Philip Anthony Mitchell - Don't Try Jesus

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Welcome to Victory Church
If you’re here for the very first time, if you are watching me right now on podcast or listening to this message wherever you are, we want to welcome all of you to Victory Church. I want to welcome you to week four of our series called Hell’s Best Kept Secret. And I want to grab your attention right now and I want to just beckon to you that you would please lean in for this sermon, because I want to preach to you this sermon that’s in the center of the series. This sermon is a pivotal point in this series.

The Seesaw Illustration
I was raised in my family in Queens, New York, and there was one park in the hood that we grew up in. And in the park—they don’t have these anymore, I don’t even know if I’ve ever seen them—but in the park they used to have these things called a seesaw. And because they’re dangerous, they no longer build them in children’s parks. The seesaw was just a plank of wood on a middle frame, and two kids would get on each side. And depending on whichever kid was heaviest, it would tip the seesaw in a particular direction.

This message in the middle of this series is the seesaw of the sermon. This message is to tip us forward toward action, because truth without action is static. Truth without application is static. If you just have truth but don’t do anything with it, it just becomes static. You understand what I’m saying? If you have truth and don’t do anything with it, if there’s no application with truth, then it just becomes static.

And so this is the point of this series where what we’ve been learning begins to tip the seesaw toward application, toward action. Very, very important sermon. If everything I taught you up until this point and where we go next hinges on this message, this is the seesaw sermon.

Mission for Today
Mark chapter 16 is where we’re going to begin. And I’m on a mission this morning to strip us of wrong believing in a particular area and to arm you with new weaponry. Hallelujah. I’m on a mission this morning to strip us of wrong believing in a particular area, and I want to arm us this morning with brand new weaponry. I want to put a bullet in your gun this morning.

And my prayer is that I’m believing God that by the time you leave this room today, you’re going to have a spirit of boldness. You’re going to be dripping with fire, Lord. You’re going to be ready for action. Fear is going to fall off you in a particular area. And a spirit of boldness is going to come upon you today. I’m believing a spirit of boldness is going to come upon you today in the name of Jesus.

The title of this fourth sermon is «Don’t Try Jesus.»

Prayer

Spirit of the Living God, we thank you for an opportunity to come into a house where the word is taught. Hallelujah, with the gospels being proclaimed, where we are growing in the knowledge and the understanding of our Lord, where we’re not going to mask or sugarcoat anything. Holy Spirit, I pray you would anoint the preaching of your word, Jesus, and that you would awaken us in this moment. And what I pray specifically, Father, that you would strip us of wrong believing, yes Lord, that you would tear down strongholds that have been built up in our minds, yes Lord, that you would open our blinded eyes to see, and that you would rebuild us with sound doctrine, Lord, that moves us toward action with boldness. In your son’s name I pray, amen.

Amen. Thank you, gentlemen, so much.

Theological Reminder
Don’t try Jesus. So before I go any further in this series, I want to pause right here in the middle of the series to just remind us of where we are theologically so that we all will be on one page. For some of us, I know some of the things I may have said have maybe gone over some people’s heads, maybe some of us have forgotten some of the things I said. So for everybody, I just want to catch everybody up so that we all will be at the same place. Because if we don’t have an understanding of where we have come from, we will not understand where we are going.

So we understand theologically that the world around us is dealing with a lot of issues and problems and suffering. That in our hearts we have dealt with insecurities and longings and the things that tear up our relationships. Brokenness, broken hearts, broken homes, broken marriages, issues that we see, the plight of mankind and his suffering.

We understand theologically that God is not to blame for the suffering of mankind, but God had created mankind perfect in His image and had created the creative order perfect. And as a result of our rebellion toward God, there was a catastrophic breach in which mankind fell. And as a result of that fall, sin entered into the earth, fractured that relationship with God, fractured that relationship with the creation.

As a result of that, we have to deal with suffering and pain and death and famine and wars and all the things that we’re dealing with right now is because of the fall. And one of the things that was made clear in the first week of this series is that you cannot read the Bible and come away blaming God for the sufferings of mankind. But theologically we want to understand that God is exonerated from our suffering. That we are dealing with the things that we’re dealing with in our hearts, in our homes, in our societies because of sin in the earth.

Sin and Death Sentence
Week two, we understand that because of sin in the earth, sin has caused all men to be under the death sentence of that sin. That the Bible says for all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, and that the wages of sin is death. The word «wages» is what we earn for what we have done.

And we understand theologically that because of sin, mankind is under the death sentence of that sin. We understand that while some preachers don’t want to talk about it—that it’s not sexy, we don’t want to rouse people, we don’t want to make people feel afraid—that a lot of us will not talk about what is the punishment for sin.

We understand that according to Jesus in the New Testament that God will fully execute his wrath against all sin in a place called hell, in which those who end up there will be conscious of that place. They will be tormented day and night for all eternity. They will not escape that place.

We understand that hell is a real place. It’s a place of horrific torment. And while people don’t want to talk about that place, we understand clearly from Christ himself and the New Testament that hell is the execution of God’s punishment against all sin.

We understand theologically that apart from Jesus we are by nature objects of God’s wrath, and that we are storing up wrath for ourselves on the day of judgment. So we understand that all of us, every single person, was born already condemned. Amen. Every man and woman was born already condemned. That is, every person is headed to hell already.

Escape Through Christ
And we understand theologically last week that the only escape from that death sentence is faith in Christ and faith in Christ alone. We understand that salvation is a rescue. It’s a drawing of people by the sovereign grace of God into a relationship with him through the person of Christ. And as a result of salvation, we are rescued primarily from the wrath to come. The Bible teaches us that.

