Why Do You Desperately Need Jesus?
Welcome to Pentecostal Sermons
and Bible Studies
by Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.
Introduction
Why do you desperately need Jesus? There are many positive reasons. But the sobering answer on the negative side is this: if you die without having chosen to embrace Jesus, the Son of God, as your Lord and Savior, you are doomed to the fires of hell. You will have rejected God’s gracious offer of salvation through Jesus Christ and will have no one but yourself to blame for having chosen the path to eternal damnation.
Thankfully, God the Father, in His love for you, has made provision for your entrance into a joyous eternal life with Him. He sent His Son Jesus from heaven to earth to live here for a time, to minister God’s grace to others, and then to die on a cross to bear the guilt and punishment of our sins. On the third day Jesus rose from the dead and has returned to heaven. From there He reigns as “Lord of all” (Acts 10:36) over the heavens and the earth, and especially in the lives of those who joyously follow and serve Him. After this life believers in Jesus will spend an indescribably joyous eternity in the presence of God the Father and His matchless Son Jesus Christ.
Why do we desperately need Jesus? There’s one all-important answer: to enjoy eternal life with God rather than the torment of hell fire. Now let’s look at some additional exciting reasons why we need to know, love, and serve Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior.
You Need Jesus Because He is the One Way to God the Father
You’ll hear people wrongly say, “There are many roads, many pathways, to God.” Sadly, for millions of people that is an eternally fatal error. Jesus clearly declared that He alone is “the way” to God the Father. And that way, said the apostle Paul, is to “turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:21). As lost sinners without God, you need Jesus as the one and only way to be reconciled to God and receive your salvation.
Jesus Is the Only Mediator Between Us and God
That was a liberating truth to me 56 years ago, when I discovered from the Scriptures of the Bible that I did not need people (priests, ministers, etc.) as go-betweens, as mediators, between God and me. Jesus instructed His followers how to pray. He taught them (and us) in the famous Lord’s Prayer that we can pray directly to God — “Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…” (Matthew 6:9, KJV). And that is because, as noted in our comments above, Jesus is “
Jesus, and only Jesus, Can Save Us from our Sins
Jesus is the Savior, sent from God in heaven to die on a cross to take the punishment on Himself for our sins. Because of His sacrifice, the promise applies to all who are willing: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord [Jesus] will be saved” (Acts 2:21).
The apostle Peter, speaking to his fellow Jews who had witnessed a great healing miracle, declared: “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead… [12] “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:10, 12). You need Jesus because He is the only Savior that God the Father recognizes in bringing sinful mankind into a forgiving salvation relationship with God.
In Water Baptism Jesus’ Name Is Spoken Upon Us and Upon Our New Lives in Him
Having come to Jesus in faith and repentance, the new believer is told by the Scriptures to be baptized in water. When we come to the Lord for salvation, the apostle Paul likens it to our own spiritual crucifixion concerning our old lives that we lived before coming to Him — “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20a). So we are to take that “old man” of sin and bury him/her in the watery grave symbolized in baptism. And from that grave, leaving behind the “old man,” we go forward to “live a new life.” Water baptism helps you to walk in freedom from your former sinful ways.
Also, very significantly, in the presence of other believers, in being baptized you have the glorious name of our Lord invoked upon you — Peter commanded the new believers “to be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 10:48, Lamsa). It is a marvelous privilege, as we bury our old self in baptism, to have the name of our wonderful Savior spoken over us and invoked upon us.
In the Baptism of the Holy Spirit Jesus Gives Us Heaven-sent Power to Tell the World About Him
When we come to Jesus in faith and repentance (Acts 20:21), we are “born again.” We have become a son or daughter of God Almighty (2 Corinthians 6:18). And we obey Jesus (Matthew 28:19) in submitting to baptism in water. But take note, there is also a remarkable additional baptism for the believer — the mighty, power-giving baptism with the Holy Spirit. This is distinct from baptism in water.
This is given to us directly by Jesus, as declared in Mark 1:8 and also in the other three Gospels: Matthew, Luke, and John. Jesus desires to give to His followers the powerful baptism with the Holy Spirit. For what purpose? — to “be [His] witnesses…to the ends of the earth.” Jesus imparts to us supernatural power through the Holy Spirit for that calling to be His witnesses to those around us.
So why do we need Jesus? Summarizing to date, we need Him as: the Way to God … the only Mediator between God and mankind … the one who saves us from our sins … the one whose name is called upon us as we bury the old self in water baptism … the giver of the mighty baptism of the Holy Spirit to His followers. There are more reasons we need Jesus! Let’s read on together.
Do You Need Healing? Jesus Healed the Sick 2,000 Years Ago and He Still Heals Today
When Jesus was on earth 2,000 years ago, He went far and wide healing the sick. The Bible tells us that Jesus is “the same today.” That means that you can come to Him in faith for His healing touch. Let me share a remarkable testimony of the Lord’s healing power in my life.
My late wife was infertile, with a diagnosed medical condition. Although we greatly desired children, she was unable. After 6 years of our childless marriage, a godly lady in our church came to us and said that the Lord had awakened her during the night and told her to tell my wife this message from the Lord: “Your barren days are over!” The following year my wife delivered the first of our four children, now all adults and serving the Lord and raising all their children in the faith.
We needed Jesus the Healer, and He met our need in that glorious way, also in other family healings since then. He’s the same today and will meet you too with healing in response to the humble prayer of faith.
Only In Jesus Will You Find Perfect Deliverance from Harmful Habits and Bondages
Look at that list! Jesus does these and more in areas of our lives where we need His delivering touch — healing the brokenhearted … delivering the captives … setting at liberty those who are bound. No matter what habits you are captured by, no matter the bondages that may be keeping you tied up, Jesus is your Deliverer! Respond to His promise: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
Jesus’ Second Coming Is Ahead; Then His Followers, Both the Living and the Dead Believers in Him, Will Rise to Him in Immortal Bodies and Be with Jesus Forever in Eternal Bliss
Jesus is coming to earth a second time (Hebrews 9:28). In Bible Scripture that day is called His Second Coming. One of two destinies awaits everyone: (1) those who “do not know God and…do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” will experience the flaming fire of the Lord’s judgment and be consigned to eternal damnation; and thankfully (2) those who have come to God through Jesus Christ will rejoice in His coming for them and taking them into eternal life in His very real presence.
This is a big one! At His coming those who have rejected Him and their chance for salvation are sent into the fires of damnation. By contrast, those who have received Jesus into their lives by faith and repentance for sin enter into a glorious eternity in the indescribably wonderful presence of the Lord.
This is a simple choice between two options. Come to Jesus and experience salvation and eternal life. Reject Jesus and expect to spend eternity in a fiery place of damnation. This is really the bottom line of why each one of us desperately needs Jesus Christ in our lives.
Would YOU Like to Receive Eternal Life and Fullness of Joy Forever with Jesus?
Here in a nutshell is the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ —
Jesus said, “You
Are you ready to come to Jesus and receive eternal life from Him? It will be the single greatest decision you’ll ever make. I did it 56 years ago and have lived a life blessed by Him, never for a minute regretting coming to Jesus. If God is touching your heart, please go right now — don’t wait! — to the late, respected evangelist Billy Graham’s brief presentation and prayer to lead you to your personal salvation from the Lord. You’ll find that HERE, and it will be the greatest day of your life to date. May God bless you.
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©2025, James H. Feeney.
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