Why We Need Jesus in our Life | Matthew 21:28-32

[00:00:00] Real Truth Daily. This is Daily Truths with Dave Ahlman.

[00:00:06] Hi everybody, welcome back to Daily Truths. I've got a question for you today. Why did

[00:00:13] you come to Christ? Because I assume that those of you who are listening to me today

[00:00:17] know Jesus is Savior. But why? No, I know the 30,000 foot answer, I get that. We come

[00:00:24] to faith by the Holy Spirit's power. The Holy Spirit breaks down our stubborn, resisting

[00:00:28] fail, opens up our eyes to embrace Christ as Savior, Lord, Redeemer and King. I get that.

[00:00:34] But there is a deeper reason, as the Holy Spirit works in our lives, to help us understand why

[00:00:39] we came to Christ. Let me tell you my story. I am a broken sinner. I mess up. I promise

[00:00:47] to God to do certain things and sometimes I don't follow through. I compare my life to

[00:00:52] what the Word of God says and I fall miserably short of what God expects of me as He demands

[00:00:59] me in the Ten Commandments to be a certain way and I'm not. So, I need Jesus in my life.

[00:01:06] I need Him to love me, forgive me and give me eternal life because of His death and resurrection.

[00:01:12] I am broken and I need what Christ can give. You're broken too. You're messed up too.

[00:01:21] We fall short. All of us do of the standard of God's Word, but here's the incredible thing.

[00:01:26] Because you're broken, because you've messed up, because you've offended God and thought word indeed

[00:01:31] by what you do and leave undone, here's the incredible thing. You need Christ and what He

[00:01:37] can offer in your life and what do you have as a result of what Christ has done? A relationship

[00:01:43] with God, peace, freedom, liberation, the assurance of eternal life. How cool is this?

[00:01:51] So, the bottom line is we are broken. We need Jesus and He gives us what we need.

[00:01:59] Now, I want to share with you this story. Jesus is talking to the chief priests

[00:02:04] and the elders and this is like the Tuesday of Holy Week, okay? And this is what it says.

[00:02:10] Jesus talks to them about where His authority came from and all of that, and then He launches

[00:02:16] into this parable. This begins at verse 28. What do you think? A man had two sons and he went

[00:02:23] out to the first and said, son, go and work in the vineyard today. And he answered, I will not.

[00:02:29] But afterward, he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same.

[00:02:35] And he answered, I go, sir, but did not go. Which of the two did the will of His Father? Again,

[00:02:41] He's asking the chief priests and the elders this, the religious leaders who did not believe

[00:02:46] that Jesus was Savior and saw no need to embrace Him as a promised Messiah. So,

[00:02:52] they said the first, Jesus said to them, truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes

[00:02:59] go into the kingdom of God before you. What? He's comparing tax collectors and prostitutes

[00:03:06] to these religious leaders. And he's saying they deserve heaven much more than you. Why is that?

[00:03:12] Not because they've been good, but rather because they recognize their need and what Jesus could offer.

[00:03:20] And what could He offer broken sinners like tax collectors and prostitutes?

[00:03:24] His love, pardon and forgiveness. They embraced Christ as a promised Messiah. And

[00:03:31] the chief priests and the elders did not. So we go on where John came to you in the way of righteousness

[00:03:38] and you did not believe him. He's talking about John the Baptist. In other words,

[00:03:41] John the Baptist was one who prepared the way. He pointed to Jesus as a promised Messiah.

[00:03:46] He said the kingdom of God is at hand when Christ came on the scene

[00:03:50] and the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, chief priests and elders all resisted, rebuked and rejected Christ.

[00:03:57] They saw no need for Jesus because they didn't want Jesus in their life. So it says in verse 32,

[00:04:06] for John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him,

[00:04:10] but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed John the Baptist and especially the

[00:04:15] fact that he was preparing the way for the coming Messiah. And even when you saw it,

[00:04:21] you did not afterward change your minds and believe him. Now remember, John the Baptist was one who

[00:04:27] said the kingdom of God is at hand and what's that mean? The reign and the rule of Christ.

[00:04:33] So in Jesus during Holy Week in the temple performed these miracles right in front of

[00:04:39] these dudes, they didn't believe. They rejected and Jesus is calling their bluff. Basically he's saying

[00:04:48] the prostitutes and the tax collectors recognize their need for me and they come to me because

[00:04:54] they need me and what I can offer in their life. The chief priests and the elders have no need,

[00:05:02] don't recognize Jesus for who he is so there's no need for them to want him

[00:05:07] in their life. Here's the thing, until people recognize the need for Jesus, they don't want

[00:05:14] Jesus. But when people recognize the need for Jesus because of their brokenness and sin,

[00:05:20] they want Jesus. And that's the bottom line of our society and culture today. The reason so many

[00:05:26] people reject Christ is they see no need to have him in their life. But my friend, we do.

[00:05:35] And I shared at the beginning of this little podcast today why we need him in our life and we

[00:05:41] do need him in our life. I think that's sung by Matt Marr, Lord I need you, oh I need you, every

[00:05:48] day I need you, my one defense, my righteousness, oh God how I need you. We need Jesus desperately.

[00:05:58] Right. And I thank God we have him. So the bottom line of this message today and it's kind of been

[00:06:05] a series of messages where we just bow our head in humble prayer, adoration and praise to God

[00:06:10] for what he's done for us through his son Jesus Christ. So say a prayer today thanking God

[00:06:17] that you belong to the kingdom, that you're part of the family, that you're an heir of heaven,

[00:06:23] that your sins are forgiven and someday the glories of heaven will be your permanent possession.

[00:06:29] Thanks be to God. And that is today's Daily Truth. Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:06:36] Thank you for tuning in to Daily Truths with Dave Alman. Pastor Dave Alman is the pastor of

[00:06:41] Monhope Church in Boulder, Colorado. If this ministry is blessing you please consider supporting us

[00:06:46] by sharing this channel with a friend. You can also like, comment, subscribe or leave a review.

[00:06:52] This helps us tremendously. Come back tomorrow for your next Daily Truth.