Philip Anthony Mitchell - WDJD (01/25/2026)

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In week five of "Hell’s Best Kept Secret," Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell challenges the popular WWJD ("What Would Jesus Do?") mindset, pointing out its flaws like speculation and personal opinion. He urges believers to ask "What Did Jesus Do?" instead, staying anchored in Scripture. Examining Jesus' gospel encounters with the rich young ruler, Samaritan woman, and adulterous woman, he shows Jesus consistently used the moral law first to expose sin and prepare hearts for grace—never false promises or felt-needs appeals—proving true evangelism confronts sin before offering rescue.

Welcome to Week Five
If you’re here for the very first time, I want to welcome you to Victory Church. I want to welcome you to week five of our series «Hell’s Best Kept Secret.» What we’re doing in this series is I’m building a theological statement that’s going to make sense to you at the very end of the series. For some of you, it should be making sense by now.

And really what we’re doing—not only am I building a theological statement that I want to make to you at the end of the series—but actually we’re having a conversation about the most important information any human being will ever hear in their entire life.

It is information that the devil is doing everything he can to divert people away from hearing that truth. And because we’re not afraid of sound doctrine in this church, we are exposing the secrets of the adversary.

Series Overview and Encouragement

And if it does not make sense to you by now, at the end of the series I will read to you a theological statement that puts the whole series together. These are interconnected messages, and we would say this is hell’s best kept secret. Amen.

If you missed any messages, I want to encourage you to go back and listen to them. They’re available on our website or our podcast via the Victory app.

And let’s go to Mark chapter 10 is where we’re going to begin today. Elder, take this from me if you don’t mind.

Y’all not going to get offended if I’m preaching in a t-shirt, right? I know there are a lot of people who are very traditional—no legalism at Victory, right? Is it okay if I’m preaching in a t-shirt now?

I know I’m not C. Diesel like Seou or like Enrique. I’m not swoke like them yet—not yet. Y’all, it’s all right if I’m preaching in a t-shirt, right? Like no legalism here.

Title: WWJD

Mark chapter 10 is where we’re going to begin this morning. Mark chapter 10, and we’re going to jump around the Word of God today. We’re going to read a lot of Scripture today, but it’s okay for us to study God’s Word in God’s house. Amen.

Okay, so I realize there’s a good majority of people in our church who take notes. And so for all you note-takers, the title of the sermon is just four letters, four dots. Okay, it’s just WWJD.

Title of this sermon is WWJD. He said, «Oh, Pastor, that’s the shirt you got on.» Yeah, you’re smart. I’m wearing my sermon title: WWJD.

Opening Prayer

Father, in the name of Jesus, we want to thank You. I want to thank You for the Scriptures—how they are alive and they are active, how You supernaturally preserved them for our learning, how they are sufficient for salvation, how they are sufficient for spiritual formation, for how they are transforming our lives even through this series.

We love Your Word. And Holy Spirit, I pray You would add a blessing now to the preaching of the Word that You authored through 40 different men, and that You would open our eyes that we can see and our hearts that we will understand.

We love You and we honor You. Yes, Lord. I said we love You and we honor You, Jesus. In Your matchless name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Thank you so much, gentlemen. I appreciate you. Love you. Y’all dudes—y’all hold it down.

Honoring the Band

You know, before I jump into the sermon, I just want to make mention about our band. They don’t receive a check from the church—and not because we don’t want to bless them, but we’re just not at that place yet financially. But they don’t ask for anything. They just love serving Jesus. They just love devoting their gifts to the Lord.

And I’m believing a day will come when more people will get involved in the giving process and we can take care of them. But especially in a city when you have so many charlatans and so many people that would never do something like this—man, I think our musicians are worthy of honor. Would you help me honor them?

Somebody shout—they love you. And I want you to understand that I don’t think there’s anything wrong with musicians being paid. That’s not my point. It’s about the motive of the heart. So we just want to thank them so much. Thank you, gentlemen, so much. I appreciate you.

What Would Jesus Do? – The Popular Phrase

For you WWJD—so if you’re not familiar with the acronym on my shirt, WWJD—let me go ahead and put the acronym on the screen for you. Let me write it out so you understand what it is. WWJD is the acronym for «What Would Jesus Do?»

Okay, «What Would Jesus Do?» About maybe three decades ago—maybe sometime in the early 1990s—this phrase «What Would Jesus Do?» became a very popular phrase in the evangelical world.

The phrase was introduced to try to help Christians to begin to think about how Christ would respond in any single circumstance that we may find ourselves in.

The purpose of the phrase was so that if we found ourselves in a jam—maybe we didn’t have the Scriptures on hand—we would pause and think about, «Man, before I did this, what would Jesus do in this situation?»

«What—Jesus go to Magic City?» I mean, I know Jesus was sipping that wine, but would He be sipping that Jack Daniels all night and then you roll up next to the bottle of Hennessy and say, «Man, would Jesus down this whole bottle of Hennessy?»

You know, «Would Jesus roll up? Would Jesus go to the club?» And we’ll find ourselves in a tight jam and we’ll say stuff like, «Man, would Jesus do something like that?»

And for all intents and purposes, the phrase has merit because the purpose of the phrase was to get us to be in a place where before we engaged in something just ignorantly, we would pause and think, «Man, would my Savior do something like this?»

And it would cause us to consider our Savior. «Man, when I consider His ways, when I consider Jesus—man, would Jesus do something like this?»

And the purpose of the phrase when the evangelical world gave birth to this phrase was to cause believers to pause and not run into things that they thought Jesus would not do.

And so it was created to be like a safety mechanism—a mechanism to make us think twice before we said something, before we did something, before we went somewhere.

And again, for all intents and purposes, the phrase was a very good phrase.

Flaws in WWJD – Why It Falls Short

Now while I’m not necessarily against the phrase «What Would Jesus Do?»—because I myself used to think to myself like, „Man, you be in a situation or you be praying about something, you think to yourself, ‘Man, would Jesus do this?’“ And maybe a lot of us have said that before, and that’s okay, right?

But while I’m not necessarily against the phrase „What Would Jesus Do?“, there are some inherent flaws in the phrase „What Would Jesus Do?“

Okay, and although the evangelical world has been using this phrase for well over 26 years now, if you really think about the phrase carefully, there are some minor flaws in the phrase „What Would Jesus Do?“

Let me give you an example of some that I thought about.

Number one: the phrase „What Would Jesus Do?“ opens the door for speculation. Because if I say „What would Jesus do?“, then it automatically opens a door for my mind to start to imagine what He would possibly do in this situation.

And some of us have very good imaginations. I have a very vivid imagination. That’s why when I read the Word, when I read Scripture, my mind is very pictorial—I can see things happening as though it’s part of the way that I study. So I have a very vivid imagination. A lot of us have very vivid imaginations.

If we start thinking to ourselves „What would Jesus do?“ in a situation, immediately it opens the door for speculation.

Another flaw is that it gives space to opinions and ideologies founded in personal reasoning and/or preference.

So I could say things like, „You know what? Jesus wouldn’t give His tithe to the church because I just don’t think that if He was going to church He would give.“ So it opens the door for my own opinions. And someone can be entitled to that opinion and say, „Well, I never saw Jesus give a tithe.“ Maybe they didn’t read the Bible.

So I would say, „You know, I don’t think Jesus would be giving if He went to a church every single week.“ Or „I don’t think so.“ It opens the door to my own ideologies and my own reasonings.

Trust in the Lord – Proverbs 3:5-6

You know, consequently—this is a side note—the very first passage the Lord ever spoke to me from His Word was Proverbs 3:5-6. It’s not coming up on the screen, but I just think you should know it: „Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not on your own understanding.“

That is, sometimes don’t even trust your own thinking. „But in all of your ways acknowledge Him”—or another translation says „in all of your ways put His will first”—“and then the promise comes: and He will direct your path.“

So sometimes you can’t even trust your own mind. Sometimes you can’t even trust your own heart. In fact, the Bible says in Jeremiah, „The heart is wicked above all things; who can know it?“

„I feel that I should do this.“ Sometimes you can’t trust what you feel. That’s why the Bible says in the multitude of wise counselors there is safety.

And thank God for the people around you who have wisdom—who are people of God that you can lean on in times when your mind is going crazy and your heart is out of control. Side note—and I’m going to get back.

If you’re trying to make a decision, your mind is going crazy, your heart is out of control—lean on the people of God. Lean on people with wisdom. Lean on people who pray. Lean on people who are sensitive to the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes you shouldn’t trust you. I mean, this is not in my sermon, but sometimes you shouldn’t trust you.

