Jack Jurgens's Ministry Library

Gospel tent meeting with Peter Ramsay and Kory Crawford.

[0:01] There are a lot of things in the run of any day that can be depressing and discouraging, but when we open the Bible, there is a tremendous message of encouragement, of hope, of assurity, of confidence about this life and after this life into eternity.
See, a Christian is one who is settled in this life, someone who knows what life is all about, and the life revolves around Christ.
And when we look into the future, our life is bright into the future because our sins are forgiven, and we are absolutely 100% sure we will be in heaven.
I don’t know whether you’re sure or not, a lot of people go through life hoping they’re going to make it.
But the Bible says, it has nothing to do with church, the Bible says you can know for sure that you have eternal life.
You probably know that a gospel message like this is about life and eternity.

[1:27] There are people who say that once you are disintegrated and your ashes are contained, in a little urn, that that’s the end, or your body is put into a cemetery, that that’s the end.
But it wouldn’t surprise me that everyone in this tent questions that, and well, you might question it, because it isn’t the end.

[1:53] There is this life and then beyond this life, where you’re going to be. So these gospel services are.

[2:02] Not about joining a church, it’s about your life now and where you will be forever.
And once you know Christ as your Savior and where you’ll be forever, then you’re ready to get on with life. You are not ready to live this life until you’re ready to die. And a Christian is one who is ready. None of us want to die. We’re not in that state of mind, but a Christian is one, if the time comes for us to die, we can die knowing Christ is our Savior and that all is well in the afterlife. I don’t know whether you know that or not, but that’s what you could know tonight in this Gospel 10. And you You probably know that the word gospel means good news, and it is incredibly good news.
You can have, I was just listing the things today. You can have your sins completely forgiven, things that your parents will never forgive you for probably.
You can have your sins completely forgiven by God. a happy, a real relationship with God, a real one, not an imaginary God, a real God, a robust relationship.

[3:26] You can have purpose and peace in life. You can have an anchor in life because life isn’t all smooth sailing.
You don’t live very long. I just got a notice there on my phone just before we sang the first hymn.

[3:44] My nephew ended his life just a year ago, Christmas time, and he had left the wife.
And I saw a picture of his wife and his widow and his two kids at a golf tournament, raising money for mental health in memory of Adam. And I look at that, his wife, and I think, wow, Oh, young to pass through that horrible experience.
You don’t have to be an old person to pass through horrible experiences, but a Christian has an anchor through the storms of life, a hope for the future.
Let me ask you, what is your anchor?
What do you have for the future?
You know, you can be absolutely sure that you’re going to be in heaven.
You can be a possessor of eternal life.
I was, I don’t know where I was, I wandered into a piano store and I can’t play a piano, I just play for my own self enjoyment, but I went into it.
We don’t have piano stores like that back in my part of Canada, but they had $360,000 pianos in there and I looked at it and sort of my face got all wet, I was drooling and thinking about a piano and I couldn’t afford it.
360 grand for a big Bösendorfer piano.

[5:13] But you know what? I couldn’t afford a piano like that, but I am a possessor of eternal life.
A piano will eventually wear up, but what a Christian has lasts forever.
Oh, I hope tonight you will listen carefully to both messages, and you will do business with God in this meeting.
You don’t have to talk to the preachers.
You can just have a little combo between yourself and God.
You don’t have to be moving your lips. You can talk to God from your heart.
Say, oh God, this is what I need.
This is what I want before I go another week or month or year of my life.
I want to have what Christ offers. I would like to have eternal life.
You probably also know that there are two destinies after you die.

[6:16] Two H words, heaven, and perhaps you know hell as a curse word or a slang word.
That’s what the Bible says, two places, heaven and hell. There is a place of eternal joy, a place of conscious eternal suffering is the opposite. It’s called hell.
And I was at Starbucks today, this afternoon, and I like going to Starbucks because there’s so much noise around me. I can work better than I can solitude and client. And so, I was at Starbucks, and I could hear this song, and I don’t usually tune into the lyrics, but I could hear, Highway to Hell, Highway to Hell, Highway to Hell, over and over again.
And it was ACDC’s famous hit, Highway to Hell.

