Participants: Teresa Garloff, Eric Garloff
Series Code: WWJ
Program Code: WWJ000002
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00:10 Hello, I'm Eric Garloff, your host for Walking With Jesus.
00:13 Today's program is titled Our Need Of Jesus, and I'm so happy 00:18 you've joined us for this important topic. 00:20 Now whether or not you personally feel a deep need 00:23 for Jesus, this program promises to be a blessing to you because 00:27 anything that brings you closer to God is a blessing. 00:30 Let's get started, shall we? 00:34 I've often heard it said that the more money a person has 00:38 the less he or she feels the need for God in their life. 00:41 Now I know that this is not true of everyone, but the Bible 00:45 has a passage which supports this general idea. 00:48 It's found in the book of Revelation 3:17, 18 which says 00:54 the following: 01:23 And then Jesus says this in verses 19 and 20: 01:43 Now packed within these four verses is quite a lot for a 01:47 person to take into consideration. 01:49 So lets break it down and take it one step at a time. 01:52 This way we'll be able to understand its meaning 01:54 as it applies to our need of Jesus. 01:59 In their sinless state Adam and Eve held joyful communion 02:03 with God, but after their sin they could no longer find joy 02:07 in the presence of His holiness. 02:09 Thus they sought to hide from the presence of God. 02:12 Such is still the condition of the unrenewed heart today. 02:16 And there is no lack of things, or attractions, or appointments, 02:21 or whatever the case may be to keep our attention fixated upon. 02:25 Now it may be true that the more money a person has 02:28 the more things he has to draw his attention away with, 02:31 but let me also say that someone who doesn't even have two 02:35 nickels to rub together can just as easily turn away from 02:38 knowing God as well. 02:40 Thus no matter who we are we need to understand why it is 02:45 that having God in our lives is so important. 02:51 Paraphrased the passage that we read in Revelation chapter 3 02:54 stated that without Christ in our lives we are wretched, 02:59 and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. 03:02 Now we may not seem this way to ourselves, or to our neighbors, 03:07 or to our co-workers, but the reality is that this is the way 03:12 God sees us if we're living without Jesus. 03:15 This is why He says, I counsel you to buy of me gold tried 03:20 in the fire that you may be rich. 03:22 The gold tried in the fire represents a loving, 03:25 and a living faith which has been tried and purified. 03:28 True faith is a symbol of spiritual riches. 03:32 Our nakedness, mentioned in this passage, is a symbol of 03:35 not being prepared. 03:36 You may well remember the parable in the Bible where 03:39 a man came to a wedding feast, and he didn't have on 03:42 the wedding robe. 03:43 This man was then thrown out because he didn't come prepared. 03:48 The white raiment, or white robe, that we are told to buy 03:52 is a symbol of the robe of Christ's righteousness. 03:55 It's only by His righteousness that we can be saved. 04:00 Thus it's only by Christ's righteousness that we can be 04:03 prepared to meet God. 04:05 Finally, the passage also said we're blind. 04:08 Well, if we're blind we can't see where we're going, can we? 04:13 This is a symbol of spiritual blindness, and unless we apply 04:17 the cure for our blindness, we will remain in 04:20 spiritual darkness. 04:21 That cure is to obtain the eye salve that God has mentioned. 04:26 This eye salve opens our eyes to our true condition. 04:29 Opening our eyes is the work of the Holy Spirit. 04:32 The eye salve represents the Holy Spirit, and only through 04:36 His convicting work on the heart can spiritual blindness 04:40 be removed. 04:43 So here it is in a nutshell. 04:45 God wants us to ask Him to give us the power of the Holy Spirit 04:51 so we can see our true condition, and to come to Him 04:54 in faith, knowing that He will answer that prayer and clothe us 04:58 with the robe of Christ's righteousness that we 05:01 may be saved. 05:02 That's absolutely fantastic, isn't it? 05:04 And it's all the gift of God, Amen? 05:07 Jesus said it was like Him standing at the door knocking, 05:11 and if anyone would hear His voice and open the door to Him, 05:14 He will come in. 05:15 The door is a symbol of our heart. 05:18 So if we hear Jesus speaking to our heart and invite Him in, 05:23 He will come in and live within us. 05:26 The book Steps to Christ, page 8, has this to say about 05:29 our condition: 06:26 If you're still not sure about all of this, if you still think 06:29 that you've lived a pretty good life, and that you really 06:33 haven't done anything bad, at least nothing worthy of death, 06:36 and that God will take you to heaven anyway, then let me share 06:40 this thought with you. 06:41 Suppose you had a child, let's say it was a boy, and for the 06:46 past twelve years you've raised this boy, you've poured out 06:50 upon him all of the love, nurturing, and caring that any 06:54 parent could possibly give their child. 06:55 The bond between the two of you is so great that it could never 07:00 be broken. 07:01 When he is hurt, you feel his pain, and his suffering, 07:05 and if there were anything that you could do to relieve it, 07:09 you would sell all that you had to make it so. 07:13 Over the years, as you raise your son, you had seen him 07:18 through good times and through bad. 07:21 When you reflect back on his life you can recall the 07:26 incidents that brought you the most joy, and also those which 07:29 caused you the most pain. 07:30 It's the painful ones which you wish you could undo, 07:35 as if they never happened. 