

[37:42] You could change. I know, I don’t know. I were so glad you’re in.
You know, you could have a change of mind just sitting in the chair. There won’t be any flashing strobe lights or anything like that go off. It’s no big, big event. Just in the quietness of your, heart, you could change your mind and say, Oh God, I do have a structural problem within, and I want to finally have it addressed. I don’t want to go on living like this. Here’s what Jesus Jesus said, in Mark chapter seven, Jesus said, what comes out of a person is what defiles him.
So it’s what comes from within. Verse 21 of Mark seven, Jesus said, for from within, out of the heart of man, come, look at the list.
He was so specific.
If I get up and said these words and claim them to be my own, You guys would have every right to stomp out in a rage because you could say, who do you think you are?
But I’m just sharing with you the words of Jesus.

[38:53] Because my heart is no different than yours. And Jesus said very specifically, from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.

[39:19] And then he sums it all up. He said, all these evil things come from within.

[39:29] You see, that’s why we have gospel services like this. It’s not for you to become a member of this church.
For you to address a structural issue in your life.
From inside, inside. That’s what the gospel gets at, the inside. We hate it when the inside gets exposed. You know, you can keep it all calm and you’re calm, cool, eclectic, and then just something goes wrong in the day and we explode. And this lovely, fine, upright, respectable, gentleman all of a sudden all his stuff is coming out of his mouth and rushing through his mind it’s like the lid came out it was in there all the time it’s, just that exploded the lid came off the jar and what was inside came out that’s.

[40:27] Why we need to have a structural issue of our sin address we have a chestnut, tree in our backyard. And every year I get mad at the chestnuts. Every autumn, it’s my, responsibility to rake and rake and rake until my shoulders ache. Many paper bags filled, with chestnuts, like literally many bags. And I lift them up and then I take them to the side of the road and I go through the same thing. And every year I get so annoyed at the chestnuts on the ground.
That’s not the problem, Peter. It’s not the chestnuts on the ground.
It’s the tree, the chestnut tree itself.
You get fed up with yourself for this sin and that sin and that bad habit and that weakness.
The problem is within. That’s just the fruit. We have a fruitful chestnut tree.
The root problem is that it’s a chestnut tree. That’s what it does.
People do bad things because that’s who we are. We’re sinners.
People sometimes say, well, I’m in God’s apple orchard.
But chestnuts keep dropping.

[41:46] That’s a problem. I don’t know whether you claim to be in God’s, I’m using metaphorical language.
If you claim to be in God’s apple orchard, and yet the chestnuts are always dropping, it’s only chestnuts that come up, something wrong there.
Sounds like a structural issue that needs to be attended to.
So this evening, our prayer is that you will be honest with God, transparent with God.
And it’s called repentance in the Bible. It’s a theological term.
And it’s agreeing with God.
God, I’ve been trying to dress myself up and present myself as a better person, but I know who I am, and you know the full depravity of my heart.

[42:43] I am exactly who you say I am. I am a sinner. I am in desperate need of God’s salvation.
So God doesn’t see us the way other human beings see us.
Is that clear in your mind? God is looking at the inside. That’s what counts with God.
I went to A&W one day, I was craving a teen burger, and it’s one of my many weaknesses.
And I was, oh, my mouth was watering, and root beer and everything else, and I get out to the car where there’s a long-awaited teen burger from A&W, and it looked so good, hot.
And I sunk my teeth into it.

[43:38] Something was drastically wrong. I opened it up. The ketchup, the mustard, the pickles, the onions were on it.
There was no patty inside.