[7:21] Now they started out in 1973. And in October of 2023, if they’re still around, they’re gonna be in California.
And you know what they’re gonna be singing in California?
Highway to Hell, one of their big hits, nominated for a Grammy. Here are the lyrics.
Living easy, loving free, season ticket on a one-way ride, asking nothing, leave me be, taking everything in my stride.
Don’t need reason, don’t need rhyme, ain’t nothing that I’d rather do. Going down, party time. My friends are going to be there too. I’m on the highway to hell, on the highway to hell, Highway to hell. I’m on the highway to hell. No stop sign.
I brought a stop sign. You know what a gospel meeting is about?
God wants you to stop in life.

[8:26] God doesn’t want you to go to hell. I’m gonna read a couple of verses in a minute.
I’m gonna prove to you that God does not want you, to end up in hell. I will prove it. I will give you four or five proofs.
How I know from the Bible, God doesn’t want you to end up in hell.
And so gospel meetings like stop, where you’re just cruising along life, summer of 2023, and all of a sudden you’re here. You’re not here by coincidence.
God wants you to stop. And so the lyrics go, I’m on the highway to hell.
No stop signs, speed limit.
Nobody’s gonna slow me down.
Hey, Satan paying my dues, playing in a rockin’ band. Hey, mama, look at me.
I’m on the way to the promised land. I’m on the highway to hell, highway to hell.
I’m on the highway to hell, highway to hell.
Don’t stop me. I’m going down all the way.
I’m on the highway to hell.
And it’s a hit song for 50 years.
And I was sitting there at Starbucks And I thought, will I speak to anyone tonight in the tent who’s on the highway to hell and And you’re careless like those people are?

[9:51] I want you to, if you, maybe you’ll never come back, we hope you will, but if you never come back, I hope you will remember that God doesn’t want anyone, including you, to ever be in hell.

[10:10] A lot of people harbor some dark thoughts about God and wonder why it is a God of love, why there is a hell.
And I’m going to present to you what God has done and is doing to keep you, to stop you, to keep you from going to that awful place.
So we’re gonna read in 1 Timothy chapter two.
1 Timothy chapter two.
And Paul, the apostle is writing to Christians and telling them who he would like them to pray for, and for so many different people.
And verse two says for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and honesty.
Verse three says, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, follow along carefully, God our Savior, who will or who desires, to have all men or all people to be saved.
He desires, that’s the heartbeat of God.
I hope that boy gets saved. I hope that man is saved.
That’s what God is interested in tonight. God doesn’t want anybody to ever mistrust.

[11:38] And end up in hell. What road are you on this evening?
Everyone on the road to heaven had a time in their life when they get off the highway to hell.
I remember when I got off the highway to hell.
I was in my attic bedroom on my knees, nobody talking to me, nobody saying, say this little sinner’s prayer, no little ditty like that.
Just with my Bible open, and I was reading that Christ died, and he was buried and he was raised again from the dead.
And if I believe that, did that for me, I’d be saved and right on my knees by my bed.
I trust the Christ as my savior. I came off the highway to hell and started for heaven.
You have it there? God, our Savior, who desires to have all people to be saved.
That’s the desire of God. One more verse, 2 Peter 3.

[12:43] 2 Peter 3, verse 9, The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us-ward, get this, not willing that any should perish.
Doesn’t even want one person, Not even the worst person in New Jersey.
He doesn’t even want one person to perish and go to hell, but that A-L-L should come to repentance.
See why we can get up here with a smile on our face and with absolute confidence, we’re looking into your faces like, we are so glad you’re here.
We can tell you about a God in heaven who desires for you to be saved and to be with him forever, and he doesn’t want anyone to perish, and he’s patient, and he keeps working in your life.
As I said, you’re not here by coincidence.
God is at work in your life. How kind, how loving, what a benevolent God we have.
You know, God could have given you just one opportunity.

[14:12] It could have been just the opportunity of turning on your radio in the car and hearing a message from the Bible, and you may have only heard it for five minutes, and you exercise your own will and change to a music station.