07:36 One such occasion happened to your son a number of years ago 07:40 when another boy in the neighborhood, who was an orphan, 07:44 and lived right down the street, was very mean and nasty 07:48 to your son. 07:49 He would lie and wait for him after school and beat him up. 07:52 He would play dirty tricks on him, and make fun of him 07:55 every day, even though you spoke to the orphanage about his 07:58 behavior, and did everything that you could to stop this 08:01 from happening. 08:02 The boy just didn't stop beating up your son. 08:05 Then one day the boy moved to another orphanage across town, 08:09 and everything was back to normal again. 08:11 Your heart was relieved that your son no longer had to put up 08:16 with that abuse. 08:17 A few months later your son comes to you and tells you 08:22 that the boy had gotten sick, and that nothing short of a 08:26 heart transplant could save his life. 08:27 Now here's the difficult part to imagine because the medical 08:32 community today would not allow this to happen. 08:35 But your son finds out that his heart is a perfect match to save 08:40 the life of the one who bullied him and beat him up. 08:43 So your son comes to you and tells you that he loves you 08:47 so much, and that he wants to show the bully the same kind of 08:51 love that the two of you share with each other because he has 08:55 never known that kind of love himself. 08:58 This news breaks your heart because you know your son is 09:03 asking to give up his life to give the bully his own heart 09:07 that he could live. 09:08 You just don't know how to react to this. 09:10 You don't know if you can bare such a thing because just 09:13 thinking about it your heart is breaking. 09:17 It's like tearing your own heart right out of your chest. 09:20 You hunt and search for another way to save the boy's life, 09:24 but you realize the only way for the bully to live, and to know 09:29 true love is to allow your son to go through with his plan. 09:32 Then after the operation is over, and your son gave 09:37 everything he had to save the life of the bully, you find it 09:40 within yourself to love the bully. 09:42 You adopt him, and you give him your name. 09:44 You give him all of the love that you had given to 09:47 your own son. 09:48 Gradually the boy realizes what it's like to be loved, 09:52 what it's like to have someone care for him, and protect him. 09:57 The boy realizes the infinite sacrifice that was made 10:01 on his behalf, and he grows up with the upmost love and respect 10:05 for the boy who gave his life that he might live. 10:08 Friend, that's what God the Father, and Jesus His Son, 10:12 have done for you and for me. 10:16 The Bible says that they did this because of our sin. 10:20 If there had been any other way to save us, God the Father 10:24 would have found it. 10:26 The very fact that Jesus had to die, so that we could live, 10:29 is the strongest testimony of God's love for us. 10:32 If we don't accept the sacrifice of Jesus, we are refusing the 10:37 life which he died to give to us. 10:39 Our great need of Jesus exists because we have sinned, 10:43 and because we have sinned, we need a savior. 10:46 The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that, All have sinned and come 10:50 short of the glory of God. 10:57 Two verses before this, in 1 John 1:8 we read: 11:15 So you see, my friend, we are all doomed to die 11:18 with a bad heart for we have all sinned and all come short 11:21 of God's standard. 11:22 Because we come short of it we cannot expect to have salvation 11:26 without accepting the death of Jesus on our behalf. 11:30 It's only by acknowledging our own sinfulness, 11:33 through the power of the Holy Spirit, which God will give us, 11:36 if we ask Him for it, and by accepting the sacrifice of Jesus 11:40 that we can be clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness, 11:44 making us righteous in the eyes of God. 11:47 He then takes us into His family, and loves us with the 11:51 same love that He has for His Son. 11:54 God has loved us from the very beginning, but He cannot bring 11:58 us into heaven to live with Him unless we have received 12:02 a new heart. 12:04 Friends, God is truthful, honest, and just. 12:06 He is the only one in the universe in which you can place 12:09 your total trust. 12:10 He has promised us life through His Son Jesus, and if we accept 12:15 Jesus, God will fulfill His promise to us. 12:17 Once again, Jesus says in Revelation 3:20, 12:30 And in the very next verse, verse 21, Jesus says: 12:43 Yes, friend, our need of Jesus is so great that we won't get 12:47 to heaven without Him. 12:48 Ephesians 2:8-9 says: 13:00 As we close now, I would like to say a prayer, and if you feel 13:03 the need of Jesus in your life, you can repeat this prayer 13:06 in your heart, and make it your own prayer. 13:09 Father, I come to You, the Creator of the universe, 13:13 and I realize that there's no hope for me outside of Jesus 13:16 Your Son. 13:17 Father God, please give me Your Holy Spirit that I may see 13:20 my true condition. 13:22 Please forgive me of my sins and cleanse me. 13:25 Place the robe of Jesus' righteousness upon me 13:28 because without it I won't be able to live with You. 13:31 Lord, by faith I believe that You have heard this, my prayer, 13:34 and have forgiven me, and cleansed me, 13:37 and in the name of Jesus I thank You, Father. 13:40 Now help me to live my life accordingly. 13:43 In Jesus name, Amen. 13:45 May God be with you. 13:49 Our faith grows when we walk with Jesus. 13:52 His love, mercy, and compassion will guide us along the path 13:58 of life, and we pray you desire a close walk with Him. 14:02 Join us for our next exciting program as we discuss 14:07 the subject of repentance. |
Revised 2014-12-17