I want to say something else, but I don’t want to go there because—listen—one of the best times to trust the people of God is when you’re in sin. And you can put a name on it. It doesn’t matter if it’s sex outside of marriage or whatever—I don’t care what you want to name it.

But when we’re in sin, our spirit man gets confused sometimes. When we’re in a relationship, our spirit man gets confused. And so one of the best times to lean on the wisdom of the saints is when you’re in sin.

I just thought that would help somebody. „I don’t know what to do.“ Lean on the people of God. It’s one of the best times to do that. Oftentimes we hide, but you lean on the people of God when your heart is confused. In the multitude of wise counselors there is safety. That’s for somebody.

I just want to encourage you—maybe somebody here is battling a decision, maybe you’ve been confused, it’s cloudy—lean on the people of God. Have a conversation with a man or woman of God who is wise.

So I’m not talking about your unsaved uncle, 'cause the Bible says the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. So someone who is wise—they have a relationship with the Lord, they know how to pray, they know God’s Word, and they’re not going to put your business in the street if you come to them. They’re not going to be condescending towards you if you come to them.

You can go to them, and there’ll be a safe place for you to confess what’s going on in your heart, and they can lovingly instruct you in the right way.

I love James 5:16: „Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you might find healing.“

Like the elders and Kenny the communicators—we’re doing a series on James in the fall. It’s one of the most powerful books in the New Testament. We’re going through James in the fall. It’s not going to be a shut-us-down series—I promise you that—but it will be a blessing to you. We got James coming in the fall. Anybody ready for James in the fall?

And that was—I think it was Elder Abdul came to me and said, „Man, I think we should do James in 2016.“ So we’ve been talking about this since last year for months. So we’re going to do James in the fall. Praise God for James, brother of Jesus.

I don’t believe in him—they found his bones in a box called an ossuary with an inscription on the side of the box that says, „Here lies the bones of James, the brother of Jesus.“ See, I’m a theological nerd, so I like stuff like that. I like archaeology.

More Flaws in WWJD – No Safe Boundaries

Number three: another flaw with „What Would Jesus Do?“—it’s an invitation to dogma and arguments that can lead to error.

So you think we’ll be facing one circumstance, and one person will be saying, „Man, I think Jesus would do this,“ and then your sister would be like, „Nah, Jesus wouldn’t do that. Jesus would do this.“ And then y’all would go back and forth about what you think Jesus would do, and you can get into argument. And the question is, who’s right?

You know, I feel like I’m making a good argument, right? It’s like my wife and I—like, y’all have to pray for me. I have road rage. Am I–I mean, I’m a human being, right? So I’m on my way to glory, so the Lord is still working on me. We’re all on a path of sanctification.

I said that to some of you, and you looked at me crazy with your halo crooked on your horns—like you don’t have problems. I mean, I’m a New Yorker—we drive a little bit differently than people driving in the South.

And I get behind somebody doing 40 in a 55, and I got to be somewhere—and so I have some low-grade agitation when that happens, right? Or you pull up to the stop sign to make the right, and there’s no car coming, and you’re just there for like 15 minutes, and I have to get to work, and you’re being so careful, and there’s nobody coming—take the turn.

Am I the only one? Like, are you waiting for Gabriel to come down and say, „Now thou shalt go“? I mean, take the turn. Take the turn. You’re waiting for a car that’s 3 miles down the street coming, and then you make the turn behind him and drive around him and his grandma. And then you got to repent: „Lord, forgive me.“

Right? Oh, Lord, I’m so—that’s me. I know, I know, I know, right?

And so my wife will say stuff like this: „Honey, this messiness. Honey, you shouldn’t be that way. Honey, you’re a pastor. You’re a man of God. You got the Victory sticker on your bumper, honey.“

And she’ll tap me: „Honey, Jesus wouldn’t drive like that, honey.“

He said, „Jesus would—“ I’m like, „You see how He treated those Pharisees? You brood of vipers! Who warned you, brood of vipers, how can you escape the wrath to come?“

Right? And so we’ll go back and forth. I said, „No, Jesus would have—“ And listen, we could go back and forth. And the question is, who’s right? Because He’s not alive on earth right now. So is she right or am I right?

So it can open up arguments to dogma and back-and-forth fights between two people—and who’s right?

A fourth flaw with „What Would Jesus Do?“ is it has no safe theological parameters. „What Would Jesus Do?“ has no safe theological parameters.

Because the argument about „What Would Jesus Do?“ founded in my own opinion of flesh apart from the Word of God has no borders at all to keep us on the road of life.

And as followers of Christ, the safest way for us to pattern ourselves after the life of Jesus is to stay close to the Scriptures—not culture.

Because there’s plenty of different Jesuses. There’s the Jesus of rap. There’s the Jesus of sports. There’s the Jesus of movies. There’s the Jesus of the History Channel—errors, errors. There’s the Jesus of CNN—they’re about to do a new special: CNN called „Who Is God?“ I’m sure it’s going to be filled with error.

There’s the Jesus of liberal theologians who teach at Princeton Theological Seminary. So there are so many different Jesuses in our culture.

So the safest way for us to follow the biblical Jesus—the historicity of the man called Jesus—is probably to stay close to the Scripture.

So the better question is probably not „What Would Jesus Do?“, but the better question will be to ask „WDJD“—“What Did Jesus Do?“

Right? Because if we stray from „What Would Jesus Do?“ to the safer question „What Did Jesus Do?“, this question keeps us tied to the Scriptures. This question keeps us tied to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—the four portraits of the Savior. Yes, sir.

This Scripture creates for us boundaries on both sides of the road so we don’t stray off the street. This Scripture eliminates theological error and arguments and pretensions and opinions and ideologies—if we stay close to the Scriptures.

What Did Jesus Do? – Living Missionally

So I’ll give you some examples of this—what kind of things did Jesus do? What do we know about Jesus?

So for example, we know that Jesus was a man who enjoyed the good graces of God, right? And some of us are so spiritual we think that Jesus didn’t enjoy the good graces of God.

So for example, we see Jesus at places like weddings in John chapter 2. And if you know anything about the Jewish wedding, it wasn’t like our ceremony—the Jewish wedding lasted for seven days, and they partied, and they drank wine, and they ate food, and they laughed, and they were merry.

So we knew Jesus knew how to have a good time. He knew how to enjoy family members and friends. He wasn’t so stuffy that He was afraid to go to the movies—'cause some of us have been to churches like that: if you go to AMC, you’re going to hell; if you hang out with friends, you’re going to hell.

Right? So just keep on your long skirt, stay in church, and don’t go anywhere outside the four walls of the church.

But we see that Jesus went to weddings. He knew how to spend time. And if you notice at the wedding, when they came to Him to do ministry, He’s like, „Yo, chill out, woman. What do you want? It’s not my time yet. Can I just enjoy my little wine and bread? Like, why are you bullying me to do ministry right now? Can’t we just relax and enjoy the wedding?“ Okay.

We see Jesus enjoying quality time with friends. So like in Luke chapter 10, He’s hanging out at Mary and Martha’s house. And He goes to their house—they lived in Bethany—and He goes to the house, and Martha’s busy trying to prepare all the meal, and He’s just sitting there at the table, and there’s Mary at His feet.

„Martha, Martha, Martha, Martha—“ Okay, you got the chicken in the oven, you got the cake in the oven, you’re sweeping the floor—let’s just have a good time and clean up afterwards. Why don’t you sit down and enjoy the better thing? Why don’t you come rest at My feet? Why don’t you enjoy the party with the friends, and then afterwards clean up the house? Martha, Martha, Martha.

I’m like, „Martha—“ I don’t know if y’all know that, right? Like, „Philip, Philip, Philip—“ Let the kids spill the milk on the floor—so what, they got food on the floor? „Philip, Philip—“ After dinner, when they go to bed, then you can clean up. That’s my wife: „Philip, it’s okay—let the kids be kids.“

We see Jesus in fellowship with believers—for all of you who are so stuffy, right? So like in John chapter 3, we see Him hanging out with the saints. He’s spending time with His disciples. He goes places with them. He enjoys small group. He enjoys spending time with believers outside of the gathering.

So some of us—our schedules don’t lend themselves to do that—but when your schedule does, we should spend time with the believers outside of the local gathering.

So we see Jesus always in fellowship with His fellow believers.