[14:29] Was he obligated to give you multiple opportunities to bring Christian friends into your life?
God wants you to be saved, and he’s patiently waiting to save you.
And he has made it getting to hell like an obstacle course.
Not easy to get to hell. That’s what I want to present to you this evening.
I put a little title on my message. I put that it’s hard to get to hell, And I’m going to give you four or five reasons So I was in a rodeo once, a bicycle rodeo, probably in elementary school.
Oh, I thought I was pretty cool In a rodeo and all these obstacles and nobody in the neighborhood, I thought could drive a bike and negotiate the turns as well as Peter could and I was in my little bike my wheels were going so fast and I was up here and down here and over there and through this like a maze and I, Didn’t upset the bike or anything like that. I have no idea whether I got a ribbon or not, but um, You know, Getting to hell God doesn’t want you ever to be there and he’s put a whole bunch of obstacles.

[15:51] Along your in your life’s path to stop you So you’ll stop turn around and come to Jesus. I, Got a few bees. I don’t normally do alliteration all starting with Bs or Cs or something, but I do tonight and so I’ll be asking you afterwards Can you give me the five B’s?
Five B’s, why I know God doesn’t want you to ever be in hell.
The first one is the book he provided to inform you.
People often perish because they don’t have good information.
All the information that you need to be in heaven.
God has given you a book, it is called the Bible.

[16:46] He has put his word in writing. Good information is critical for informed decision making.
So that’s the first one, the book, what a book.
Then he has provided, it’s, do you know that, this isn’t preacher exaggeration or pulpit hyperbole.
There are more Bibles, in more languages.

[17:15] In more forms, in more countries of the world than at any other time in history.
Don’t let a teacher or a professor ever tell you that the Bible is some outdated book that will only be found in libraries, your Library of Congress or whatever it is called.
There are more Bibles. I had an atheist or agnostic tell me that.
He writes in the Time Magazine and other journals and he has no desire to promote Christianity or the Bible, but he presents the facts and he said, the Bible is the most popular book of all times.
You know why? The devil has tried to stamp out the Bible.
He’s burned people at stakes centuries ago for carrying Bibles, for publishing Bibles, but the Bible is multiplying.
The devil can’t have a success in God. God is ultimately in control.
The book that he provided, I don’t know whether you’ve appreciated this, 66 books in one, 40 contributing editors, writers, over 1,500 years on three different continents, Africa, Asia, Europe, in three different languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic.

[18:40] Some of you have gone to college and you have done a group project.
People usually groan when there’s a group project.
You do this and you do that and somebody else does this, and then you have to bring it together and make it all seem like a seamless piece of work.
The people who contributed to the Bible never got together in a room and said, okay, you take it from this angle, you take it from that angle, and we’ll meet again next year and we’ll package it together, and people will think it’s an amazing book.
No!
1,500 years, three different continents, three languages, and yet from Genesis, the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible, there’s a common thread woven throughout all of the Bible.
It’s a presentation of God’s Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and how he is the only one who can meet your need.
Book. God gave you a book. He doesn’t want you to perish in your sins. The book he provided to inform you.
The next one is the blood.

[19:47] That was shed to save you. You know, God didn’t just love the world. He loved the world and gave his son and his son shed his blood on a cross. If that’s not love, it’s not a hallmark card.
It’s a rugged cross. Doesn’t that tell you God must really love me?
Not red roses on Valentine’s Day, but red blood flowed from God’s beloved Son at the cross.
How could you ever say that God is a monster God, a mean, capricious God, wanting to send us to hell? No, the Bible proves over again, not just the book.

[20:37] But the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, the ultimate price.
God says, I don’t want that boy to ever end up perishing in his sins in hell.
I love him so much, I’m willing for my son to shed his blood for their sins.
Romans 8 says, He spared not his own son, but he delivered him up for us all.
The apostle Peter said, We’ve been redeemed not with corruptible things like silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.
Of Christ. So the book?

