Jesus Christ Why Do We Need Jesus?

Book of John

Scripture Lesson   John 15:1-27            Matthew 28:18-20

Foundational Understanding - Salvation Part I

We are given an assignment from the Holy Spirit  

Colossians 4:5-6 (KJV)
5 Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time.
6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

1 Peter 3:15 (KJV)
15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:

2 Peter 3:18 (KJV)
18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen

Why Do We Need Jesus?

Christians often talk about having been "saved" and speak of Jesus Christ as their "savior". To the non-Christian, it's not at all clear what problem exists and why anyone needs saving at all. Saved from what, exactly? This is a very difficult problem, perhaps one of the hardest in Christianity.
Let's begin with the fact that you and I are free to make choices. God made us this way because He loves us. He did not make us to be puppets or robots because true love can never be forced or demanded. It can never come from someone who is unable to make any other choice. Genesis 11:6  Only when someone makes a decision from his or her own will and desire can it be said to be complete and true love. This is what God wants from us - to love Him because we freely desire to do so. John 5:5-7

Because we are free, we sometimes make wrong decisions. Through our choices, we hurt others, we hurt ourselves and we hurt God. We sin. Each and every one of us has done this at least a few times in our lives. We have known what was right and what was wrong and we consciously, deliberately chose to do wrong. At that moment, we rebelled against God and said to Him, "What I want right now is more important than you." We know this hurts God we know it's wrong but we don't care, we're doing it anyway. Romains 3:23
because God loves us and wants us to be free, He permits these rebellions. He will not interfere; He will not force us to obey Him or love Him. 1 John 4:19

The Problem is Sin

Understanding Jesus Christ as our Savior begins with understanding this very important point - you are a sinner. It's painful to hear and painful to admit, but the truth is that you have broken God's laws knowingly and willfully. We all have each and every one of us. As Paul writes in Romans 3:23, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
If you can come this far and are willing to admit that you are not perfect and there is no way you can live a perfect life on your own will or actions then you have made a giant step towards understanding who Jesus is and who you are in this world.  John 3:16-21.  This is the hardest step for most people. No one likes to be told they are a sinner. It hurts our pride and offends our sense of how decent we think we are. This truth, if you will allow yourself to acknowledge it, is a seed of real understanding about who you are and who God is will start to grow. God is perfect and has never sinned. Furthermore, heaven is a perfect place which no one can enter unless they, too, are perfect. If you imagine for just one moment, a person with sinful desires - a desire to steal or lie or cause pain - admitted into heaven and how that would alter its perfect nature, then you will understand that it could never be the place we hope and want it to be with those desires still lingering inside our hearts. Revelation 21:1-8.  Yet we also know that we have all sinned. We have separated ourselves from Him through our rebellion. Genesis 2:16-17.  If this were the end of the story, it would be an inescapable truth that none of us can ever pass through the gates of Heaven and none of us can be with God when we die. With these sinful desires resting in us and no hope of ever changing our hearts, we would be forever lost.
It is at this point that most people strenuously object and cry, "Not fair! I'm a good person, I don't deliberately hurt people." I'm sure you try not to do wrong. But you have. So have I. The point is not whether you're good. For the most part, people we know and meet are "good". But by what standard? When we say this, we simply mean, "above average." We can compare them to murderers and rapists and surely, we can call them good. But is that the right standard? What if we compare them to God, who is perfect? By that standard, none of us are very good. Ephesians 2:1-8 Perfection is the StandardBut why should that be the standard? Why can't God let the standard be something obtainable which most of us can achieve? There are several problems with this. First, whatever standard you set will make some people very unhappy. It will always be too lenient for some and too restrictive for others. Second, a standard less than perfection is like an admission of failure. We would be asking God to settle for something less than what He intended us to be before we rebelled. So, what should the standard be?
Think about this example:

 You are referee for a sport say football.  You try to call the game fairly as you see it. by your standard or vision.  If it occurred to you that the player crossed the end zone to score no matter what everyone sees, then the player scored.  But on instant replay you see that the player was short by an inch. Do you change your mind or do you stay with your first call.  Hopefully, you would change your first call and say that the player did not score. But without instant replay your standard or call would be all there was to go by.  We can see that your standard is flawed or weak because it’s based on what you see.  Well God sees everything and God sees it right the first time.  That’s why we go by God’s standard. The standard needs to be perfection and nothing less Isaiah 55:6-13

Jesus is the Solution
So that is the problem - standing in the presence of God and living with Him in Heaven can only be obtained by someone who is without sin. No one who has ever sinned a single time in their lives can be worthy of eternal life in heaven. Our rebellion has and will forever separate us from our perfect God.

Romains 5:13-15,  2 Corinthians 5:17-21
God loves us too much to allow us to be separated from him eternally.  He has provided a plan for us to be rescued from this dilemma. Salvation comes from His Son, Jesus Christ. When we call Jesus our "savior", or when we talk about being "saved" - this is the eternal problem from which we have been saved. If we will permit Him to do so, Jesus will save us from our sinful nature so that we can be perfect in God's eyes and we can live with him eternally in heaven when we die. John 3:1-21  Romains 6:1-15  Colossians 3:1-17   Revelation 21:1-8