So another thing—and we see Jesus playing with children in Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10—we see Him hanging out with the babies: „Oh, she’s so cute,“ and „Oh, look at her,“ and wiping the snot off His robe, picking up children and blessing them.

So we see He wasn’t so stuffy that He didn’t spend time with the children. He cared about the greenhouse, right? He spent time with children.

In Luke chapter 4, we see Jesus in the synagogue every week. The Bible says He went to the synagogue as was His custom. So in our modern language, He never missed church.

I see the tomatoes coming out—like I feel like Donald Trump, they about to rush me, right? Like He never missed church. The Bible says He was in the synagogue as was His custom on the Sabbath—so every Saturday He was in the synagogue, right?

So we see Him—and in Matthew chapter 14, we see Him feeding the 5,000. So we know that He cared about those who were hurting and those who were needy. He cared about outreach. We see that He had a heart of compassion. We see He cared about other people.

You know, I’m making some examples—we can go on and on and on and on. But perhaps one of the greatest things we see about Jesus—lean in, lean in, lean in—perhaps one of the greatest things we see that Jesus did do was that Jesus was concerned about the lost.

And not only did Jesus live a life in which He enjoyed the good graces of God, but He also lived a life when He was conscious about those who were far away from God.

Every place He went—not only did He enjoy the blessings of God, but He was also conscious about those who were far away from God.

Jesus was a man who lived missionally. That is, He woke up every morning with a sense of, „I know who I am and what I’m here for.“ There was no confusion about this word „purpose.“

And there’s a lot of people who go to churches for decades and think this whole thing is about just getting dressed and coming on Sunday morning. We get up every morning and go to bed every night miserable because we have no sense of purpose.

When you live with purpose, you streamline decisions. You have a greater sense of mission. It gives your heart strength. Every day you wake up, you wake up with a sense of vision. It makes your days more fulfilling.

Miserable is the man or woman who has no sense of purpose—because you spend your whole life searching, diving into all types of places and things, wasting precious time instead of locking into the thing that God called you to do.

And for so many of us, the very basic thing that God called you to do as a believer is not sexy to you—unless it’s promises of stages, unless it’s promises of wealth and status. It’s not sexy to you.

So when we talk about things like „spread the gospel,“ that doesn’t move you. When Elder gets up and says, „Let’s give so we can support the spread of the gospel,“ that doesn’t move you. It’s, „I toss my little penny in.“

But Jesus was a man—although He enjoyed life—He was a man who had a sense of purpose.

I like what He said in Luke 19:10: „For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.“

So Jesus enjoyed the common graces of God, but Jesus also—while simultaneously enjoying the common graces of God—Jesus also was a man who lived conscious of the lost.

It would be something like my wife and I when we go out to dinner. We go out to dinner, and the waiter will be serving us. And the whole time the waiter is serving us, I’m thinking, „Is the waiter saved, Jesus?“

And so while my wife and I are engaging and we’re enjoying our meal—because I’m enjoying the good graces of the Lord and I’m enjoying my beautiful wife (that girl look good, right? „Isn’t she lovely? Isn’t she wonderful?“ My sermon. Oh, them feet looking good too, girl—she got pink on them, they looking good. I have a toe fetish. Girl got to get my—huh? Okay.)

So we’ll be at a restaurant, and the whole time I’m thinking, „Man, is the waiter saved?“ Right? And I will look for a way to get in. And if I can’t find a way in, the whole time I’m praying, „Lord, save this person.“

Sometimes my wife—when we fill out the receipt, we’ll slip the Victory card in there or we’ll write some Scriptures on there.

So I’ll be in Walmart, and I’ll be moving around Walmart, and I’m moving around thinking about all these people around me—how many of them are on their way to hell like zombies walking around with no idea that they’re speeding towards eternal destruction.

And I’ll be walking through Walmart on my way to get what I have to get, at the same time praying, „Lord, save all of these who are around me that do not know You, Jesus.“

And I’ll be in the marketplace engaging people and moving around the marketplace, and the whole time any people I’m dealing with, I’m always thinking in the back of my mind, „Is this person saved?“

And I have a consciousness that I’m dealing with people all the time around me who are not saved. I have friends, family members, business partners—people all around me who don’t know the Lord. So I’m conscious of that every place that I go.

That’s how Jesus lived. He lived life enjoying the graces of God, but at the same time conscious that He had a purpose—that He came to seek and save those who were lost.

Living Missionally – Examples from Life

I have a friend—my closest friend. He pastors a church in Florida. His name is Ron Simmons. PP is a great church in Tampa, Florida, called Desire Street Christian Church.

Just a couple weeks ago, he had to go get his car fixed. And so he had to go to a dealership to get a rental car. And this is what he does.

So he calls up Uber for the very first time, right? So he gets on his app and he orders an Uber driver, right?

But because he and I—we get down like this. He’s my accountability partner. We talk about the gospel.

Listen to what he’s praying: he’s praying that the Lord will send him a driver who is not saved—because he knows he would have the driver pinned down for a 45-minute drive with the hopes that he can engage him in a conversation about Jesus before he got out the car.

See, that’s the way we’re supposed to live as believers: enjoying the good life—enjoy Uber, enjoy the restaurant, go to Walmart, go to the movies. And while you’re sitting there—man, people ran up in movie theaters and shot up the whole place—so I sit down in the movie theater with the kids, and I’m thinking to myself, „Lord, save all of these in here who do not belong to You.“

I live this way. Jesus lived this way. My friend Ron lives this way.

So the driver comes, and he gets in there. He tries to engage him in a conversation, right? He tries to poke in the gospel, and he gets disappointed—he’s a believer, but he’s a newly saved believer who’s going through troubles, who didn’t know that once you get saved everything is not going to be rosy, but that you’re going to deal with hell after you get saved sometimes.

I mean, I don’t know about you, but listen—I have two degrees. My first degree is in criminal justice. When I graduated high school, I was on my way to a career in law. I was working for the federal government for one year with the federal government.

Now, I had a record when I was 17. And the day after I gave my life to Jesus, they dragged me out of my federal job in handcuffs: „So-and-so on your record.“

I lose my federal job. I have to go home and tell—well, I didn’t go home; she had to come get me. My wife had to come get me. And I said, „Babe, now we have no income.“ I’m sitting in prison the next day with no job.

And that’s how I started my Christian walk. Man, what kind of condition would I have been in if I would have come to Christ for the felt-needs gospel? I’d have been like, „Man, the pastor lied to me.“ I would have just abandoned Jesus right there in the cell: „Man, I just got saved yesterday, and the very next day I lose my good government job. I’m in prison now. I have no income for my family.“

And I’ll spend the next couple years working these odd-end jobs just to feed my family. Like, man, didn’t I have a reason to be mad at the Lord?

But thank God I didn’t come to Christ for the felt-needs gospel. Thank God He rescued me in a bathroom alone. But I didn’t have to hear lies to come to Jesus.

So much for my good career in law enforcement. „Not my will—not Your will.“ See, nobody wants to say amen. „Not Your will.“

So I wanted to be an attorney. I wanted to go on to work for the FBI. I mean, I have a degree for this. „Not, Lord—what about my loans? I owe 42 G’s.“ „Not—but, Lord, my loans—this is what I wanted to do.“ „Not Your will, but His will be done.“

Through a pastor: „What about your degree? I just got paid for it—now can’t do nothing about it.“

So I had to go get a second degree in pastoral and church leadership because it’s connected to my purpose.

So if it’s not connected to purpose, why you doing it? „My mama is forcing me.“ And what is God calling you to do? For „unless a man hate mother, hate father, hate all of this for My name’s sake—not worthy of Me.“ What is the Lord saying to you? Then build your decisions around purpose. If it doesn’t fit purpose, it doesn’t fit you.

Build your decisions around your purpose.

Context of the Series – Connecting to Previous Weeks

So in the context of this series we’re talking about—right? Like, so if I’m saying to every person who is saved, we’re talking about following Christ—so what did Jesus do in the context of this series?

What are we talking about in this series? We’re talking about the fall of man. We’re talking about sin entering into the world. We’re talking about us being in a place of depravity. We’re talking about salvation, which is a rescue. We’re talking about all persons living condemned already. We’re talking about the only way to escape is faith in Christ alone. We’re talking about the message of hope that brings people out of that horrible place, which is the gospel. And we’re talking about how we should spread that individually and collectively as a church. Is that what we’re talking about in this series?