[21:18] The precious blood of Christ to be our savior, to rescue us. I hope if you ever hear someone saying what a mean God in hell, I hope you stop them in their tracks, even if you don’t become a Christian.
I hope you will say, sir, ma’am, I know better. I heard a message once that proved from the Bible, that God doesn’t want anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance.
And you can go over the bees, tell them whether you believe it or not, say the book he gave, the Bible, the blood he shed at the cross of Calvary, then the barriers he removed, the barriers he removed to encourage you.
A lot of people are in darkness.
God said, I’m gonna give them light, light. There’s a light of creation.
I was, the big telescope up there is so many millions of miles away right now, taking pictures that have never been seen before of outer space.
How could you ever look at those pictures? Look at them tonight when you get home, if you get home, and see the latest pictures coming from that powerful piece of equipment up in space.
How would you ever look at that? The light of creation and not believers of God.
The disparities. You know, there’s a lot of things in life you’ll never be able to access because you don’t have the money.

[22:47] You don’t have the cerebral capacity probably. I don’t for sure.
And so other people will climb higher.
They will access opportunities that you might not be able to.
There are disparities, but when it comes to going to heaven, God has removed all the barriers.

[23:09] The disparity? No. Romans 3 verse 23 says we’re all an equal footing with God. No one has an advantage. Romans 3 23 says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Rich and poor, young and old, every nation of the world. No one has an advantage or a disadvantage.
You’re all in the same footing, sinners. So he has removed the barriers, like even discrimination. The barrier of discrimination, socio-economic factors, they don’t play a part.

[23:47] Cory and I are hoping to visit somebody in a maximum security prison in the neighboring state of New York tomorrow morning. Yeah, all the barriers have been removed. Regardless of who you are, regardless of your lifestyle, regardless of what you have done, we can look you in the eyes and say, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. So he has removed the barriers. He’s even removed the barrier, the distance.
You know what the Bible says, Romans 10 verse 8 says, the word of God is near you, even in your mouth, in your heart. That is a word of faith which we preach. You can’t even say distance is a barrier. No, God has removed all those barriers because he wants you to stop. He doesn’t want you to go to hell. And then just think, the last one is The barricades.
Now, the barriers.

[24:50] That he removed, but I want you to think of the barricades that he erects, the speed bumps to slow down on that highway. God in his kindness is getting trying to get you to stop, stop. He gave you a conscience within. People who never went to church, never knew anything from the Bible, Oh, other parts of the world, they know right from wrong.
They know that when someone steals their computer, they know it’s instantly wrong.
That’s wrong.
Where did that little sense of what’s right and wrong come from?
God put it in you and in me.
The conscience within you to create awareness of your need. The Holy Spirit who’s at work in your life.
So you’re here tonight. We’re glad you are and it’s like a speed bump stop stop, Spirit of God is working in your life. He wants to draw you to Jesus Christ, Speed bumps. Well, what would be a speed bump?
You ever have a close call the summer at the shore Riptide, An accident?

[26:14] Bump on your skin, you think, oh my, I’m so young. I bet I need to go to the doctor, speed bump.
God is trying to get you to slow down.
Sometimes it’s a dream.

[26:30] You wake up and say, whoa, I thought I was a goner. I thought I was actually, I thought he actually shot me.
But what if I died? Where would I be?
See, all of those things are like speed bumps. God wants you to think about your soul.
He doesn’t want you to go to hell.
The book he provided to inform you, the blood he shed for you, the barriers he removed to encourage you, the barricades, the speed bumps he erects to stop and block you.
But finally, the benefits, the benefits he offers she. How could you turn Christ down tonight?
The benefits, all your sins forgiven, peace, removal of guilt, brought into the family of God.
Wouldn’t that be wonderful? He’s offering all those benefits.

[27:34] Our prayer is, as you listen to Corey this evening, you will stop, stop, and say, this is what I need.
I need Christ. God is speaking to me.
He wants to save me, and you could be saved tonight through the Lord Jesus Christ.

[28:01] I was just thinking, Peter was speaking of that first bee, the book, and in Costa Rica, where we live, there’s a small Indigenous population, about 15 to 20,000 people.