So we understand where suffering came from. We understand the death sentence of all men. We understand that we are condemned already. We understand that there is no escape from that condemnation except through the person of Christ. We understand that there is no other way. There is no other religion. There’s no other name. There’s no other person. There is no good behavior nor morality. There is nothing we can do to escape the death sentence upon men except through the person of Christ.

And we understand clearly that the Bible teaches us this. God himself in the person of Christ taught us this clearly. So we understand that man is hopelessly separated from God because of sin. He has no means of bridging that gap in and of himself. All people are born condemned, and faith in Christ alone will bring us out of that condemnation.

Making the Gospel Known
Now with this in view, how is it that we are to make known to the lost world about this condemnation? How is it we are to make known to the lost world about this coming wrath? How is it that we are supposed to make known to the lost world about this judgment? How are we to share the message of hope with our family members, our friends, with the world at large?

What did Jesus say to the Christian church? What were some of his final words before he left? You know, final words are very, very important. If you were never going to see someone again and they said some words to you, you would want to hold fast to whatever they said.

What are some of the final words that Jesus said concerning how we make known that message of condemnation and how we make known the message of hope? He begins to say to us in Mark chapter 16. Mark, a companion of Peter, he writes in Mark chapter 16 beginning in verse 15. He said, this is what I want you to do now that you have all this truth, now that you understand the plight of humanity, now that you understand the only escape from the penalty of sin. This is what I want you to do.

So he’s talking to believers now, those who are followers. This is what he says to you and me. He says in Mark 16:15, he said to them—somebody shout the first word—go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Or preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

And these signs will accompany those who believe. In my name they will drive out demons. They will speak with new tongues. They will pick up snakes with their hands, and whatever poison they drink will not hurt them. They will place their hands on the sick, and people will get well.

So he said go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. And he continues that in another part when Matthew, his follower, wrote in Matthew chapter 28 beginning in verse 18. Jesus said to them, all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

The Great Commission Explained
And so we see here what is called the Great Commission of Jesus for the Christian church. I say this all the time: he did not just call us to have services, but he actually gave us a commission. He said to us, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And then he tells us to go and make disciples.

So we understand from this text that the Christian church, every believer together, we have been commissioned to preach the gospel to the lost. We have been commissioned to make disciples of the found. You know what a disciple is? A follower of Jesus, not fans of Jesus—like I like him but I don’t follow him. I like him on Sunday but I ignore him throughout the week.

So he commissioned us to preach the gospel to the lost and to make disciples of the found. And the beginning of the Christian work, the beginning of the work of the church, the beginning of all of our labor begins with the gospel. It begins with the spread of the gospel.

And this is a word we talk about a lot in this church but have never really broken down. So what is the gospel? We preach it, we talk about it, we post it, we talk about it to all who have heard. What is the gospel?

You know what the gospel is? The gospel comes from the Greek word «evangelion, ” which means good news. I want our church to understand that because we are a gospel-centered church. The gospel comes from a Greek word „evangelion“ which means good news.

And what is that good news? It is a meta-theme that is running all the way from Genesis to Revelation. It’s the thread that runs all the way through the Bible. It is a meta-theme that says man is in a depraved state, man is separated from God, man is helpless. God in his love sends his son into the earth to rescue man from the penalty of sin. And if any person will put their faith in Christ, they will escape hell. They enter into a relationship with the Father. That is the gospel at its core.

Social Challenges with Jesus
Now there are some social challenges we have with the gospel, especially with the person of Jesus. If you pay any attention to social media, if you watch TV, if you pay attention to the news, or you could just have a conversation with somebody at your job—one of the social problems we see right now is that Jesus, his name is offensive. He’s offensive on social media. He’s offensive at your job. He’s offensive in public life. He’s offensive in the government.

So Jesus is offensive. There are a lot of people who have superficial views of Jesus because, in their minds, they think that he’s not necessary. There’s a lot of people who think, well, why do I need Jesus? Why is the gospel necessary? This especially among those who are wealthy, the morally elite people who think that I’m a good person. People of other faiths, atheists.

There’s so many people in our society who think to themselves, you know, Christ is not really necessary. Why do so many people see Jesus as unnecessary? Why are so many people walking away from Jesus and the Christian faith? Why do we have friends who say, man, I used to be a Christian—you know how the rest goes—I used to be a Christian but… They have abandoned the faith.

Why do so many people walk away from Jesus? Why are so many people abandoning the faith? Where have we gone wrong in the spread of the gospel?

Critique of Modern Gospel
I want to begin with an excerpt I pulled from an article titled „That Wonderful Plan for Your Life“ written by a well-known preacher and Bible teacher. I want to read this quote to you from the article.

This is what the preacher wrote: I am amazed at the variety of things that are offered to us every day to help us find the secret of successful living. Magazine articles by the dozens tell us how to cope with various problems. TV commercials, dozens to a program it seems, bombard us telling us how to be successful in life or at least how to look successful even if we really are not. Health clubs offer us saunas and whirlpool baths to relax us so that we can face life with equanimity, while various kinds of drugs are available to turn us on and turn us off and take us out or whatever.

All of this is evidence of the universal search for the secret of enjoyment of life. Billions of dollars are spent every day on this quest. Many of us are familiar with Bill Bright’s four spiritual laws, the first of which starts like this: God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.

Now watch how the preacher finishes the statement when talking to someone about his relationship with God. This is an appropriate place to begin.

Now none of you are horrified at what I just read because we have all bought into the pursuit of the wonderful life, the great plan that God has for you. And I want you to notice very carefully in this article that the focus of the gospel in this article is an appeal to come to God so he can solve your problems. It’s an appeal to come to God to medicate your issues. It’s an appeal to come to God so that in God you can find enjoyment in life.