So in that context—and we could put „What Did Jesus Do?“ in different contexts. We can even put that in marriage—like Jesus wasn’t married; you read Ephesians—He was married to the church: a very rough lover, an unfaithful lover, a crazy lover—yet He died for her and never left her. So we could talk about how He behaved Himself in marriage. That’s good, right?

We could talk about „What Did Jesus Do?“ in a lot of things—how did Jesus deal with false preachers? Expose them. How did Jesus deal with religious people? He came hard at them.

So we could—but in the context of this series, what are we talking about? The spread of the gospel—how He shared the gospel, how the gospel is spread individually and collectively.

So what I want to do in this series—I want to look at how Jesus shared the gospel. Because we’re talking about—last week I’m connecting this sermon to last week—about the difference between the biblical gospel and the felt-needs gospel.

I said to you last week that the felt-needs gospel, right—the felt-needs gospel is a gospel when we draw people to Jesus based on empty promises, or we find out where they’re scratching and we itch them there with Jesus.

So if they want a house, we say, „Come to Jesus—He’ll give you the house.“ They’re looking to be married: „Come to Jesus—He’ll give you the husband.“ They’re sick: „Come to Jesus and He will do this.“ „Come to Jesus and He will do that.“

The felt-needs gospel is: find out where they’re hurting or where they scratch, and itch them there. Use Jesus as a draw card to satisfy all of their fleshly desires. Make empty promises to fill your seats. Bring them to the altar. Offer empty promises. That is the felt-needs gospel.

And if you pay attention to radio, TV, magazines, books—I hate to say this—that is the American gospel. Yes, sir.

We said the difference between that and the biblical gospel is the biblical gospel introduces the law first.

We said that the law—the moral law—is the Ten Commandments. That Jesus said to the men who went to hell: „If they want to be saved, they have Moses and the prophets“—that is, in the Bible there is sufficient enough evidence or Scripture to bring a person to salvation.

And we said that the way the gospel is supposed to be preached is through the moral law—law first. That the purpose of the moral law—the Ten Commandments—is to function like a mirror to show man that you are sinful in God’s sight.

Doesn’t matter what your socioeconomic status is—Black, White—it doesn’t matter who you are: Asian, Puerto Rican—it doesn’t matter if you’re wealthy or poor. The moral law condemns everyone, and it shows everyone that you have fallen short of God’s glory.

And because of that, God will judge everyone by this standard—you need a Savior. That the function of the moral law is to drive a person to Jesus—1 Timothy.

And we said that the biblical gospel does not use felt needs as an invite to salvation, but rather it uses repentance and dealing with man’s core issue, which is sin, as a means to bring people to repentance.

One leads to godly sorrow, which leads to salvation. The other leads to worldly sorrow, which leads to death. Okay.

So now—how did Jesus share the gospel?

When it comes to spreading the gospel—and this is a connection to last week’s series—what did Jesus do?

Because I never read anywhere in the Scriptures where Jesus made false promises or used the felt needs to draw people as a means of salvation.

So here’s what I want to do—and I think you’re going to enjoy this—I picked out three of the most well-known encounters Jesus had with unbelievers.

I searched the Scriptures, and I chose three encounters—He’s had many, but three encounters that are probably the most famous and the most well-known encounters He had with an unbeliever, a sinner.

And I want us to look at how Jesus shared the gospel with these three people who we don’t know their names—and we will never know their names—but they are famous in the evangelical world. Three of them: one dude, two females. We’re going to look at one dude and two females—all three in a different jam.

The Rich Young Ruler – Mark 10

Mark chapter 10—the first young—here’s a dude who Jesus is going to talk to who was doing very well for himself. He was not broken or hurting or miserable by what we can see. He was not a candidate for the felt-needs gospel because he was doing very well for himself.

He could buy whatever he wanted. He could buy whomever he wanted. He could go wherever he wanted to go. He was not hurting by what we can see. Felt-needs gospel wasn’t going to work on him.

Mark 10:17: „As Jesus started on His way, a man ran up to Him and fell on his knees before Him. ‘Good teacher,’ he asked, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’“

So we see that this young man has respect for the Lord Jesus—like he falls on his knees and says to Him, „Good teacher.“ So he has respect for God.

But different—like a lot of people in our society—he’s conscious about eternity. You know, in our society we don’t think about eternity—we think we’re going to just be here forever. But he’s thinking about the afterlife.

I would imagine maybe he was Jewish—why he’s off to a good start, isn’t he, Lord, right? He comes to church: „Oh, Pastor, what must I do to inherit eternal life?“

So for all intents and purposes, he’s off to a good start.

Verse 18: Jesus says, „Why do you call Me good?“ Jesus said, „No one is good—I’m good; I don’t have to ask God for forgiveness.“ Jesus said, „No one is good except God alone.“

Look where Jesus goes next—you know the Commandments: „Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false witness, do not defraud, honor your mother and father.“

So Jesus understood that salvation began with repentance. And what did He do for this young man? The young man came, fell on his knees—listen, he’s on his knees. Gosh, he’s in a place of humility. He’s bowing down before the Savior. He’s bent over. Man, we think he’s in a perfect position to give him the felt-needs gospel.

And instead of Jesus looking at his humility and saying, „Man, I cannot believe how humble he is,“ He holds up the moral law in front of him.

So „I see your humility. I know you know how to praise Me. I see you on your knees—but hold on.“ Then He holds up the moral law in front of him.

Man, Jesus was—man, Jesus, that’s not nice. How could you talk to somebody like that on their knees? Don’t You see them begging for mercy? Why don’t You wrap Your arms around them and say, „Man, just come to Christ and everything is going to be all right“?

How could You talk to a person on their knees and say, „Have you kept the Commandments?“ Man, that don’t sound like American gospel to me.

So Jesus confronts him with the moral law. And then look what the man says next—verse 20: „Teacher,“ he declared, „all these things I’ve kept since I was a boy.“

Watch verse 21 carefully—I love this verse: „Jesus looked at him and loved him. ‘One thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.’“

So here is the invitation now for salvation: „Then come and follow Me.“

The invitation now for salvation: „At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad because he had great wealth.“

„Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter into the kingdom of God.’“

Now I want you to pay attention to this note—because I love the Scriptures. I want you to pay attention to this note where the writer here, Mark—he makes this interesting note. He says, „And Jesus loved him.“

Watch—did Jesus say „God loves you“ to this young man? He never told him, „God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.“ But Jesus loved him.

But the Lord Himself never said, „God loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life.“ But in His love for him—because He cared about his soul—His love moved Him to not just take the man on his knees and just wrap him with the felt-needs gospel.

But in His love for him, in His merciful state, He held up the moral law. In His love for him, He was so concerned about his soul—He had to confront him about repentance.

That true love is not telling people what they want to hear. Like they say in old church—“I can’t get no help in here“—true love is telling people what they need to hear.

You know people love you when they tell you the truth—even if it has to hurt your feelings. Man, you better be careful of people that always tell you what you want to hear.

I don’t trust people around me that tell me what I want to hear all the time. I’m talking about accountability.

Listen—sometimes you need to be confronted: „Sir, man—“

Here’s a man on his knees saying, „Lord, You’re good,“ and the Lord doesn’t appeal to his felt-needs position. Instead He holds up the moral law. He doesn’t even say „God loves you,“ but Jesus loved him so much—cared about his soul so much—He knew that the only way this young man would truly be saved: „I have to confront the one sin he’s hiding.“

Because you know what he was breaking—he was breaking those first two Commandments. He was an idolater. He loved something more than God, and he created an idol. His money was his god.

And because his money had him, Jesus knew—watch this—watch—when he was on his knees, if I would have just said, „Okay, you know what—come and follow Me“ without the law—you know what would have happened?

He would have come. He would have said the prayer of salvation, joined the church—another false convert sitting in the chairs thinking they’re okay with God because we never addressed the sin.

So he would have been following Jesus down with the 12 all that time doing ministry but not born again—following Jesus but not born again.

If the Lord were to appeal to his felt needs, he would have come and followed—not been born—'cause we didn’t confront his sin. No repentance—following Jesus, sitting in church, enjoying sermons, waving their hands—on the way to hell because we never confronted sin. No repentance.

And the Lord knew that this dude was bound by the first two Commandments. And so he would have come in holding on to his false god. He would have never felt repentance for his false god. Therefore he would have never been born again. He’d have been following Jesus all the way to hell.