[28:17] In the country of Costa Rica that speak an Indigenous language by the name of, And it was in 2007, not until 2007, that the New Testament, the last half of the Bible, was translated into that dialect.
And actually, I think Dave has a copy I gifted him at his house, so I think any time of day, day or night, you could go and visit his home and he’d be happy to show you that New Testament translation of that indigenous language.
And we were lucky enough, we had printed some verses, this exact verse, John 3:16, in that language and we went out to the coast and we’re just streaming in we able to we were able to find and come across the man the son of American missionaries from Alabama who spent his life has lived in Costa Rica was born amongst these people it speaks the dialect and it was mainly him and a few others that undertook the the labor of translating the Bible the New Testament into this dialect many of the larger Bible translation organizations weren’t, willing to help because of the small number of people, they have limited resource, limited time, so there has to be a certain number of people that speak this language for these bigger groups to organizations to fund or to undertake translate the Bible.
15 to 20,000 people in Costa Rica.
2007, they received the word of God in their language. There’s no other religious book.

[29:44] In fact, very little printed literature in their dialect.

[29:49] But yet they have the word of God. Why is that? Listen to Peter tonight, and I was convinced this is the reason they have the Bible and not much else.
Because God is not willing that any should perish, and that all should come to repentance.
And we as an English population or Spanish, where hundreds of millions of people speak our language, and oftentimes we complain there’s too many translations in our language.
Well, they have just one.
And I’m sure they’re thankful to God that he’s not willing that any of the B’ri B’ri people should perish.
So what a tremendous privilege tonight to open the word of God and read from it, the book, and read what it has to say about the Lord Jesus Christ. And that’s what we’re going to do tonight in the book of Acts in chapter three.
After the gospels, the first four books of the New Testament, you’ll come to the Acts, which is the Acts, the deeds of the apostles and the disciples of Jesus, after he had died and was buried and rose again and went to heaven.

[30:49] And in the first part of chapter three, you have there a few men, Peter and John, and a paralyzed man comes to them and asks, He’s begging by the temple.
And Peter and John, they would say to him that silver and gold we do not have.
We have no monetary thing that we could give you.
But what we do have in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, by his name and through his power, rise up and walk.
And that man was healed that day.
He received something much greater than silver and gold. He was healed of a debilitating disease.
And friends, and I, we could offer you hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars tonight. And you know what?

[31:31] There’s something much greater. We could preach to you, offer to you tonight, not of our authority, not of our bank rule, no, but from the God of heaven. He offers you tonight the salvation of your soul. Paid in full is the debt you have with God. And that’s what we’re going to read about. And as these people around, they saw that the healing that took place, they began to praise the preacher. And they began to praise Peter and John. And we’ll read in verse number 11. It says this, Acts 3 and verse 11. And as the lame man which was healed, he held on to Peter and John. All the people ran together onto them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering, greatly amazed. Imagine that scene. A man paralyzed his whole life. And now he’s walking. They’re greatly amazed and wondering. And verse 12 says, And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we’ve made this man to walk? Why are you focusing on the preacher, on the messenger.
Anything that’s accomplished that we have accomplished this man walking. It’s nothing to do with us and, Friend tonight if you’re going to be saved tonight, it’s got nothing to do with the preacher, No value. No, no holiness.

[32:58] No power of the preacher. It’s all found in the message It’s all found in the focus of the message Lord Jesus Christ and that’s what Peter said to them that day in verse 13 says this the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go.
But ye denied the Holy One and the Just One, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you, and killed the Prince of Life, whom God hath raised up from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.
And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know.
Yea, the faith which is by Him hath given Him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
And now, brethren, I don’t want you to be ignorant, as did also the rulers, but those things which God before has showed by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
And this is the message tonight.
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins might be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come, from the presence.

[34:27] On the Lord. I promise tonight, if anyone has need of refreshing, not a making better, not to to be a better person, make yourself better, desire purpose in your heart to become a better person. Tonight God wants to make you a new person. He wants to give you a new heart, new purpose.
Anyone that is saved, anyone that is in Christ Jesus, He is a new creation. That is what the Bible says. And these men here as they come and they gather around, they saw the miracle that was And Peter would say, he would see the people and he would say, why are you focused on us?
Why are you marveling and wondering at us?
You know, many people can be spellbound or can be captivated by preachers.
I don’t know who your favorite preacher is. I remember my grandfather, he loved Billy Graham, famous, well-known evangelist. And he would read all his books.
He would listen to his sermons on the radio, his radio program.
And he just loved listening to Billy Graham.