If you examine the American church carefully and if you examine the preaching in the American church carefully, if you listen carefully to Christian programming, if you read articles that come in the mail, if you pay attention to the books that you buy, especially in the self-help section of the bookstore, you will notice that there are subtle nuances and a lot of people’s preaching about coming to God to medicate your problems, coming to God to escape issues, coming to God because he has a wonderful plan he wants to unfold for your life.

You will see it in preaching, you will see it in magazines, you will see it on bumper stickers, you see it on t-shirts: come to God so he can solve all of your issues.

But I want you to notice what is not in the article. That in the article the preacher makes no mention to the unbeliever about sin, no mention to the unbeliever about repentance, no mention to the unbeliever about judgment, no mention to the unbeliever about the coming wrath of God, no mention to the unbeliever about their current state in the face of God, no mention to the unbeliever about the warnings of hell, no mention to the unbeliever about the purpose for which Jesus came and died, no mention to the unbeliever about man’s state of being already condemned, no mention to the unbeliever about everything Jesus said to Nicodemus in John 3:16–18.

We don’t see any mention of anything Jesus said to a man who came to him seeking eternal life, a man who came to him seeking God. We see no mention of those things.

And this quote, my friends, by a well-known Bible teacher and preacher is a picture of what much of the American or modern gospel has degenerated to. The modern gospel, the American gospel has degenerated to a felt-needs gospel. It is a scratch-them-where-they-itch gospel. It is find where they’re hurting and then give them Jesus to medicate that place as an invite to salvation.

It is: your marriage is bad—Jesus will fix your marriage. Your finances are bad—Jesus will fix your finances. You have a hole in your heart—Jesus will fill that hole. It is find wherever they’re hurting and tell them Jesus will medicate that place.

It is find someone who is down on their luck and say if you give your life to Jesus he’ll make everything better. It is find someone who is confused and say if you give your life to Jesus he’ll have a wonderful purpose for your life. That is the invite of the modern gospel. That is the ticket we’re using now to draw people to Jesus. It is find out where they’re hurt, find out where they’re suffering and say Jesus will fix that—just come to him.

Now why that sounds loving and why it sounds noble—that Jesus, if you come to him, will make your life better—the truth is that approach is very faulty. And that approach produces false converts. And that approach sets people up to be disappointed. That approach causes people to walk away from the faith some years later disillusioned with God. And that approach is not biblical.

Because we draw people in with promises that we don’t know God is going to keep. And then when God does not keep those promises that we lured them into, they get mad at God and they walk away from the faith.

But what about the wonderful plan that God had for the lives of the first followers of Jesus? What was the wonderful plan that he had for their lives? What were the promises that God had for them—that everything was going to be okay, that they would never face problems, that they would never go through trials, that they would never go through persecution? That if they come to Jesus, Jesus walked up to them on the seashore and said follow me, I will make everything perfect? I don’t recall him saying that.

I don’t recall Jesus walking up to people on the side of the seashore and saying follow me and I will make everything better. Did anybody read that in your Bible? I recall him saying I will make you fishers of men, but I never saw Jesus anywhere walking up to sinners and saying follow me and I will make everything better for you.

So what was the beautiful plan he had for the lives of his first followers? Let’s consider some of them. Stephen, a young man, the first Christian martyr, stoned to death in Jerusalem in AD 35. Never made it to old age. Wonderful plan for his life.

How about Matthew, the disciple of Jesus? He was beheaded in Ethiopia in AD 60. What an awesome plan for his life. How about James, the brother of Jesus? He was carried to the top of the temple in Jerusalem, tossed off the temple, landed and broke everything in his body but still moving. Historians write when they saw him moving, somebody picked up a club and walked over to him and bashed his skull in with a club. He died in AD 64.

How about Andrew, another disciple of Jesus? He was crucified in AD 70. How about Thomas, another follower of Jesus? He was speared to death in AD 70. How about Mark, who was a friend of Peter? He was dragged until his body broke into pieces. He died in Alexandria in AD 64.

How about Luke, the physician and historian, companion of Paul? Luke was hung in Athens in AD 93. How about Barnabas, friend of Paul? He was burned to death in Cyprus in AD 64. How about that big mouth apostle, y’all know his name—Peter? Peter was crucified, but because he felt unworthy to be crucified like Jesus, he elected to be crucified upside down and was crucified upside down in Rome in AD 69.

And how about John, that apostle who Jesus loved? Jesus loves me, he’ll make everything perfect. He was captured for preaching the gospel, tossed into a vessel and boiled in oil and survived, and then banished to the island of Patmos where he spent the rest of his days in exile and died an old man in AD 98.

And what about that famous evangelist, the apostle Paul? What did Jesus say was the plan for his life? He said to Ananias, I want you to go find the dude Saul. I’ve chosen him to be my instrument. I knocked him down to the ground, I blinded him, he’s been blind for 3 days, he’s waiting for a word from me. I want you to go send a word to him of my plans that I have for his life.

And this is what I want you to say to him, Ananias, in Acts 9:15–16: But the Lord said to Ananias, go, this man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and the people of Israel. And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake. Hallelujah.

Paul suffered great challenges in his ministry and one time was despaired to the point of almost suicide. He was persecuted by his own men, in danger on land and danger in the city and danger in the country, shipwreck at sea, ended up on an island, was bit by a snake—side note, he shook off the snake, shook off the enemy like he was bitten but didn’t die—and was beheaded in Rome in AD 66.

