WHY DO I NEED JESUS?

* Because we need forgiveness.

We have all sinned against God, and this is a very serious problem. This is a serious problem because God cannot tolerate sin. Because He is just, God must punish sin. Most people are humble enough to agree that they are guilty of sinning against God and realize this is a problem. However, some do not agree because they think that they haven’t done any bad thing in their lives serious enough to make them guilty in the eyes of God.
What we need to understand is that God is Holy. In Him there is no sin. Therefore, however good we may feel we are, our "goodness" falls short of God’s holiness and we are stained with the guilt of our shameful, careless, selfish, and unrighteous acts.
The good news is that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. God knows the horrible situation that man is in because of his sinning, and He has acted through Jesus to atone for our sins. In Jesus, God does something about man’s sin problem. The Bible says, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." Jesus suffered and died in our place. He voluntarily received a penalty that we deserved so that we could be forgiven of our sins and be righteous in the eyes of God.

When we surrender our lives to God and stop willfully sinning, He forgives our sins because the sinless Jesus has suffered the penalty for our sins. We need Jesus because he is the basis of our forgiveness. Apart from him we are still in our sins and still condemned to suffer for them. However, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." We need Jesus to escape the condemnation we have brought upon ourselves with our sins. Jesus is our salvation from condemnation.

* Because we need fulfillment.

Many people feel insecure about the purpose of their existence or confused about why the world is the way it is. Jesus answers these dilemmas. Man was created for a relationship with God which was seriously hindered by the entrance of sin into the world. Therefore, when we are united with Jesus, we are again fulfilling the purpose of our existence. We are no longer living in rebellion to God under the curse of condemnation, but we now are properly related to our creator.
In the same way that plastic wrap fulfills its purpose covering a bowl of leftovers rather than as a shade for a 100 watt lamp, man finds fulfillment by being in a right relationship with his creator. Just as the plastic wrap would be destroyed by the heat of the lamp, a person’s destiny is destruction outside of a right relationship with God. Our way to that right relationship is through Jesus. We need him so that we can be right with our God and experience the fulfillment of our existence. As we experience the fulfillment found in God, our confusion begins to erode and we experience the peace that comes from a trusting relationship with the Creator.

Jeremy Monk