[35:26] And one of my favorite preachers over the years, I’ve enjoyed reading and haven’t ever really heard him preach in person or anything like that, but Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones from the United Kingdom.
And when he died and passed away, his tomb is over there buried in Wales.
And there on his tombstone, they have really, what was the focus of his preaching?
What was he known for?
You know, sadly, there’s many preachers that are known for preaching on what you should give, and how much and when.
You know, there’s people, unfortunately, I know, and they’re known for preaching on what you should wear.
They’re very focused on the external.
We know what this preacher was known for, they put it right in his tombstone.

[36:05] There’s a verse from 1 Corinthians 2, it says, for I have determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. What a testimony for a preacher.
That was his desire, no doubt, every message he preached was this, my desire, this is my purpose, to make known to you Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
And Peter in that same day, and he don’t look at the, I don’t want to be known as the man who healed the lame man, no.
It’s not by my power, it’s not by any holiness of me.
He looked at Jesus Christ. And that’s where he turned their gaze. He said, take it off the preacher. It’s not a preacher or priest or a prophet that can save you. It’s the Son of God.
And that was Peter’s desire that day. And he charged them that day with where they found themselves. He said, take your eyes off the preacher and look at yourself for a minute. No.

[36:56] It’s easy to focus on the faults of others. But Peter very, very intuitively, he turned their gaze right back at themselves.
And he’s preaching there, it says in Solomon’s porch, it was a place of intellectual discourse there in Jerusalem.
And it was the same place that Jesus preached. Jesus himself had passed through there a few times at least.
In John chapter 10, you read there, he was preaching and walking in Solomon’s porch.
So maybe some of the people there that day could remember when Jesus Christ, the focus of this message, he was there standing in the very same spot.
Imagine that, imagine if you had come to the tent some years ago and you heard Jesus Christ himself preaching, you wouldn’t have forgotten.
And that was the scene that day for those people. And they came to Jesus at Solomon’s porch back in John 10, and they would say, how long do you keep us in doubt?
If you are Jesus, if you are the Christ, if you were the promised of God, just tell us plainly.
And Jesus, his answer would be, I told you, and you do not believe.

[37:55] Because you’re not my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. And they know me and they follow me. And I give on to them eternal life.
Some maybe that were back in Acts chapter 3 listening to the preaching of Peter and John. I’ve heard Jesus preach about the sheep that would follow him about what Jesus offered eternal life. And maybe they have returned right back to Solomon’s porch, still looking for that eternal life, still without it. Hoping maybe, maybe for some glimpse of, of where of where they could find him.
And you know, Peter, he preaches about the God of our fathers, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
And he says this, and he has glorified his son, Jesus.
Glorified his son.
Christ was glorified in this very miracle. The credit, the glory was given to him when he said, it’s not our power, it’s in the name of Jesus Christ he’s been risen up.
The Bible says that God has given all things into his hands, into Jesus’ hand.
He’s given him a name which is above every name.
God has glorified his son. God in other words too, glories in his son.
Because the son glorified the father. He brought glory to God.

[39:14] But then he says he gives them the charge of their reaction to him.
What have we read in verse number 13?
It says, God glorified Jesus, whom he delivered up and denied.
The one God delights in, the one who walked in this very porch some years ago, God has glorified him. And what was your reaction? You denied him, you rejected him.
I don’t know how often you’ve heard the gospel, that’s how often you’ve read the Bible, if ever at all.
How many times you’ve heard the name of Jesus, but what has your reaction been?
Even tonight, if you’re first time hearing about Jesus, you’ve had a reaction towards it.
You’ve had a reaction towards God and what the Bible says of who he is and who Jesus Christ is.
Their reaction, the charge placed upon them, condemnation. You’ve denied Him. You’ve delivered Him up to be crucified.

[40:16] You’ve desired something else, aside from Him. It says in verse 14, you denied the Holy One, the Just One, and you desired a murderer to be given to you.
We were just thinking about this an hour ago in the Spanish meeting, that day when Pilate would bring before the people what seems so abundantly clear, the easy choice, Barabbas, a murderer, insurrectionist, a robber.
Jesus Christ, who his own judge on this earth would say, I find no fault in him.
And he was presented to the people that day. And Pilate would say, which one do you want?
Which of these two should I release unto you? And he’d say, what an easy choice.
Who would ever choose the murderer?
Who would ever choose the robber? And it says in unison that day, the whole crowd decided together as a group, they said this, released to us Barabbas.
We don’t want this man. We don’t want Jesus Christ. And that was the condemnation, the charge that Peter gave to the people that day. It says, you denied him, you delivered him up, and you desired something else, someone else.

