Why we need Jesus

“The soul who sins shall die. . . . But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? 
But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die. 
“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. 
Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.” And you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel, (Ezekiel 18:21–19:1)

If salvation depended on doing good things, then everyone is doomed. No unsaved sinner can claim eternal life on a few good deeds. No believing Christian can claim eternal security for a life of many good deeds yet with the occasional sin. 

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. (Romans 3:22–28)

Being created in His image does not do it. Doing one’s best to follow His laws does not do it. Continually offering sacrifices and confessing sin doesn’t work either. In a sense, having a new heart doesn’t make us sinless. We still fall short. We need Jesus to be our substitute and God to put us ‘in Him’ and see us ‘in Him’ and that happens as we trust Him to have done what we could never do — take our punishment for sin, give us the ability and willingness to obey Him, and intercede for us when we fall short, even when we don’t notice or will not admit that we have.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (John 6:44)

We cannot even come to Christ without being drawn there by God, and we cannot respond and come to Him any other way but through Jesus. And we cannot be forgiven, cleansed, made new, and live forever without Jesus. Saying NO to Jesus is saying YES to depending on ourselves, an impossible task and folly.

Jesus, this is why I love and worship You. My life is not perfect. My obedience is iffy at times. I forget You or neglect You at times. But You never fail me. I need You all the time and for all of life… and worship You for being there, always, with me.