See, right now as I’m talking to you, there are so many people right now who are attending conferences and reading books and listening to Christian programming. And you know what they’re hearing? They’re hearing come to Jesus for your house, come to Jesus for a car, come to Jesus, he’ll make life better. Marriage is a mess—come to Jesus to fix the marriage. Come to Jesus to get stuff. Come to Jesus to be great. Come to Jesus so God can sing your praises. Come to Jesus because you’re all of that and a bag of chips. Come to Jesus, you’ll never suffer. Come to Jesus, you’ll never worry again. Come to Jesus, he’ll fill every void. Come to Jesus, you will never have a bad day. Come to Jesus, you will never grind, you will never be broke, you will never lose a job, you will never go through divorce, you will never be abandoned, you will never get a disease, you will never get a doctor’s report. Come to Jesus and you will have a perfect life. Come to Jesus and you will have a wonderful marvelous life. Come to Jesus, he is the only way to true happiness.

And all across this country thousands of people are biting on that fruit at conferences, shouting down preachers at that fruit, running to altars on those false promises, flooding the altars on those promises. We say 55 people got saved that day. They’re buying books and getting happy about that. They’re posting about God is going to make my life perfect.

We’re drawing in all of this fish with the bait of promises that Jesus is going to make life perfect. And as a result of that, people are buying that. And then they’re entering into the faith, they are attending churches, they’re trying to do the Jesus things, they’re listening to preaching, they can’t feel him when they’re praising, can’t understand the Bible, they don’t know why people are excited. They walk with him for a little while. They were never really repentant. They were probably never born again. And then they say stuff like this: you know what, I tried that Jesus thing. I tried that Jesus thing, but it didn’t work for me. Because I started going through the inevitability of trials and tribulation and issues and problems. And the preacher told me that if I came to Jesus he would miracle me out of all of that. But you know, I tried this for 5 years and I lost my job during that time and I had a divorce during that time and I was betrayed during that time and I got a doctor’s report during that time. And I thought that Jesus would keep me from all of that. You know what, I tried that Jesus thing. It didn’t work for me. I’m going to go try something else.

And so they get disillusioned with God. They think that God is not able to keep his promises that the preacher said. Because they came to him for cotton candy and he didn’t give them sweetness. They say I don’t like the taste of the bitter things that I have to deal with. I tried Jesus. I’m done with Jesus. They walk away from Jesus. It happens all the time.

This is the modern gospel. This is what I call the felt-needs gospel—that is, find out where the itch is and scratch them right there with Jesus. Itching ears—find out where they itch, find out what they want and just say Jesus will give them that.

So I meet somebody that’s down on their luck and believing for a husband—I said if you give your life to Jesus he’ll give you a husband. All I got to do is find out where they’re itching. Man, I want to—oh, you’ve been struggling for long—if you come to Jesus he’ll make you wealthy. Oh, you got to—if you come to Jesus he will… Just find out where they itch and give them Jesus where they itch. That’s called the felt-needs gospel.

Flaws of Felt-Needs Gospel
And you know there’s a couple flaws with the felt-needs gospel. I just want to point some out to you.

Number one, the felt-needs gospel compels people to Christ for the wrong reasons—primarily blessings or fixing issues, which God does not promise he will fix every single problem we deal with but does promise he will be with us in every problem. For though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death… Is there anyone in here that never had problems and been saved? No.

Another problem with the felt-needs gospel: number two, the felt-needs gospel restricts evangelism to those who are unhappy or dealing with problems. That means if I only use problems to draw people to Jesus, what about the person that doesn’t have problems? What about the dude that’s wealthy and enjoying for a season? What about the person that says listen, I got cars, I got money, I got houses. Listen, I’m not—you can front and act all you want—I enjoy my sin.

You know people say come to Jesus, he’ll save you from your nasty life. No, I enjoyed my sin. Am I the only one that enjoyed my sin? No sir. You can front all you want. I enjoyed driving down the highway with one knee and rolling up while grace was keeping me. I enjoyed going to the ABC store every Friday and have my fifth of Henny and slip it into Lena’s purse—say hold that until later on. No, I enjoyed that. I enjoyed all the women I slept with, every size, color, shape. I enjoyed all of that. See, y’all don’t want—I enjoyed everything I told it, everything I put in my body, every place that I went, every woman I deceived. No, I enjoyed my sin. My sin was not nasty to me. I was enjoying my sin.

What about the person that’s so wealthy they feel insulated from problems? They have cars, money, houses, clothes. They can buy help, they buy time. They don’t seemingly have no problems. If it’s just a felt-needs gospel, how do you appeal to the wealthy man? Are you going to tell them man, if you’re hurting—I’m not hurting. Well, you know if you’re struggling—I’m a millionaire. Well, you know if you’ve been to—well, you know I got a good wife. Well, you know if you’ve been dealing with sickness—well, you know I’m healthy. You got to find what’s your next avenue. Well, you know if you got a hole in your heart—I’m enjoying where I’m at. What’s your next avenue?

So the felt-needs gospel restricts the gospel only to those who are down on their luck.

Another flaw of the felt-needs gospel: the felt-needs gospel can’t be preached in countries where there’s mass suffering or where there’s Christian persecution. You can’t go into China and say come to God because he’s going to make everything perfect—some of them I’m not even going to make it 10 years in the faith. You can’t go into the Middle East and preach the American gospel. What about those Christians that were beheaded on the shores of the Mediterranean when their blood filled the sea? What was the wonderful plan God had for their lives? You couldn’t preach that to them in the moment.

You can’t take the American gospel and take that to a nation where people are being executed for the faith. Your gospel will fall flat. What are you going to say to husbands who are being dragged out of their house and beheaded and decapitated in front of their wives and children? You can’t preach that. So that means the felt-needs gospel is restricted to America. You definitely can’t carry it into a place where there’s persecution.