[41:31] And friends tonight, maybe in your life, you’ve heard of Jesus Christ, but you’ve desired something more than him.
Relationships in this world, many good ones, many cruel ones, many pleasurable ones.
And you’ve denied Jesus Christ for relationships.
Some people have denied Jesus Christ and chosen religion.
They’ve said, yes, Jesus Christ, he sounds important, but it’s all about what I need to do.
It’s about my baptism. It’s about my church attendance. It’s about how I act as a person.
Not this man, but Barabbas. Maybe it’s your addiction.
And you say, I know I need Jesus Christ, but I chose the addiction last night, and I’m gonna choose it tonight again.
And that was the condemnation that Peter brought upon them. You’ve denied the Holy One. You’ve rejected Him.
You have desired something else. And he goes even stronger. He says, you’ve killed the Prince of Peace.

[42:33] The reason the Lord Jesus Christ dies, that the Bible says was for our sins, for your sin.
And to reject him, you’d be found under that same charge. You’ve killed the Holy One.
You’ve killed the Prince of Light. You’ve rejected the one who gave his life for you, and you’ve looked for something better.
And that’s what he said.
And so he leads up to the gospel invitation, the gospel call tonight in verse number 19.
And he says this, considering all this, considering what you’ve done, considering what I’ve done, the charge against you is this, guilty, rejecting God’s chosen one, the one God is so satisfied in, you’ve denied him, you desired something else. And so what is it? He says, repent, therefore.

[43:25] And be converted. Repent and be saved. That is what the gospel message is.
Repent really means to change one’s mind in a Christian and a gospel aspect, to change one’s mind for the better, to abhor one’s past sins and turn to God and acknowledge. I don’t know what brings you true joy in this life. It’s, It’s different for all of us.
I often think about when I go and my sons, when they’re in Costa Rica and they pick up their soccer ball and I have other things I probably should be doing and they just, they beg me to go with them.
Walking to the soccer field there, joy.
Brings joy to spend time with my sons. Another thing, I don’t know if you’ve ever had the, being close here, I would assume most have, seeing the sunrise on the ocean.
There’s something about it that if you’re just there and walking on the sand, when that sun rises, There’s a joy that comes in just seeing the awesomeness of that.
God’s creation. Remember, ever wondered why the waves stop where they do?
There’s a tremendous verse in the book of Job that says, God says to the waves, until here, no further.
The waves stop where they do because God is over all.
But you ever wondered tonight.

[44:42] About what brings joy in heaven? I’m sure God is joyful looking over his creation.
But if you ever wonder when or why is there true joy in heaven, the Bible says this.

[44:56] There will be joy in heaven over one sinner that repents.

[45:02] There would be a joyous scene, there would be rejoicing in heaven tonight, if one would obey the call of verse number 19 and repent and be converted.
Repent and be saved from your sins.
The nation of Israel was exhorted to repent in the Old Testament.
Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, repent and turn yourself from idols and turn your faces from all your abominations.
Every one of us have idols in our lives. Maybe not in the exact same form like they did in those days, a wooden idol, an animal, an image, whatever it is, but we all have idols in our lives that we place more importance on than the Lord Jesus Christ, than our own souls.
The exhortation is the same tonight as it was to the children of Israel, repent and turn from idolatry.
Repent and turn from your sins. John the Baptist, the first message that he would preach, recorded in Matthew chapter 3, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
It’s not a new message that they were preaching that day on Solomon’s porch.
It says the disciples, they went out and preached that men should repent.

