So we know Jesus existed, the Bible is trustworthy, and his claim to be God and the way to God stands on evidence and reason. Now, why do you need him personally? What will he do for you which no one else can?

The Bible diagnoses our problem: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). If you're the exception, the one person who has never lied or cheated or had an immoral thought, I'd like to meet you and learn how you did it. The rest of us know that it's true, that we've all made mistakes and sinned. So what? "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). God cannot let my sins into his perfect heaven, or it wouldn't be heaven any longer. My sins must be punished, my debt paid.

This is why Jesus came: to die in our place, taking our punishment on himself (see Isaiah 53:5, 12). No one else in all of human history has done this, or could do it. Every other person has sinned, with their own debt before God. Only Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life (Hebrews 4:15), so he had no debt to pay. He could thus die for us, taking our place and purchasing our salvation. He then rose from the dead to prove his divinity, and to show us that we would live after death with him in paradise (John 14:1-6).

You need Jesus in your life so that your sins can be forgiven and you can spend eternity in heaven. He is the only one who can give you this gift. But every gift, even those which come from God, must be opened.