Why do we need Jesus? Most of us have heard that we need to be saved - whether at a church service or seeing a sign on the side of the road that says, "Jesus Saves". What does He save us from? Our current culture doesn't have a good grasp on who Jesus is and why we need His salvation. Most churches have become little more than religious motivational speeches that occasionally float the name of Jesus; it's hard to find churches that teach what is salvation & eternal life . It's such good news and so wonderful but seems to have been lost in the noise.

Let's meditate on some scriptures together that tell us the story of salvation so that you may believe on the Lord Jesus. I pray that as you read these words, you will be like the people in Acts who asked Peter, "What shall we do to be saved?"

Amen!

MATTHEW 9:13 But go and learn what this means: “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.

COLOSSIANS 1:13-23 [CJB] He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son. It is through his Son that we have redemption — that is, our sins have been forgiven.  He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is supreme over all creation,  because in connection with him were created all things — in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, lordships, rulers or authorities — they have all been created through him and for him.  He existed before all things, and he holds everything together. Also he is head of the Body, the Messianic Community — he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might hold first place in everything. For it pleased God to have his full being live in his Son and through his Son to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace through him, through having his Son shed his blood by being executed on a stake. In other words, you, who at one time were separated from God and had a hostile attitude towards him because of your wicked deeds, he has now reconciled in the Son’s physical body through his death; in order to present you holy and without defect or reproach before himself —  provided, of course, that you continue in your trusting, grounded and steady, and don’t let yourselves be moved away from the hope offered in the Good News you heard.
This is the Good News that has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven.

JOHN 3:14-18 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that whoever believes (a persuasion, knowledge, ascent, and confidence that results in action/obedience) may in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

1 PETER 1:3-4 [CJB] Praised be God, Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who, in keeping with his great mercy, has caused us, through the resurrection of Yeshua the Messiah from the dead, to be born again to a living hope,  to an inheritance that cannot decay, spoil or fade, kept safe for you in heaven.

WHY DO WE NEED JESUS? Without going deep into history, it comes down to this: we make mistakes. All of us have sin in our lives. ALL of us. What is sin? Anything that is not who God is. Some think God has a heavy hand and makes silly rules because He's a dictator. Truly, God simply "is". He IS holy, good, love, just, peace. And scripture tells us over and over that all the laws of God can be summed up in one word: LOVE. God IS Love. Culture and society have redefined love. We define love based on what suits us. But what we deem as burdens and limitations, God is telling us it's Love. When God created us, He created in His image - the angels are not in His image nor are the animals. That is why we instinctively know humans have more value than animals. We look like God! But when He created us, He took a chance...you see, God wanted us to Love Him back...and the only way to do that was to give us a choice to love. A choice to walk in love or walk in our own path (evil/sin). So the Bible say we've ALL gone astray. Given a choice, we all choose evil in some way or another, every single day. But Jesus, fully God, fully human, came to live as a human (in the flesh) and to do it perfectly. Jesus chose Love every time. He did not have sin. That is why Jesus is WORTHY to be sacrificed. [Before Jesus, Jews sacrificed animals at certain times in payment for sin]. But now Jesus was a perfect, holy, and righteous sacrifice. And when He died, God rose Him from the dead, and that act broke the power of death. Because, when we make a choice to sin, it give satan authority to hold us. For the domain given to him was death. Spiritual law says satan holds death. And so, we must be saved from death - from the grip of satan! satan is NOT God's equal, he is an angel who had the highest position in heaven and was the most beautiful in heaven, in charge of worship. He was closest to God. Yet, when God (made us of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit) made mankind (male & female) we were in the IMAGE of God/Elohim. So no longer was satan closest to God, now there were men - who looked like God and as scripture says, "just a little lower than Elohim". It was this that cause satan to fall into evil and was cast out. he hates us! he wanted our position! And when Adam and Eve made the first choice to disobey the command of the Father, the entire human race was cursed and we had to be redeemed back to the Father. Hence, God in the flesh - Jesus the Messiah (Yeshua HaMashiach). God gave up himself, in the flesh. Jesus wanted to be known as the Son of Man because to be a perfect sacrifice, he had to live as a human. He had to hear the Father's voice, do miracles, and live every day perfectly - as a human. Only then did Jesus become worthy to carry our sorrows, griefs, sin, diseases, etc. He died for ALL of it. And now He is alive! And the only thing we have to do to be saved by Jesus and redeemed back to the position God the Father intended is to repent, believe in your heart, be born again through baptism, and be baptized in the Holy Spirit. But start by saying yes to Jesus. Just tell Jesus you believe. Mark it down on your calendar, write it in your journal, and find someone who will baptize you. You don't have to understand it all (though it helps), but do it in faith. Then ask Holy Spirit to come and fill you - where there was death in you, now you want life! Holy Spirit gives you the power and wisdom to guide you in your life. Click on the playlist above and they will go through it in more detail...but REPENT (ie acknowledging your sins and thanking God for His forgiveness), BELIEVE in your heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and came IN THE FLESH to live as a human, died, and was raised to life IN THE FLESH so you could live in the Spirit! Then, get BAPTIZED to wash you from the old person and walk into newness. If there's no one to baptize you, get in your bathtub, dunk yourself in the name of Jesus Christ, then praise God you are a new person!

ACTS 2:22-39 [ESV] Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.  For David says concerning him,

“‘I saw the Lord always before me,
    for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
    my flesh also will dwell in hope.
 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
    or let your Holy One see corruption.
 You have made known to me the paths of life;
    you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’

 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,  he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.  This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.  Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.  For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,

“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”  And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”  So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

PHILLIPPIANS 2:5-1 [CJB] Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the Messiah Yeshua: Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be possessed by force. On the contrary, he emptied himself, in that he took the form of a slave by becoming like human beings are. And when he appeared as a human being, he humbled himself still more by becoming obedient even to death —death on a stake as a criminal! Therefore God raised him to the highest place and gave him the name above every name; that in honor of the name given Yeshua, every knee will bow — in heaven, on earth and under the earth — and every tongue will acknowledge that Yeshua the Messiah is Adonai —to the glory of God the Father.

COLOSSIANS 2: 11-15 [CJB]  Also it was in union with him that you were circumcised with a circumcision not done by human hands, but accomplished by stripping away the old nature’s control over the body. In this circumcision done by the Messiah, you were buried along with him by being immersed; and in union with him, you were also raised up along with him by God’s faithfulness that worked when he raised Yeshua from the dead. You were dead because of your sins, that is, because of your “foreskin,” your old nature. But God made you alive along with the Messiah by forgiving you all your sins.  He wiped away the bill of charges against us. Because of the regulations, it stood as a testimony against us; but he removed it by nailing it to the execution-stake.  Stripping the rulers and authorities of their power, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by means of the stake.

JOHN 3:34 He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey (believes) the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

PSALM 35:4 [CJB] …for my iniquities loom high over my head as a heavy burden, too heavy for me…my anguished heart makes me groan aloud.

PSALM 69:29 I am afflicted and hurting; God let your saving power raise me up.

MATTHEW 7:13 “Enter at the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who are going through it, because small is the gate and narrow is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

MEDITATIVE PRAYER: Father, direct my steps to the narrow way which leads to life. Give me the eyes to see and the humility to stay in the narrow path. Thank you, Jesus, that you are the faithful Shepherd that leds the way to life - and that you ARE the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

JOHN 14:6 [NASB] Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through Me.”

JOHN 14:23-24 [NASB] “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. He does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.”

MATTHEW 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he does the will of My Father who is in heaven.

1 PETER 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

MATTHEW 4:17 From that time [after the temptations in the wilderness] Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”