„Dang—for many will come to Me on that day and say, ‘Lord, Lord, did I not do this in Your name and in Your name cast out devils? Did I not sing on the worship team and preach?’“ Lord—Matthew 7:21–23—“Lord, Lord, did I do all of this in Your name?“ And He will say, «Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity—I never knew you. You never came in through the door of repentance.«

Jesus—so because the Lord did not want to create a false convert, He loved him so much—He held up the law in front of him.

That’s not the American gospel—just bring them all to the altar with false promises and say, «We won 250 people to the Lord“—but we never talked to them about their sin. Dang.

He was bound by idolatry. He would have been medicated with the felt-needs gospel on his way to hell.

So what did the Lord do with this rich young man? Held up the moral law. „We have to talk about your sin first.“

The Samaritan Woman – John 4

Second person—a woman. This is probably the most well-known encounter Jesus ever had with another human being. And I want to encourage you to look very carefully at this text now. It’s very long, and I’m going to read it to you. We’re going to read 42 verses.

Somebody said, „Wow.“ I mean, it’s church, right? I mean, if I can’t read the Bible in church—I mean, it’s 42 verses.

I want you to go with me to John chapter 4. Everybody turn with me to John chapter 4.

Those of you who have a history in Scriptures, you should know where I’m going. This is one of the most powerful and well-known encounters Jesus ever had with an unbeliever. This right here is powerful.

Jesus—this is powerful. Say, „Do you know where I’m going?“ This is powerful. Y’all ready? 42 verses.

„The Pharisees“—John 4:1—“heard that Jesus was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John.“ So they was mad because His ministry was fruitful. „Although in fact it was not Him who was baptizing, but His disciples.“

„When Jesus learned of this, He left Judea and He went back once more to Galilee.“

Now the story thickens. Now „He had“—I love that, this gosh—“He had to go through Samaria.“

„So He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near a plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired from His journey—'cause He was human, you know—He was fully God and fully man, the hypostatic union. I taught that in a series—Jesus is.“

So Jesus, tired from His journey, sat down—man, this is so powerful—sat down by the well. And it was about the sixth hour, okay—which means it was 12:00 in the afternoon. It was the middle of the day—noon.

Verse 7: Now this is like Lifetime on steroids. „When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus told her, ‘Will you give Me something to drink?’“ His disciples had gone into town to buy food.

A footnote by the author: He was alone.

„The Samaritan woman said to Him, ‘You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can You ask me for a drink?’“ For Jews do not associate with Samaritans, right? Another footnote by the author.

Jesus answered, „If you knew the gift of God and who it was that asked you for a drink, you would ask Him and He would give you living water.“

Now this is powerful. The Scripture says here—John is writing this, who was a follower of Jesus—some interesting footnotes in this text. Before we go any further, I just want to point them out to you because I don’t want you to get lost.

John said, „Jesus had to go through Samaria.“ Now Samaria was a town that was filled with Jews who were half-breeds. They were Jews who were mixed with Gentiles. In that culture, orthodox Jews—ethnic Jews—despised Samaritans. They looked down upon them like dogs.

So they had nothing to do with them at all. They didn’t talk to them. They didn’t fellowship with them. They didn’t eat with them.

And listen—they so despised Samaritans that anytime they had to travel through this countryside, they would make a long journey all the way around Samaria just to get to where they had to go. They so hated these Samaritans—they would never cut through.

So you should all—you have to go straight west to get to where you got to go—but instead of doing that, they go all the way around just to avoid them.

Now John said Jesus had to go through Samaria 'cause He had a divine appointment—just like He had a divine appointment with me in November of 2003 in a bathroom. For some of you, He had a divine appointment. He was already pursuing you. He knew where you would be when He was going to come and get you. He hunted you down. He had to go through Samaria because He had a divine appointment with a woman whose life was about to be radically changed.

Then notice what He says to her, right? I want you to notice something. The Scripture says the next thing—the Scripture says it says—the author says—listen to this footnote—the author puts in this interesting detail. He says, „And it was about the sixth hour.“

This is powerful—it was 12:00 in the afternoon. Now when you read the Scripture, everything in the Bible is there for a reason. Why would John say it was 12:00 in the afternoon?

Because if you study culturally, this is not the time of the day when women would go to draw water—because it’s hot. Most women would go to draw water early in the morning when it was cool.

And if you understand that culture, when they would go to draw water—when the women came together around the well—do you know what they would do? They would hang out. They would talk. They would converse. They would gossip. They would see how each other was doing. They would engage each other in meaningful conversation. They would open up to one another.

What time is she coming to the well? She’s coming to the well what time—at 12:00 noon. Meaning what—she was coming to the well at a time where she would be alone.

Why is she coming to the well at a time when she would be alone? Is there something going on in her heart that she doesn’t want other people to know? Is she dealing with some level of brokenness that’s hard for her to talk about?

Is it hard for her to engage in community because she’s afraid what might come out in my small group? Does she avoid being around other people because she’s dealing with things in her heart that it’s very difficult for her to divulge the depth of what she’s dealing with?

Is she one of these people—like many of us—who avoid meaningful relationships because we’re hiding things that we’re hurting about, we’re hiding things that we’ve been going through, we’re hiding things that we feel ashamed about?

And if we come around people, we’re so afraid that a real prophet might say—so because I’m dealing with this shame, because I’m dealing with this sin, because I’m dealing with this hurt, this insecurity, this issue from my past—because I don’t want people to know the real me—I just want them to know the Instagram me, I want them to know the Facebook me, I want them to know the façade that I create on social media so I can mask who I really am and what I’m really dealing with.

I’m not going to go around people. And listen—and even when I’m around them, I still feel alone and isolated.

Have you ever been in a room full of people and still feel alone—because you feel like no one would really understand if I told them what I was going through?

Jesus—if I shared with them what I was really going through, they might—watch—they might look at me differently. Yeah, especially them church folk.

If I told them where I have come from or what I’ve been through, they might look at me different. If I told them that I was a sinner, if I told them I failed in this area, if I told them I made this mistake, I messed up this marriage, I smoked this, I did—if I told them where I’ve really come from, they might look at me differently.

So instead, I hide from intimate, meaningful relationships because people are so judgmental. So she—watch—she came to the well at a time when she thought she could escape dealing with her issues.

Dang—little did she know she came to the well at a time where she thought she could escape dealing with the judgment of men. But thank God Jesus is not like men.

And little did she know that she was on her way to a divine encounter that would radically transform her life—that she was on her way to talk to the one person who she could divulge everything.

Only if more people were Christlike—how many more people would come out of places of bondage? But we can’t tell them church folk nothing because they so self-righteous and they think they so perfect, and I can’t find a safe place in the church.

So I got to—I’ll find a safe place someplace else. That’s why I keep telling you—at this church, I don’t know about somebody’s church—I’m telling you at this church: would you stop treating salvation like we’re perfect? Allow people space to confess sin, man. Stop acting like the church is perfect. Get off of that nonsense.

Who taught you that? The church is filled with people who have issues, and we got to come in here—and the church is a glorious mess full of people who got issues. And we should be able to come in and engage each other in our mess and find healing in our mess and find strength in our mess—and tell my brother and sister, „This is where I am—will you pray for me?“—and not feel like you’re going to put my business on the wall.

Man, if we can’t find help with the believers—so I’m going to go find help in a bottle. I’m going to go find help in somebody else. I’m going to go find help in—because I’m just going to confess with this Jack Daniels because I can’t trust my sister.

I hate that. But stop making the church this veneer of perfection—that is a lie to the world.

You know what’s beautiful to the world? How all of those jacked-up people are loving each other like that and helping each other like that and praying for each other like that and loving on each other like that and forgiving each other like that and looking past each other’s sin like that. How do they do that? The Holy Spirit, man.

That’s the beauty of the Christian church—that all of these jacked-up people could be in an intimate covenant family with all of their baggage and their mess because of James 5:16.

And some of us are so terrified to come up to somebody and say, „Would you pray for me about this?“ So you know what we do? We get reduced to battling our problems alone in a dark place.

Man, there are people in this room right now—there’s people watching me right now—battling our problems alone in a dark place, feeling like no one is going through what I’m going through, no one can understand what I’m going through, no one understands—no, no one can’t even see where I am.

And we walk around broken, hoping anybody can see that we’re hurting—that they will love me enough to engage me to say, „Sister, are you okay?“

I hate that. I hate that in the church. I hate that. And if anybody comes up with anything, we got to pelt them with—why can we stop doing that? Amen.