[43:49] Seriously, I took a picture of it. And I show it to other A&Ws when I go.
I say, is there a patty inside? I’m not mad at them, it’s just a human error.
But do you know what?
Maybe there’s no patty inside you.
It’s all, it’s all a front and it’s all looks good.
But something vital is missing inside. Oh, tonight, you know who’s missing inside? It’s Jesus Christ.
We were reading last night, Paul said, Christ lives in me.
When he became a Christian, Christ came to live inside.
Out slushed the sin, in comes Christ. Christ is a new life. Let me ask you, do you have a structural problem?
Have you ever told God, I am exactly who you say I am? I am a sinner.
I have absolutely nothing to offer you, nothing to atone for my sin.
I have absolutely no merit of my own to qualify for your great salvation.
I should never receive eternal life.
I’m totally helpless. I’m void inside. The patties, well, I don’t know whether God would understand it if he used that language, is missing in my life.
The most vital thing is missing. Did you ever tell God that?

[45:16] Romans 5, verse six says, “‘While we were still helpless, “‘while we were still without strength, “‘at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
Now a few years back, it’s 2000, it’s quite a few years ago, 2007, some of you weren’t born, Henry, you were born 2007.
It was just another day, Minneapolis, St. Paul’s and the big bridge standing Minneapolis, the rivers, Minneapolis, St. Paul’s, 140,000 cars went over that eight lane bridge every day, just another day.
People coming home from work, it was rush hour, supper time.
And the road crews, they were out there putting a fresh layer of asphalt, to make it smooth as you’re going over the bridge. They were just applying a thin layer, over the top of the Minneapolis Bridge.
The I-35 West.
Loaded with cars, supper hour, in four seconds.

[46:38] That bridge crumbled and fell into the river. 13 died, 145 were injured.

[46:46] Do you know that two years before that, engineers had inspected that bridge and they gave it a four out of nine, nine being good, four failing.
That structural issues underneath the bridge that needed to be addressed, it failed two years before.
And eight years earlier, there was a structural warning about that bridge.
And to think that on the very day it collapsed and took people out into eternity, people were out there putting a nice, smooth, fresh, clean layer of asphalt over the top of it, to make it look good and feel good.
And it resulted in a disaster. My friend, we’re not pointing you to a church tonight.
A church may make you feel good, but it cannot address the innermost need of your heart.
You’ve been hearing about the unique man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He’s called Savior for a reason.

[47:50] He came down the sinless one, God in human flesh. He came down to die for our sins.
What a savior.
Why would he ever love a sinner like me?
He came down to die and suffer for sins that he never committed.

[48:17] And tonight, as we close this little service, we want to point you to him.
If you have faced this reality, yes, I have a structural problem.
My problem is within.
My family think I’m a nicer person than I really know I am inside.
I’ve got a problem inside. My friend, God knows the problem.
You say, could I be open and transparent with God?
Could I tell God about what I have inside?
He’s the only one you should tell.
I couldn’t do anything for you if you told me about your problems inside, your sin.
You don’t confess your sin to me.
You didn’t do anything against me. You need to tell about your inside to God.
He’s the one who’s been offended by sin. But here’s what I want to encourage you.
You say, well, I’m scared to just be a true blue sinner. I’m scared just to let my guard down and just tell God exactly who I am in case he, what, in case he what? You think he’s gonna hurt you or harm you? Do you think he’s gonna make your life miserable? Did you hear these Christians singing at the beginning, he died because he, he loved me so, he loved me so. Do you think they’re miserable losers for trusting Christ as their savior.

[49:47] I suspect they have something that you don’t have. They have peace.

[49:53] They have Christ. The structural issue in their life has been addressed.
Christ died for their sins.
And tonight I can assure you on the authority of the word of God, if you would be honest with God tonight about your structural issue within.
God would say, I knew that all along. That’s why I sent my son to the world to be your savior.
And he would save you.
Last night, Corrie spoke on the verse, whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And you don’t have to call out loud. You don’t need to make a scene.
The person sitting beside you doesn’t even have to know that you called on the name of the Lord.
He could hear the faintest crying from the depths of the darkest heart.
Oh, God, save a sinner like me, and I can guarantee you, If you call to the Lord tonight, He’ll save you.

Filed under: Gospel Series, crawford-kory, ramsay-peter