Number four, the felt-needs gospel avoids dealing with man’s core issue before God, which is sin and repentance. Like the quote that I read to you—it’s come to Jesus for all of this but we never talked about sin, repentance, judgment. So it never addresses my core issue. Because listen, you can come and medicate me with house, car and all of that but I’m still going to have a problem on the inside because a house can’t eradicate the sin problem and blessings can’t eradicate the sin problem.

So we never really touch the issue of what’s going on in my life. You know that’s like giving a person who’s sick in the hospital medicine to keep them comfortable at night only to find them dead in the morning. Let’s medicate them with the felt-needs gospel only for them to die and be eternally damned.

Another flaw of the felt-needs gospel, the modern gospel: the felt-needs gospel is not biblical. No matter who preaches it—even your favorite preacher, even your favorite rapper’s favorite rapper, even your favorite preacher’s favorite preacher—no matter when you hear it or whose mouth it comes out of, it’s not biblical.

It doesn’t mean that they are false prophets, but we have been duped because of our culture. This modern felt-needs gospel, the scratch-them-where-they-itch is not biblical. Amen. Nowhere in the New Testament do we ever see Jesus or the early followers walking up to people and using a promise of a perfect life as a draw card to salvation. You can’t find that in the New Testament.

Examples Where Felt-Needs Fails
Consider this: last week I told you a story about my Uncle David who was jammed up in the hospital with cancer eating out his body. Let me ask you a question. If you could supernaturally go back in time to the day before he died and walk into his hospital room and had 15 minutes with him to tell him about Jesus, what would you tell him?

Let’s just say I sent you there: say go and tell him about the blessings of Jesus. And you had 10 minutes with him. You already know he’s going to die the next day. What are you going to tell him? That God has a wonderful plan for his life? That if he comes to Jesus he’s not going to have any problems? That if he comes to Christ God is going to fix everything? But you already know he’s going to die tomorrow. What are you going to tell him?

If you take the felt-needs gospel, you know what—you’re not going to have anything to say. You’re going to be jammed up in that room. And any promise you made him knowing he’s going to die, you would be a wicked person for doing that.

Last week I also talked about the 9/11 tragedy. Remember we talked about the 9/11 tragedy when people were trying to decide between feeling the fire or jumping to their death. What if we went back in time to September 10th and you were standing in the boardroom with all of these people—men, women, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers—and you’re looking at all their faces. They got plans for next week, they got plans for vacation for the summer, they’re already planning what they’re going to buy for Christmas—it’s September now—they’re already making plans.

And you know what’s going to happen. You know that tomorrow the majority of them are going to die in unspeakable horror. Some of them will jump to their death, some of them will be burned to death, some of them will be crushed under the weight of iron. And you had 15 minutes with them. What are you going to tell them if you had to win them to Jesus? What are you going to use as your draw card? The wonderful plan for your life? God is going to make everything better?

Like I’m talking to you Christians—if you were in that room on September 10th or with my Uncle David knowing they were going to die, what are you going to use as your draw card to bring them to Jesus? What promise are you going to give them that you can really say God is going to keep? You can’t say anything with the wonderful plan. You can’t say anything with the felt-needs. What itch are you going to scratch in that moment?

One of the men in the room says yo, you know what man, I’ve been—I just want a new home because I don’t like my apartment and I’ve been grinding for so long. And you’re standing in the room on September—man, if you give your life to Jesus he’ll give you a brand new house. And you know he’s going to be one of the people that’s going to jump from the building the next day. Your gospel won’t work. Your gospel is going to fall short.

You know why your gospel will fall short in that moment? The American gospel will fall short in that moment because the felt-needs gospel is not biblical.

So if we can’t preach the felt-needs gospel, if we can’t preach a man-centered gospel, if we can’t use promises of things to draw people to the Savior—if I just ruined your pitch for a long time to your family, I know you’re mad, that’s why you’re so quiet, because I just ruined your whole pitch—now you’re like man, what up? I just disarmed you from what’s been in your artillery. So Pastor, why you took that BB gun from me?

Well, if you can’t use that BB gun, if you can’t use the felt-needs gospel, if you can’t use the man-centered gospel, then what else do we have? What did the Bible give us to draw people to the Savior? What other card do we have that’s effective in properly communicating the gospel? Or what could you have told my Uncle David the day before he died?

What does the Bible say—and not your favorite preacher, because we love preaching but we don’t read the Bible, we love preachers but we don’t search the scriptures for ourselves—so I know what your favorite preacher has said, but what do the scriptures say? What’s the draw card of the scriptures to Jesus?

The Role of the Law
Let’s start Psalm 19:7. The law of the Lord is perfect—somebody shout the next word—converting the soul. What does it mean to convert? To transform, to move from death to life, to bring into, to pass over, to bring an awareness. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.

What is perfect? The law of the Lord. What is the law of the Lord? The scriptures. Now you remember when the rich man went to hell and he was begging for a sign? What did Jesus say they have to bring them to salvation? They will get no sign, they will get no false promises. They have Moses and the prophets. They have the scriptures. They will get no sign. Jesus said they will get no false promises. What do they have to bring them to repentance? They have Moses and the prophets—tagline, they have the scriptures.

That means in here there is something in here to bring men to repentance. Oh, there is something in here—not felt needs, not Jesus is going to give you the house—there is something in here buried in the pages of these scriptures to bring men to repentance. I wonder what that is.

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. Specifically what law? It’s all the way back in the Old Testament, back in Moses—that’s what Jesus said. What law? The moral law. What’s the moral law? It’s coming up on the screen—these 10 commandments.