Stop making the church a house of perfection. The church is full of broken people who are being perfected in the process of sanctification until that which is perfect comes—the Lord. Stop it.

Behind your makeup, we see your brokenness. And behind your suit, we see a brokenness. And behind your job and your money and your car, we see your insecurity—like it’s there.

You can come here and shout us down and drive home broken—when you could have said to somebody, „Brother, pray for me 'cause the prayers of the righteous have much power.“

Man, I confess to my whole—if you’re a visitor, I confess to my whole church that in November-December going into January, I was in a dark place. I had to go to a brother in the faith—and I’m a pastor—and what came out of that was the Zig series. Thank God for confession.

What came out of that—be encouraged. See Beyond, aggressively pursue—out of my dark place. Thank God for confession.

Phony church—five-button suit, can’t confess church. Everybody’s perfect church. I don’t see no New Testament church like that—not Romans, not the Corinthians. God help us.

That’s why Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia what he said: „Bear one another’s burdens.“

So she comes out at noon because she’s going through—she’s afraid, you know, and she’s isolated.

And Jesus engages her. Notice—for all of the people who are really spiritual like me—He doesn’t even start preaching the gospel to her. He says, „Hey, can you get me something to drink?“ I mean, you got a bucket—I have nothing. I’m tired. I’m thirsty. It’s hot. Give me something to drink.

And then people say, „No—that was a sign from—“ No, He just asked for water. In the Greek this meant the water was symbolize—no, study it in the Greek, study it in any language—He just asked for water. I mean, we can’t get too spooky.

And then He begins to inject the gospel when He talks about water. He says, „But you know, I’m asking for water—but if you knew the gift of God and who asked you for a drink, you would ask Him to give you water. He will give you living water.“

Verse 11—look what she says: „Sir,“ the woman said, „You have nothing to draw from, and the well is deep. Where can You get this living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?“

Jesus answered, „Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again“—that is, everyone who stays in a natural state. Now we can see signs of where this is going.

„Everyone who remains in a natural state will always be thirsty for something. Everyone who drinks this water“—now He’s starting to switch the conversation from the natural to the spiritual. This is good gospel preaching. He begins to go natural to the spiritual.

„Everyone who drinks from this water or everyone who stays in a natural state will be thirsty over and over again. But whoever drinks from the water I give him—something spiritual, something different—will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.“

Now He’s started to stick in seeds of the gospel.

The woman said to Him—she doesn’t get it yet—“Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw this water.“

Now this is so powerful. She said, «Oh my God—you mean there’s something You have I will never thirst again?»

You know what was rising up in her—watch—watch her felt needs. Man, this is so powerful.

Jesus says, «I have water that if you drink of this, you’ll never be thirsty again.» Sounds like an empty promise. Sounds like Jesus is drifting into felt-needs, right? Sounds like Jesus is drifting into felt-needs.

She says, «Lord, whatever that is—give it to me. I want that.» Why is she craving? Because she feels her brokenness. She feels her pain. She feels her emptiness. She feels her hurt. She feels her insecurity.

She hears, «You have something that will make me whole.» So what if she says—watch this—“Give it to me.» I’m going to come back to that at the end. «You have something that makes me whole.» She says, «Give it to me.»

Watch—in this moment she is a candidate for felt-needs gospel. See, now let an American evangelist roll up on her—we say, «Oh, baby—come to Jesus. He’ll make everything perfect in your broken life. Come right now.»

And in this moment she becomes a candidate for the felt-needs gospel. But what does Jesus say to her next?

Verse 16—she was a candidate for the felt-needs, wasn’t she? This is—I’m talking to all y’all American evangelists—wasn’t she broken? Wasn’t she hurting? Wasn’t she begging for help?

Jesus is getting ready to make the promise and bring them to the altar. Verse 16—and He told her, «Okay—in your brokenness, in your hurting, in your bad state, in your insecurity, in your mess—I see that you’re desperate for help in your state of weakness—go call your husband.»

«I know you’re broken. I know you’re hurting. I know that I can fix all your problems. But go call your husband before I give you this water. Before I give you grace, let’s talk about this law. Go get your husband.»

«Hey—before we talk about grace, before we talk about your rescue, before I solve all of your felt needs—let’s talk about the law. Go get your husband and then come back.»

«Hey—before I talk to you about grace, before I talk to you about your rescue, before I solve all of your felt needs—let’s talk about the law. Go get your husband.»

All of America just stage left. Dang.

So Jesus—how could You talk to someone—I mean, they’re weeping, they’re in front of You hurting, and in this broken state You’re going to bring up the law? How could You be so insensitive?

Jesus said, «But before I talk to you about grace, let’s go back to this moral law. Go get your husband and then come back.»

She goes into hide mode: «I have no husband,» she replied.

Jesus said, „You’re right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. And what you have said is true.“

He just tapped the one part of me that I keep away from everybody else. Jesus just went deep enough into my heart to touch the one area that I don’t want anyone to see.

He strips her now of her mask. He goes to her place of vulnerability. He touches her in the one place that requires repentance.

In her state of brokenness—dang—and how does she respond? She doesn’t—now she’s not reaching out for the water. Now she’s going to switch the conversation: „Sir, I see that You are a prophet.“

And then she completely switches the conversation—verse 20—'cause I don’t want to talk about this one area I’m hiding: „Our fathers worshiped on this mountain—no more talk of the water—our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews“—now she’s attacking Him—“but you Jews claim the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.“

She’s trying to detour.

Jesus declared, „Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. Now He’s bringing it back to the gospel.

„You Samaritans worship what you do not know—because you’re lost. We worship what we do know—because I’m Jesus. For salvation is from the Jews—comes from Me.

„Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth—for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. Those who are born again—'cause you can’t worship someone you don’t know. You need the Holy Spirit.“ That just—didn’t miss that.

„God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.“

The woman said—now watch—she said, „I know Messiah—who is called Christ—I know He’s coming.“ So now He’s preaching to her the gospel. And because she’s heard the gospel, she said, „Okay, I know He will be here soon. He’s coming. Oh—watch—I will get right next week. I’ll get right next month. Watch—I’m not ready to deal with this right now.“ Dang—it’s close.

„When He comes, He will explain everything to us.“

Verse 26—then Jesus declared, „No—you don’t have to get right next week, and you don’t have to get right next month, and you don’t need another sermon, woman. Your day of salvation is right now. Your time of salvation is right now. You may never be this close to the kingdom again.“

He’s reaching down for her right now. He says, „No—I who speak to you am He.“

Verse 27—just then His disciples returned and were surprised to find Him talking with a woman. But no one asked, „What do You want?“ or „Why are You talking with her?“ No one said this.

Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back—so we understand that she gave her life to Christ—went back to the town and said to the people, „Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did.“

So watch—we see evidence of grace. She’s been saved. Now she’s talking about the person who saved her.

See, you can’t be really saved and not talk about Jesus. How are you saved and you don’t love Him, don’t talk about Him, don’t worship Him, don’t praise Him?

So you can’t judge me—you don’t know I’m saved. There needs to be evidence of grace. Because when you’re really saved—when you really love the Lord—you can’t help but to talk about Him, but to worship Him, but to be around Him. You can’t help but to respond.

So „I have to tell somebody about what has happened to me. Man, I can’t keep this a secret. How can you?“ So why are you always posting about—how you going to keep someone a secret who rescued you from eternal damnation? How is that possible?

Man, when Jesus is alive on the inside of you, it explodes on the outside. I said, „Man, you always talking about this Jesus thing.“ „I can’t help but to talk about Jesus. You can’t shut me up either, right?“

She runs back to the town, and what does she do? She runs back and starts preaching the gospel. „Could this be the Christ?“

They came out of the town and made their way towards Him.

Verse 31-38—almost done. Meanwhile His disciples urged Him, „Rabbi, eat something.“ Now this is a lot of believers in the Christian church.

But He said to them, „I have food to eat that you know nothing about.“

Then His disciples said to each other, „Could someone have brought Him food?“

„Is it only about services? Should we just come and have church? Should we just get dressed and get nice and then go home and not care?“ Watch—what is it really all about? Like we’re around Jesus and still don’t understand what this whole thing is really all about. That’s what they’re saying.

And Jesus said in verse 34—what He’s saying to believers now—“My food,“ Jesus said, „is to do the will of Him who sent Me.“ That is, I live—I find strength—I feel fueled by doing the will of God.

That a lot of us are miserable because we’re not doing the will of God. We are weak because we’re not doing the will of God.