[46:11] Jesus Christ himself, you know what he said his message was?
I came not to call the righteous.
Jesus Christ did not come into this world to make all the religious people feel better about themselves.
He didn’t come into this world to start a money drive amongst all the Pharisees and religious peoples, he did the exact opposite. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

[46:34] That’s why Jesus died. And if there’s anyone here tonight, and you before God, and in your own heart, you know that I am a sinner. This is what God desires.
He desires you to be saved.
Repent and be converted, he says, and be saved, be chained.
We’ve already heard that tremendous verse tonight.
The Lord is long-suffering towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repent.” You say, who’s supposed to repent then?
It’s got to be the criminals, right, and the corrupt.
It’s got to be the prostitutes and the prisoners. They’re the ones that should repent.
How great their sin. Now, Jesus Christ addressed that one day.
There were those who were religious there, and they were talking about Galileans that had their blood mingled with sacrifice, and they were just really in the depths of abominations and idolatry, offering their children as sacrifices.
And Jesus said this, do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans?
Were they worse than them?
You say, well, maybe they were. But this is what Jesus Christ said, I tell you, no, but unless you likewise repent.

[47:47] You all perish. It’s easy to focus on the worst, on the poorest and the depraved of society when Jesus Christ says this, unless you repent, you yourself repent, you’ll perish just like them.
Because you know why? The result of sin is the same for every single one of us.
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

[48:16] He speaks of what will happen for those who would come in faith, repent of their sins and be saved and be converted. What does he say?
That your sins may be blotted out.

[48:29] Sins might be washed away.
One time I remember preaching to children in a small town in Costa Rica, and we had a whiteboard there.
And so I asked the group of children, could someone come up that has enough courage?
And could you write down maybe one sin that you’re guilty of?
And so, you know, took a little coaxing, and one of the children finally had the courage to come up, and it seemed like one once came up and was honest. Like he wrote down lying.
Then sort of opened the floodgates of confession, if you would, that day.
The children came up and just simple sins, you could say that children are guilty of.
The one said cheating at school.
Another said bullying. Another said being mean to my brother, disobeying parents.
It wasn’t very quick until that whole whiteboard was completely full.
Just young children. Didn’t take them long to fill a whiteboard of all the sins that they committed?
What if you, friend, tonight would have to come up and not before us, but before God, you’d have to write down every sin you’ve ever committed.

[49:36] How much space would you need? How many whiteboards would you have to go out and buy?
No, I couldn’t tell you how many whiteboards it would take to write down every sin I’ve committed in my life.

[49:48] But the Bible so clearly says here that we have read, repent and be converted, that your sins might be blotted out.
Now, friend tonight, if you were to repent, if you were to turn from your sins, if you were to trust and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, it’s not that God will just forget your sins.
No, it says he’ll blot them out. He’ll come and he’ll take the, he’ll take the erase and he’ll write, erase every single one of them.
Your sins and your iniquities, I will remember no more. He’ll blot them all out. How can he do it?
God is just. Sin must be punished. The one in whom God is glorified, the Lord Jesus Christ.
2,000 years ago, He came into this world and He lived a life of no sin.
Absolutely perfect. The only one who never had any sin. And there on the cross of Calvary, when He had nails in His hands and in His feet, yes, He bore the punishment that men would put upon Him. The ones who denied Him, the ones who delivered him up, the ones who desired a murder in his place, they punished him there. But the Bible says in three hours there was darkness over this whole earth, and in those three dark hours God poured the wrath that your sins deserve, every single one of your sins on the whiteboard that they deserve, he put on

[51:10] In front tonight, it says that the Lord Jesus Christ bore our sins, our iniquities, our sicknesses, our infirmities on Himself.
And the price of our peace with God was paid by Him.
And if you were to repent tonight and be converted, be saved, every single one of your sins will be blotted in.
Jesus Christ paid the price in full.
Oh, that you would see Him tonight, you would hear of this one who gives eternal life, and you would not desire something else.
Something fleeting, something that brings no true peace. But friend, tonight you would see the Lord Jesus Christ lifted up on the cross, and you would desire to have the salvation that He offers.
It’s paid in full. The work is finished. When Jesus Christ died, they put him in a tomb where no one had ever been buried before.
And three days later, he rose again.
And like this book of Acts started, there was people that saw, saw the risen Savior.
In French tonight, there is a living Savior that offers to you salvation.
The charge against us is this, we’re guilty before God. But the call of this preacher, the call of the gospel is this, repent, and be converted and all your sins will be forgiven.
We trust that you would, our desire would be that you would do that even this evening.

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