You shall not have any other gods before me. You shall not make any idols. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder—I’ve never killed no one, but Jesus expanded this. Remember the Sermon on the Mount—he says now I say to you if anyone even hates somebody, you’re guilty of murder. So he strapped that to more people.

You shall not commit adultery—I’ve never committed adultery, but now I say to you if you’ve ever looked with lust, if you’ve ever looked at someone and be like ooh, you’re guilty of adultery. That implicates maybe everybody in this room. I’ve dealt with lust—have you?

You shall not steal—man, you got that pen in your purse that came from that job, you got them office paper clips, you filled your home office with the stuff from your job. Yes you have, I have. You’ve lied on your taxes. You got four year olds with bad credit. I’ve never stole but we got three year olds with bad credit, especially in the black community—increase my tax return, buy that house in the four year old’s name. I know three year olds who got cars in their name.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor—man, let me tell you what sister Jenkins did, girl, I saw you saw what I saw, you wasn’t there but I think I saw.

You shall not covet—man, I like Kesha’s car, man you know there’s nice cars like that down—no I don’t like, I want Kesha’s car. Well you know you could get a but no, I want her car. I want that one. I want Enrique’s truck. I want Pastor Phillips' 2007 Maxima—no you don’t, you don’t want that 07 Maxima. I drive a 07 Maxima. You might like sometimes be doing the Harlem Shake—right, I’m not ashamed, I’m content. I ain’t got no car payment, I’m good, I’m saving some money right now. I free and shake for free.

I want pastor’s anointing but you don’t fast and pray and you don’t live with integrity and you compromise, you do stuff in the dark—you can’t have an anointing doing that. Side note, because Kenny brought this up—your gifts belong to you, God can’t take them back. Anointing is power that comes from him—he can strip you of that. You can’t live any way in the dark and have an anointing.

That’s why some people get up here and sing and you can’t feel nothing—I’m not talking about Victory, I’m talking about in the church, cuz Mary’s holy, like Mary’s one of the most holiest people I’ve ever met. I come around Mary and I get convicted. You can’t just sing and live any life and have an anointing. You can’t live any life and preach and have—that’s why people can preach and we feel nothing, and people can sing and we feel nothing, and people can play we feel nothing—no anointing.

You can use your gift anywhere you want but that power comes from the Lord. No, an anointing costs something. And wherever there is an anointing there is a sacrifice. There is no anointing without sacrifice. Olives have to be crushed to make oil. I promise you every person who’s anointed in private, they’re being crushed to make oil. No, you’re not going to live any way and have an anointing. No, not happening.

Kenny, you trying to get me off my game, man. Let me back to the Ten Commandments.

So this is God’s moral law. Why don’t you stare at them really good. Let’s stare at them right and watch if you stare at them long enough, you know what you’ll notice? You know what you’ll see? Yourself. Because if you stare at these commandments long enough, you know what you realize starting from the first one? You have not kept them.

You know what else you’ll realize? You can’t keep them. The majority of us in this room can’t even get past the first one—have no other gods besides Yahweh. That means if I’ve ever loved anything more than God—guilty. You shall not make any idols—if I’ve had anything that I’ve adored more than God—guilty. I shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain—GD—guilty.

We don’t even have to finish because if you stare at this long enough, you know what you see? You see yourself. You know what you see? Failure. You know what you see? Guilt. You know what you see? You’re sentenced. That if God judges every human being by this standard, you know what that renders you and renders me? Guilty.

So if we can’t live up to them and I’ve already taught you in Galatians that we’re not justified by them—ooo this is good—there’s preachers be like I’m preaching good now, no, I’m trying to teach good—if you can’t keep them and I’ve already taught you in Galatians you’re set free because you can’t be justified by them, but if they’re still in effect then what is the purpose of the Ten Commandments?

If Jesus was preaching about them and Paul was preaching about them and we can’t be justified by them and we can’t keep them, then why are we still talking about something we can’t keep and something that we can’t be justified by? It can’t save me, I can’t keep all 10—then why is Jesus still preaching about it? Why were the apostles preaching about it? Why is it still in effect today?

First Timothy chapter 1, the apostle Paul wrote to a young pastor teaching him and he said to him: we know that the law is good if one uses it properly. Stop. That means this law can be used in a way it’s not supposed to be used. So what are some ways we misuse the law?

We misuse the law when we try to tell people do this or God won’t love you—that’s called legalism. We’ve come out of churches like that. We strap heavy burdens to people’s shoulders—say if you don’t read your Bible enough, if you don’t fast enough, if you don’t pray enough, if you don’t go to church enough, God does not love you. If you don’t keep all these laws—that’s called legalism.

Another way we can use this wrong is if we say if you don’t keep these you’re never going to be saved—that’s throwing out the blood of Jesus. So we can misuse the law.

But then he goes on to tell us what is the proper function of the law. This is so good. Verse 9: we also know that the law is made—not for the righteous. Who is the righteous? Those who are saved. The law is not for those who are saved. That if it’s not for Christians, who is the law for?

For the law is not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, those who are in rebellion against God, the ungodly, the sinful, the unholy, the irreligious, atheists, for those who kill fathers and mothers, for murderers, for sexually immoral people, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine.

Wow. You know what Paul just said? This moral law is for everyone who is not saved. The moral law is not for Christians. Remember what did Jesus say—they, the unsaved, they have Moses and the prophets who wrote this—Moses. The moral law is not for Christians. Man, I know your last pastor was trying to strap you down—the moral law is for unsaved people.