Sometimes you get strength just by doing God’s will. One of the fastest ways to find strength is to get your mind off yourself and start spreading the gospel to someone else.

So in your own mess, you start being concerned about somebody else—and in that you find strength.

There are some Christians who are so miserable because your whole world revolves around you. If you would just start thinking about other people, immediately you would start finding strength.

Man, you find strength when you’re praying for somebody. You find strength when you’re witnessing to somebody. You find strength when you care about somebody.

Man, some of you—your whole world will change if you just thought about somebody else. Your whole prayer life revolves around you. Everything—you get down on your knees, and for one hour it’s about you. But that’s why you’re miserable, man.

You know what food you should be eating—not what you’re going to grab when you leave here in 20 minutes. Man, God called you, anointed you, appointed you to do the will of the Father—and when you do that, you know what? You’re going to feel sustenance. You’re going to feel strength. You’re going to feel like, „Man, I ate today. Jesus—hallelujah, hallelujah.“

Man, I served, and I made somebody smile when they came through the door. I ushered, and I put somebody—man, when you do the will of the Lord, there’s a sense of—when you do it with the right heart—there’s a sense of fulfillment that comes from that that satisfies the spirit man.

You’re miserable—start serving and see what happens. You’re miserable—start praying for somebody else and see what happens. You’re miserable—start sharing the gospel and see what happens.

Some of you—the best thing you could do is join the V unit today. Some of you—the best thing you can do is actually start serving in the church and help somebody else and see what it does.

Some of you—the best thing you can do is this Wednesday night at Access—spend an hour praying for somebody else.

Let me finish this up because I know you don’t want to hit a restaurant. So let me just speed up—I’m almost done.

„My food,“ Jesus said, „is to do the will of the One who sent Me“—watch—“and to finish His work. To run my good race.“

All I want—every Christian to please pay attention to what I read to you next. Please, okay—before we leave, I just want you to pay attention. Please—I beg you.

Verse 35—please watch: „Do not say ‘four months more and then the harvest.’“ That is, what are you waiting for to get involved in My work? What you’re waiting for—your perfect season? You’re waiting for your money to be right? What are you waiting for to do My will? What are you waiting for to give birth to that thing? What are you waiting for to put your hands to the plow? What reason do you need to start serving in the local church? Like what—what else do you—what else do you need? A sign?

What else do you need to start doing My will? Please pay attention: „Do not say ‘four months more and then the harvest.’ Don’t say ‘I will serve then.’“

„I tell you, open your eyes.“ Man—man, this is Jesus. This is the part that bothers me.

When you’re in Walmart, when you’re at the restaurant, when you’re on Facebook—we’re so blind. We’re so—I hate—we’re such blind Christians in America. Like wake up. Open your eyes.

You’ve been called for service. It’s not about you anymore—or your job or your money or your accolades or your clothes or your businesses. Open your blinded eyes. Wake up. Pay attention to people all around you—your job, your campus, your friends, your family. They’re all around you going to hell. Wake up.

Jesus is pleading with some of you Christians: get out of your own world. Look what He says: „Open your eyes. I tell you and look at the fields—they are ripe for harvest.

„Even now the reaper draws his wages. Even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together.

„Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.“

It’s time for you to start living conscious of the people all around you who are separated from the Lord. Come on, man—it’s time for you to stop treating this thing like it’s just about services.

Is this just about you getting cute, putting on your makeup, sitting down, hearing me for an hour, going home, and not caring throughout the week? That’s not biblical Christianity.

Biblical Christianity is: I was saved and rescued—in gratitude I do His will. And in response to what He has done, I care about those who were where I was. So I live now to hand out parachutes. I throw lifelines to those who are drowning in the water—like my iPhone. That is biblical Christianity.

Some of us are so bougie—we don’t care about people who are not saved, man.

And you know what? I can feel—every time I kneel to pray—the Holy Spirit so grieved with all of the foolishness that is being passed off for the gospel. We see it on Facebook. We see it on Instagram. We see it on all of these different social media links—people doing their live streams and preaching nonsense, promising people stuff that’s not going to happen.

We are so diverted from what we’ve been called to do. And I could feel the grief of the Holy Spirit every time I kneel to pray about these things, man—so many of us are walking around dead ourselves. We don’t care about anybody around us who’s not saved.

So afraid to post a Scripture. So afraid to confront someone in family. So afraid to have a private conversation with someone who’s not saved.

Verse 39: „Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony.“ They were saved. „He told me everything I ever did.“

„So when the Samaritans came to Him, they urged Him to stay with them, and He stayed two more days. And because of His words, many became believers.

„They said to the woman, ‘We no longer believe just because of what you have said. Now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.’“

I’ve heard your gospel—but now I have felt Him for myself. And now I know—not just I can argue—but now I know that He is the Savior of the world.

Hallelujah.

The Woman Caught in Adultery – John 8

And I want to close out my sermon by what I think is the most beautiful picture of how we need to preach law and grace.

I’m going to read to you about one more woman—and we’re not going to stop. I’m going to read all the way through, and then I’m going to have Frank help me out. Just look at this text.

I’m going to close out my sermon with this. This is one of the most beautiful pictures of how the law is supposed to work.

You all know her, but we will never know her name.

John chapter 8, verse 1: „But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And at dawn He appeared again in the temple courts, where all of the people were gathered around Him, and He sat down to teach them.

„The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery.

„‘Now in the Law of Moses’“—in the what? —“‘in the Law of Moses commanded us to stone such a woman’“—because the law commands what? Death. The law commands death. There’s a payment. The law shows you that there’s a payment for sin, which is death.

„So this is right what they’re doing. ‘Now what do You say?’ They were using this question to trap Him in order to have a basis for accusing Him.

„But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with His finger. And when they kept on questioning Him, He straightened up and said to them, ‘If any one of you is without sin, let him throw the first stone at her.’

„And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.“

God—at this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left. Because why are they leaving? Because all have sinned and come short of God’s glory.

„You can’t condemn me for mine without looking at yours. You’re concerned about the toothpick in my eye—don’t see the telephone pole sticking out your eye.“

Jesus straightened up and asked her a question: „Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?“

Because man can’t condemn—because we stand condemned. Man can’t condemn you because we stand condemned already.

She says, „No one, sir.“

Dang—she said, „Then Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you’“—because what did He say to Nicodemus? „The Son of Man did not come to condemn the world.“

People so afraid of Jesus—He did not come to condemn you. He came to rescue.

Look what He says: „Neither do I condemn you,“ Jesus declared. „Go now and leave your life of sin.“

How come He didn’t just hit her with the moral law? Because she was already a subject of the law. Where did the law bring her?

Last week I showed you in 1 Timothy that the function of the law is to drive people to Christ. Look at this picture.

He didn’t have to give her the Commandments—she was already under the death sentence of the law. Watch—the law had already condemned her heart. So He didn’t have to put the law up in front of her.

Where did the Lord bring her? The Lord threw her at the feet of Jesus. That is the function of the moral law.

The function of the moral law in evangelism is to take the sinner and throw them at the feet of Jesus.

So the Lord took her—He—you know, every time I read this I always say, „Where was the man?“ Anybody ever thought about that? Well, you know, it was a patriarchal society—they were big on misogyny, you know.

But where did the Lord bring her? The Lord got her out of her bed, threw her at the feet of Jesus. That’s the way the law do you. See this picture? That’s the way the law is supposed to function—take the sinner and throw them at the feet so that they can now be recipients of grace.

No grace before law. Why didn’t Jesus give her the Ten Commandments? Because she was already broken.

But watch—the law had already put her in a place where she was already crushed because of her sin. She was about to be crushed by the stones of the law. So she was in a ready position.

I want to leave you with this statement: the moral law of God prepares the hardness of a sinner’s heart for the grace of the gospel.

You want me to take a picture of it? Write it down. Tweet it at Philip A. Mitchell—don’t steal my quote, okay? Because this is the heart of the gospel.

If you don’t understand this, you have not understood what I said to you for the last two sermons. Okay—this is biblical evangelism.

The moral law of God prepares the hardness of a sinner’s heart for the grace of the gospel.

The Role of the Moral Law in Evangelism

The function of the moral law is to show a man, „You are a sinner“—to crush his pride and his hardened heart so that if he would respond rightly—unlike the rich ruler—his heart would be softened. What for? For the seed of the gospel to fall in.

See, one person heard the law and their heart was crushed—they were ready for grace. The rich young man heard the law, but in his pride his heart was not ready for grace.

