Jesus Christ Our Personal Savior

Why do I need a Savior?

While I was doing research for this sermon, I ran across the following from my daily devotional.

Connect the Testaments: A 365-Day Devotional with Bible Reading Plan (December 29)

I was once asked why the Bible is so brutal—why it depicts things like babies being killed and war. It’s true, the Bible has many moments of darkness and violence. But these depictions of the rawness of humanity—in all its ungratefulness and depravity—demonstrate how much people need God. And more than that, through these moments, the Bible shows how much people need a savior.

This really cause me pause, especially as a Catholic I am constantly asked, “why do I need to confess my sin?” Worse, “I haven’t done anything wrong, so I don’t need to confess - my relationship with God is good.” I find this view remarkably interesting, self-serving, and hypocritical. Why is it people think they do not sin? Jesus’ response to this fact comes in the way of his Apostles,

1 John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.”

Let us take a moment to reflect and examine our own conscience. Have you ever had a disagreement with a loved one? Then simply walked away from the disagreement; just to stop the argument. I know I have. After a couple of hours, days, or weeks; you tell yourself that your relationship is good, you said what was on your mind, they understand my point of view. Just to find out years later there was still resentment of that faithful disagreement. Also let us look at the world today; a sizable number of the infighting occurs as a small misunderstanding or simple personality conflicts. Consider the Christian and Islamic conflicts, which turned into the crusades and after many decades of civil unrest, violence, and terrorism. All starting with two individuals wanting to have control and power. As time passes by the relationship becomes distressed and the distance between each other’s perspectives grows. I contend this is true with God too. You are taking a position on this relationship from your point of view and not seeing the bigger picture. Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans reminds us.

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

So, what does this mean to fall short of the glory of God. This means that we have not lived our lives as God wants us to, and how Jesus taught us to live it. What would you do? You are in a grocery store; and, paying with cash, the teller gives you the change and you notice she gives ten dollars too much; do you pocket it? Do you point out the mistake? What about if it was an oversight of ten cents? Now that Christmas has just passed, you just received the ugliest sweater from your dear old grandmother. You smile at her and say, thank you for the ugly sweater, I will never wear it - or do you tell her thank you, I love it? We all fall victim to these trivial lies, a lie which is said not to hurt the other person’s feelings. But a lie none the less, which is a sin. So, what is sin, In the book of James sin is defined;

James 4:17 “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”

The Promise from God

‌God recognizes our shortcomings. Even though we continue to turn his back on him. A consistent story throughout the Old Testament. We think more of ourselves, our wants, and desires. Even God’s chosen people, who were freed from Egypt and still they kept testing Him, complaining about their situation. God provided, supplying miracle after miracle. But still wasn’t enough, to the point God became angry with them, made them roam the desert for forty years. But still God made them a promise

Isaiah 9:2 “The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.”

In God’s view we are living in the darkness of sin and discontent. His promise was to send us a savior. A sacrifice to free us from our burden of sins. The promise of the savior, one that would make the ultimate sacrifice, the gift to all of humanity, his only Son.

Isaiah 9:4 “For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.” (NASB95)

The prophetic message from Isaiah not only promises this savior and continues to describe that this person would take upon his shoulders our burden of sin. And to keep with the season, this gift starts with the birth of a child. We just celebrated this special gift, the birth of Christ

Isaiah 9:6–7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”

To keep with the important theme of Christ our Savior, Isaiah pulls this thread to remind all that this sacrifice is for our benefit, in which Christ put upon his shoulders.

Isaiah 53:4 “Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.”

The Gift of Christ

It is not enough to promise, one needs to come through and act upon the promise. The same is true with God. Though there was a good deal of time between the prophet and reality, but it is understood, God keeps his promise

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

Jesus’ ministry was not that long, but rich with important messages, message of love and caring for one’s neighbor. What is important is how Jesus defines neighbor. If unsure, I would like to remind you of the parable of the Good Samaritan. An example of a person that is ignored by his “own” people, just to be cared for by his enemy. Christ still called this individual his neighbor. It is not literally your neighbor, as living next to you; but all that you meet. The neighbor being the one who is at your grocery store, gas station, school, or work. Your friend, family, co-worker, classmate, and/or the person you come across. Again, the key is love. Jesus not only preached and taught this lesson; he lived it to.

Ephesians 5:2 “and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

This gift is the Gift from God, the means to regain the glory of his grace. Without this grace, we are subjected to the darkness of death and the Glory of God.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Christ knew what his mission and destiny was. He came to earth as one of us to be sacrificed for the atonement of sin. He lived amongst us and was faced with the same temptations of sins, faced the evils in the world, and faced the same painful physical wounds and humiliation. He did succumb to these temptations and remained pure. But still he took the burden on, so that we may walk with him and be in the kingdom of heaven

1 Peter 2:24 “and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.”

God acted upon his promise by sending humanity a savior. Christ did his part by taking on the ridicule, the punishment, and the painful torment of crucifixion. But still Christ overcame death. It is not enough to die for our sins, anyone could have done this, what is important is Christ’s overcoming the pain of death, beating death, beating the evil one. I liken this to Jesus taking the sins of the world to the evil one and leaving them there as He returned to us.

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;”

The Spirit at Work​

Jesus did his part, died for our sins, the ultimate sacrifice. Now it is our part, though this is a gift; we still must do something about it. We have a part in our salvation, just like at Christmas in which you received many gifts, they are not yours until you unwrapped them. Similarly, the unwrapping comes in belief. We need to belief that Jesus lived, walked, ate, and died amongst us; further believe that he died and was resurrected on the third day overcoming death and evil.

Mark 16:16 ““He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.”

Now that is the easy part, what is not so easy is to confess with your mouth, none of us wish to embarrass ourselves and admit we are not perfect and have faults. However, the reality is, we are not perfect, we all truly know it. We are all full of sins and imperfections; this is either by our actions, words, thoughts, or failures to act. As such, we need the living and saving grace of Christ Jesus. God recognizes this too, but still loves us and allows us the means for forgiveness. ​

Romans 10:9 “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;”

Now that we confessed our sins, recognized Christ’s part in the salvation, we can recognize that as sinners, we have a personal savior, Christ Jesus. He is our savior, the gift from God, if we choose to accept it. So, in the means of the church, let us take a moment, to bow our heads, fold our hands, close our eyes, open our hearts to God. Allow him to work in us, His glory as we accept our personal savior; and be sure to thank him for this gift. Further, let us reach deep in our heart, let the Holy Spirit work within us as we examine our conscience and seek our sins; be truly sorry for these offenses and ask God for his forgiveness and thank Christ for his sacrifice. Let us pray as the Church has taught us, the penitential act as recited during the mass.

I confess to almighty God and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.