Why is the moral law for unsaved people? Romans 3, Paul writes to the church in Rome: now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law for what purpose? So that every mouth—how many mouths? Every—may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

That the purpose of the law is to stop every self-righteous person from saying I don’t need Jesus, I don’t need God. It’s to stop the mouth of every person who says I don’t need God. It’s to do what? To hold the whole world accountable to say no matter who you are, what your socioeconomic status is, what your felt need is or how much you’re enjoying sin, you are held accountable before God.

The moral law is to condemn every single person to say every person, no matter where you are, you are guilty. Yes sir. It’s to hold every person accountable to God.

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law. That is, you could keep them and still would not be made righteous. Rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

That the law stops the mouth of every person who claims to be self-righteous. Like there’s a political candidate right now who says I don’t have to ask God for forgiveness because I’m a good person. What felt need you’re going to use with the billionaire? But is he guilty of that moral law? We don’t even have to figure it out—we already know. Your felt-needs gospel is not going to work for the billionaire front runner.

So I don’t have to ask God for forgiveness because I am a good person. What does the moral law do? Stop that mouth from saying you are not good because the scripture says no one is good, not even one. Why is no one good? Because all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. What is God’s glory? The moral law is his glory. Did you know that? How is the moral law his glory? Because the first four if you kept them keeps a perfect relationship between you and God. The other six if you kept them keeps a perfect relationship between you and people.

And because we have sinned we’ve fallen short of that standard—that’s how we have issues with God and issues with people.

Do we have proof that it gives consciousness of sin? Sure. The same writer Paul wrote in Romans 7:7: What then shall we say? Is the law sinful? Certainly not. Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said you shall not covet.

So what Paul is saying: listen, I’m walking around condemned, I’m enjoying sin for a season. I would have never known I was guilty had I not been confronted with the law.

What if I just break one and I’ve been holding it down in the other places? Okay, the brother of Jesus writes—James 2: whoever keeps the law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

So I just had one idol one season in my life—guilty of all of it. Man, how could he have cheated on his wife—guilty of all of it. How could they have stolen—you are guilty of all of it. You’ll look at the law and say look, you’ll go down the first two and look at the other eight—I ain’t like that dude cuz I ain’t even done the other eight—self-righteous. You break one, you’re guilty in God’s sight of all of them.

So you mean I’m an adulterer, I’m a blasphemer, I’m a liar, I covet, I stolen, I’ve murdered, I’ve dishonored my parents and the Sabbath—all of you including me. There’s no one sitting in this room who’s innocent.

What about those who’ve never read the law? Let’s cover that one. The same man, Romans 2:12: All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but those who obey the law will be declared righteous.

Indeed, when Gentiles, non-believers, who do not have the law, by nature do the things required by the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times defending them.

This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

What does that mean? That is, you can go in any nation of the world and they know that murder is wrong. You can go in any nation of the world and you know that killing someone is wrong. How do they know killing someone is wrong with no Bible? God has written the law on the heart of every person.

So the only way to transgress that law—you have to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. You have to ignore your conscience to break the law. You don’t think when you steal you know that’s wrong—you feel it. When we lie we feel it. If we murder we feel it. When we hate—because it’s—you can’t escape that, saved or unsaved. The only way to do that and sleep is to suppress your conscience.

That’s like G Dep—anybody know who G Dep is? Used to be a rapper with Bad Boy. G Dep was doing his thing but put out a platinum album, was on his way. Do you know what this man did? Where is G Dep? He’s in prison. How did he get there? He went and turned himself in because he had murdered somebody in his past. What was he dealing with? The moral law written on his unsaved heart.

So the law leaves every man guilty.

What did we learn in the Sermon on the Mount? See this is why the Bible is so powerful—I love the Bible. What did Jesus say in the Sermon on the Mount? I have not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.

So there was only one person who fulfilled the law perfectly. That’s why only his righteousness—there was only one man that fulfilled the law perfectly. That’s why his righteousness is the only righteousness that is sufficient to escape the wrath to come. That’s why anyone who is in him, Jesus—anyone who’s clothed in his righteousness escapes the penalty of being guilty of those laws. Because only one person kept it perfectly. Therefore only one person could be a spotless lamb.

I have not come to abolish the law. I have not come to take these and throw them away. I’ve come to live them out perfectly so that whoever gets in me and I am in him, he’s clothed now in my righteousness. I exchange my righteousness for his unrighteousness, therefore justifying him before God as if he never sinned because of my perfect righteousness.

I love this next verse—everybody look at me. The whole message changes on this next verse.

So what then is the real purpose of the moral law as an element for spreading the gospel? Galatians 3:24—this is going to shock you—wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

What is the purpose of the law? To chase men to the cross. What is the purpose of the moral law? To show sinners that you are condemned and that you are guilty and to make them run to the cross—not being compelled by just love but being chased to Jesus by the guilt of sin. To make them run to the cross.

I like what Trip Lee said in a song—he was with Lecrae—he did this song called „Cash or Christ.“ He said if they only knew the real truth about the coming wrath, they would probably race to him faster than a running back.

If the preachers only made known the truth about the coming wrath, people would probably run to Jesus faster than a running back. But we ain’t running to him when you say come to him, he’ll make everything perfect—I don’t need him. But when you understand you’re guilty, when you understand you’re headed to hell, when you understand you can’t escape, when you understand that nothing is going to get you out—you know what the moral law does? It gets on a man’s back and it kicks him down to the floor and says run to the Savior.

The moral law grabs you by your neck and drags you to the foot of the cross, Jesus. The law is a schoolmaster to teach us that we are guilty and we have need of a savior. Hallelujah.

The law was designed to chase men to the cross.

And why is it—like I read to you that article earlier—listen to me, this is important—why is it you can’t give people the felt-needs gospel? I’m going to show you why, very important.