The law prepares people’s hearts for grace. That’s why John Wesley—one of my favorite preachers—says preach the law 90% of the time. Charles Spurgeon used to talk like this: preach more law than grace.

See, not these modern-day preachers like myself—the great preachers always say preach more law than grace. Because we’ve gone on a grace fanatic—like we went way left with grace.

We’re so much grace we’re afraid to talk about sin. Jesus did not tiptoe around sin.

The Danger of Grace-Only Preaching

We got preachers and people that all they do is grace—so much grace that we don’t—listen—we preach so much grace we’re not even afraid of God.

We preach so much grace we understand He’s a God of love—He will never do something like that. „Your God will never do something like that.“

The God of the Scriptures will punish all who die in unrepentant sin. We preach so much grace we’re not even afraid of Yahweh—Jehovah God, a God of wrath who will pour out His wrath on the day of judgment.

„No, my God will never do that to me because He’s a God of love.“ You’re right—but what did Jesus do? What did He do? He preached the gospel with the law first, then grace.

What did Jesus do? He preached the law first, then grace.

He said, „But how do I talk to my friend like that?“ You sit them down, you look them in the eye, and say, „Listen, I love you, and God has a righteous standard that I have broken and you have broken.

And the Bible teaches us that the penalty for that sin is going to be eternal damnation. And I don’t want you to go to that place. I want you to make the best decision I ever made.

You’re a sinner. Your sin is going to send you to hell. Your money won’t help you. Your job won’t help you. Your accolades won’t help you. I care about you. I love you.

These are the laws you have broken. You’ve broken God’s laws. ‘You know you’re a sinner.’ ‘No, I’m not a sinner.’

You’ve loved other things more than God. You’ve looked at people and lusted. You’ve lied. You’ve stolen. You’ve dishonored your parents. You’re guilty.

You need to put your trust in Christ. Give Him your life so that you may escape this horrible place. He’ll fill you with His Spirit. He’ll make you a brand new person. You’ll live out the rest of your days in purpose.“

That’s how you talk to someone intimately. And if you can’t do that, then share this series with them. But be concerned about those who are far away from God.

The Law Magnified – Isaiah 42:21

Isaiah 42:21 in the King James Version said this—Isaiah, writing 700 years before Jesus was born, talking about Jesus: „The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness' sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honorable.“

He made the law honorable. The law is honorable. It is a good thing. It is our evangelistic tool to bring sinners to the feet of Jesus.

The law of God—a beautiful thing. The Ten Commandments—the glory of the Lord. This one function God gave us in Moses' writings: to bring any human being to the foot of the cross.

It’s like telling someone to come in and sit down—like a doctor would do. And I learned this 10 years ago.

A doctor would come in and say, „Sit down.“ Listen—listen to this. Doctor comes in and says, „Sit down.“

The doctor does blood work, comes back into the room after doing blood work, and says, „Sit down. I got some news for you.

I see there’s something in your blood. I see it spreading all throughout your body. If it keeps spreading, it’s going to eat off one hand, and then it’s going to eat off one of your legs.

If it keeps spreading, it’s going to take your vision, and then it’s going to cause all your organs to shut down. If it keeps spreading, it’s going to cause all kinds of debilitating things to happen in your heart.“

And the doctor goes on and on and on about what this disease is going to do to you. And as you sit there and listen to the doctor, do you know what you start to feel on the inside? Desperation. Your heart starts to crumble.

The doctor gets up and he begins to walk out the room, and he says, „Oh wait—I forgot one thing. There’s a cure for your disease.“

Do you know what the patient does? They say, „Give it to me.“

Because if you can convince someone about their disease, you won’t have to work that hard to convince them about the cure.

If we could convince people about their sin, we won’t have to work that hard to convince them about their need for a Savior.

Preach the disease and they will see the need for the cure. Preach the law—they will see the need for Jesus.

That’s how He preached the gospel. That is biblical evangelism.

All of this is part of hell’s best kept secret. This is what the devil does not want people to know or preach. And I got two more Sundays, and I’m exposing all of it in Jesus' name.

Closing Prayer

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the truth of the gospel. Yeah—we thank You for teaching, God, that is opening our eyes—not because I’m all that and a bag of chips, but I’m just reading to Your people the Bible and saying „thus says the Lord.“

Father, I want to pray over every single person who truly is a born-again believer—every person listening on podcast, every person watching me. I pray for every person who names Your name.

I want to pray, God, that You would so trouble us about every person around us who is not saved—that You would trouble us in our prayer time about fathers and mothers and cousins and aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters—people we know and that we know in our family who are far away from You.

Lord, I pray You would trouble us about them, and that Your love in us would drive us to pray for them.

Would we pray, God, that they too—like the Samaritan woman—will have a divine appointment where they will encounter You someplace in their daily goings.

Would You help us to be conscious—in our moving around the city—of people who are all around us who don’t know You.

Would You help our hearts to bleed for those who don’t know You. Would You help us to have a consciousness of the zombies that’s all around us—men and women who are living and enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season with no idea that they’re headed towards eternal damnation—with no way to get out except Your Son.

Would Your love move us to pray. Would Your love move us, Jesus, to share the gospel. Would Your love move us to Facebook posts and Twitter tweets and using our social media for Your great influence and the lifting up of Your name.

Would You give us a spirit of boldness to not be afraid to confront the sinner. Would You give us wisdom on how to share the gospel when opportunities present themselves.

Would You awaken us from being so consumed in our own world—in our own circle, in our jobs, our money, our accolades, our clothes, our businesses.

Would You even deliver us from treating our ministry as an idol—that we don’t even care about the lost.

Would You show us that You’ve saved us to work in many different areas—all for the glory of Your name, all for the spreading of the gospel, all for the making of disciples.

And Father God, I pray for those under the sound of my voice who are not saved—that You would confront them right now in their sin. That we know conviction is a sign of Your love.

And I pray You would convict them right now in their sin. I pray You would strip them of their self-righteousness and show them that they are sinners—broken, to be damned. But in Your love You came that they may be rescued.

And I pray when this experience is over, they would run down here and say, „What must I do to be saved?“

Father, awaken the saint and the sinner simultaneously right now—in Your matchless, precious name of Your Son. Amen.

Reflection & Discussion Questions

Why is "What Would Jesus Do?" (WWJD) flawed for decision-making?

WWJD invites speculation, personal opinions, arguments without Scripture, and lacks theological boundaries. It lets imagination or preference decide Jesus' actions instead of Scripture. Better to ask "What Did Jesus Do?"—anchored in the Gospels—to avoid error and stay tied to biblical truth.

How did Jesus share the gospel with the rich young ruler?

Jesus loved him but confronted him with the moral law first, exposing his idolatry of wealth. Instead of felt-needs promises, He called for repentance—sell everything, give to poor, follow Me. The man left sad because his heart wasn't ready; law revealed sin, but pride blocked grace.

What happened when Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well?

Jesus started naturally asking for water, then shifted to living water (eternal life). When she wanted it to end her thirst (felt need), He confronted her sin—five husbands and current non-husband—exposing shame. This led to her recognizing Him as Messiah; she testified, and many believed.

How did Jesus handle the woman caught in adultery in John 8?

Pharisees used law to trap Him, demanding stoning. Jesus wrote on ground, then said sinless one throw first stone—they left convicted. He didn't condemn her but told her to leave sin—law had already crushed her (death sentence); grace followed because her heart was prepared.

What role does the moral law play in true evangelism?

The law acts like a mirror exposing sin, crushing pride and hardening hearts so grace can enter. It prepares sinners for the gospel by showing their need for a Savior. Without law first, people accept Jesus on false terms—felt needs—creating false converts without repentance.

Why avoid "felt-needs" gospel according to this sermon?

Felt-needs draws people with promises of happiness, money, healing—itching where they scratch—but ignores sin. It creates false converts who follow without repentance. Biblical gospel uses law to convict of sin first, leading to godly sorrow and true salvation.

How should believers live missionally like Jesus?

Jesus enjoyed life but stayed conscious of the lost—seeking to save them everywhere. Believers should pray for unsaved around them (work, stores, family), share gospel naturally, serve with purpose, and stop self-focus. Doing God's will brings strength and fulfillment.

What danger comes from grace-only preaching without law?

Grace-only ignores sin, removes fear of God, creates shallow faith with no repentance. People think God won't judge, accept cheap grace, and miss true transformation. Law magnifies God's righteousness, shows need for Savior; grace follows conviction for real freedom.