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Dec 26, 2022 18:30pm

Do we Recognize our Need for the Savior?

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Recently, my father in-law had a tooth that began to bother him. He had complained about it several times, but it had really been showing out. He doesn’t particularly care for going to the dentist, but when this tooth really began to hurt, he knew he had to do something. Honestly, he probably never recognized just how great a dentist was until he saw his need for one.

“Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.” (Matthew 26:20-25)

Sitting together were all the disciples, the very ones that had been following Jesus, giving up their jobs and being away from their families to live their lives with Jesus. These men were privileged to share this last supper with Jesus. Did they truly realize who Jesus was? Did they understand the magnitude of sitting at the table eating the Passover meal with the very one that would be the sacrificial lamb for the sins of the world?

There is one that most certainly did not.

Jesus pointed out that one would betray Him. He already knew. And yet, there they all sat, breaking bread together. They all even questioned if it would be them. Even Judas asked the Lord, “Is it I?”

You know what I find interesting? Judas stayed. It never says that he got up and ran. It never says that he slipped away in the dark of night. How on earth could he stay?

Judas never truly comprehended who Jesus was. Even though he knew Jesus was right there with him, he never recognized Him as the one who could save him. How could this be possible?

Until he saw his need for the Savior, he couldn’t understand who the Savior was.

The same is true for us. Until we recognize that we have sinned against God and have earned death and hell because of our sin, we will not truly understand why we need to be saved, or that Jesus is the only one that can save us. That won’t matter unless we see our own desperate need.

God gave the law to Moses and the children of Israel, not just to direct them, but to show them their inability to do everything right. Out of 10 commandments, how many have we broken in just the last day or so? If we are guilty of one, we are guilty. And if we are guilty, justice must be served and that means we deserve punishment. As it is written, the wages of sin is death. And after that is the second judgment. Those that have not repented of their sins and trusted in Jesus to save them, will go to hell.

Until we recognize our need for a Savior, we will never understand who He truly is.

My description of who Jesus is today is a far cry from what I might have said years ago. Why? Because I saw my sin for what it was and recognized who Jesus was for me.

Judas never saw it. Will you?