2 Corinthians 7:10: For godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

You know what that means? If I make somebody feel like just come to Jesus for this because you’re down on your luck, they’ll come to Jesus with worldly sorrow—feeling sorry for themselves. But what does worldly sorrow do? It leads the person to death. What does that mean? It brings in people who think they are saved but they were never really converted. And we would have medicated them for decades in the church only for them to die in the morning.

But what does godly sorrow lead to? What is godly sorrow? Lord, I have offended you because of sin. I didn’t know that I hurt you like that. That when I see myself before a holy God as a sinful person who is the object of wrath—that pain in my heart that I’ve hurt God, I’ve broken laws and I am an object of wrath—that godly sorrow begins to well up in my heart. That’s called conviction of sin.

And when that conviction of sin comes, I shout things like they did on the day of Pentecost: what must I do to be saved? Repent and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The bad news is that you’re guilty. What is the good news? That Jesus has paid the price for sin and if you put your faith in him you will escape the penalty of your sin.

Why is it so important to understand the law? Because this is how mistaken the gospel—you cannot preach grace to people who don’t understand law. If you don’t understand the bad news, you will never appreciate the good news.

Parachute Illustration
If you listen, we keep telling people come to Jesus for stuff without repentance. And if people don’t know that they’re sinners, if they don’t understand the bad news, they will never appreciate the good news. That’s why people walk away from Jesus. That’s why they think he’s unnecessary. That’s why they leave him with no fear of what’s going to happen without him. Because when you don’t understand the bad news, you will never appreciate the good news.

So I want to show you an illustration I learned 10 years ago to illustrate this point. And I’m going to begin to land my sermon on this point.

A man is on a plane…

A different man gets on a different flight…

Knowledge about the jump causes him to cling tighter to the parachute… No matter what happens on the flight, he clings to this parachute for dear life because he knows in 30 minutes he’s going to have to jump 30,000 ft.

The first man didn’t have knowledge about the coming jump, so when he took off the parachute and threw it down, he never knew that in 30 minutes he was going to jump without his parachute—not knowing his parachute was stained in the blood of Jesus.

The second man, when he jumped, was clothed in the righteousness of that parachute. When God saw him, he was justified—just as if he never sinned. He parachuted all the way to glory.

But when we tell people put on the backpack—give Jesus a try, try Jesus on, he’ll make you look better, feel better, try him on—if you try him on you’ll never have a problem ever again—they try him on in an experimental fashion and then they take him off. That is the modern gospel: don’t try Jesus.

I’m just going to keep my parachute… While I was uncomfortable on my flight, while I went through relationship trouble, lost job, house, car, ministry didn’t do as good, bankruptcy, doctor’s report, loved one died—I was so uncomfortable at times, but I held on to my parachute.

Because we understand that the gospel is not for just those who are hurting. The gospel is also for those who are enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season. The gospel is for all people because all have sinned.

Jesus told us what the gospel was for in Luke 4:18–19: The spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor… freedom to the prisoners… recovery of sight for the blind… to set the oppressed free… to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord’s favor.

Who’s the gospel for? The poor in spirit (not filled with Holy Spirit), prisoners (in penalty of sin), blind (blinded by Satan), oppressed (by the devil).

The gospel is not a promise of happiness—the gospel is an invite to righteousness.

2 Corinthians 5:21: God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

You know what is the ultimate plan God has for your life? That you would be conformed to the image of his son. He’s working on transforming you into the image of his son—through trouble, circumstances that mold you (patience, love, forgiveness, wisdom, intimacy).

This is the gospel—it’s not an invite to happiness. You don’t get no promise of happiness. It’s an invite to righteousness.

God’s love proven at the cross—not stuff. Look to the cross for assurance of his love, even in divorce, loss, doctor’s report.

Every time you see the cross, let your heart say he loved me.

True evangelism: a gospel which merely says come to Jesus and offers him as a friend and offers a marvelous new life without convincing of sin is not New Testament evangelism. The essence of evangelism is to start by preaching the law… True evangelism must always start by preaching the law—it must start with sin and repentance.

The draw card to salvation: you are a sinner, you are headed to hell, you cannot escape this, God sent his son to die—if you put faith in Jesus you will escape the jump to come.

Don’t try Jesus—run to Jesus.

Final Prayer

Father in the name of Jesus the sacrificial lamb, we thank you that you sent your son into the world to die and pay the penalty for all of our sin, the ransom for the punishment of our guilt. Father God I pray for every saved rescued person under the sound of my voice that no longer will we preach a man-centered felt-needs non-biblical gospel but I pray today we will be burdened with the fact that people are on the plane next to us and they too will have to jump. And I pray you will stir up in our hearts a burden for everyone sitting on the plane of life next to us—our fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, people in the stores, people in our job. I pray you help us not to be so blind—people in the industry, people we work with, our own children. Help us not to start moving through our daily affairs and not being concerned about the people who are on board the flight next to us who are going to have to jump without that parachute.

Father God I pray you would awaken the Christian church in America. I pray you will begin to silence this false preaching. I pray God in the name of Jesus there will be an awakening in the church and awakening in this church that we as a body will start preaching a biblical gospel that leads people to repentance and turning away from sin.

I pray you would awaken our hearts to be concerned about those who are lost and that we will be radically concerned about those who are going to jump without a parachute—that we will be in fear for them and that fear would drive us to pray and drive us to post and drive us to tweet and drive us to speak and drive us to preach and to declare the gospel boldly without being ashamed because we know we don’t want them to jump without that parachute.

And Lord I pray now for every person under the sound of my voice who does not know you—they are riding right now in the plane of life with no parachute. They’re going to jump and land in hell.