WITHOUT CHRIST Part 1

by John Lowe
(Laurens SC, USA)

4-9-04

Title: WITHOUT CHRIST (adapted from a sermon by Charles Spurgeon)

Text: “WITHOUT CHRIST." (Ephesians 2:12)

Introduction:
I want to use two words from Ephesians 2:12 and that will be our text.
The verse says, “That at that time ye were WITHOUT CHRIST, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.”
Our text is: WITHOUT CHRIST.
There are two things I want to talk about today--the misery of those who are WITHOUT CHRIST, and the great deliverance from that misery that God has provided through Jesus.

I want to begin with THE MISERY OF OUR PAST CONDITION.
I believe that we all understand that along with the rest of the world, we were once WITHOUT CHRIST.
There’s no way I can describe for you the great misery that lies in those two words.
There is no neediness like it, no want like it, and for those who die WITHOUT CHRIST; there is no devastation like the devastation it will bring.
WITHOUT CHRIST! I wish that those words were enough to shock the average person, to cause them to realize that they are in a desperate condition when they’re WITHOUT CHRIST.
Friends, I think you know the terrible problems contained within these two words?
The man WITHOUT CHRIST lacks all of those spiritual blessings which only Christ can give.
Jesus is the one who gives life to the believer, but the man who is WITHOUT CHRIST is dead in trespasses and sins.
What can we do?
Should we take the word of God and preach to this dead sinner?
We are ordered to do that, and, therefore, we should try to do it; but as long as he is WITHOUT CHRIST nothing will come of it.
As long as that sinner is WITHOUT CHRIST, there’s not much we can do; we can pray for him, and we can try to keep him in church, but everything we do will be useless.
Until the Holy Spirit comes to that man, he will still be dead in trespasses and sins.
Until Jesus is revealed to him, he cannot be born again and there can be no new life.
Something else to think about is that Jesus is the light of the world.
Light is the gift of Jesus.
"In him was light, and the light was the life of men."
Men lived in darkness until Jesus appeared.
Man himself has no power to get light.
WITHOUT CHRIST there is no light of true spiritual knowledge, no light of true spiritual enjoyment, no light in which the truth can be seen, and there’s no warmth of fellowship.
WITHOUT CHRIST there is no peace.
The person WITHOUT CHRIST is like a rabbit that’s chased by dogs.
It may be able to run like the wind, but the dogs are faster.
It tries to find cover in the pleasures of the world, but the dogs get closer and closer.
It tries to climb up the mountain of good works, but its legs are too weak to carry it to safety.
And until Jesus Christ provided refuge and shelter for this poor creature, it had no peace.
WITHOUT CHRIST there is no rest.
Those WITHOUT CHRIST are like a stormy sea, which cannot rest, and only Jesus can say to that sea, "Peace, be still."
WITHOUT CHRIST there is no safety.
The person is like an abandoned ship in a storm that has no one on board; it may crash upon the rocks, since it has no one to steer it.
In any case, it is at the mercy of wind and waves.
There’s no way it can be safe WITHOUT CHRIST.
I want to say it again, WITHOUT CHRIST, there is no hope.
Men and women WITHOUT CHRIST are like a shipwrecked sailor on some deserted island.
He can see far away, but nothing he sees can give him hope.
If, he imagines that there’s a ship on the horizon, it doesn’t take long before he is disappointed.
He feels like his situation is hopeless.
WITHOUT CHRIST, any person is totally lost, and until they receive Him as their Savior, there’s not a single beam of hope anywhere.
Remember friends, those WITHOUT CHRIST, can do all the religious acts you can imagine, however, they’re of no account.
They are like bags of air, containing nothing that God can accept?
WITHOUT CHRIST, our offerings, just like that of Cain's, will just lie on the stones, and there will not be any sweet-smelling smoke rise to be accepted by God.
WITHOUT CHRIST, your church attendance is a form of slavery.
WITHOUT CHRIST, your prayers are only empty words, your repentance is just wasted tears, your giving and your good deeds are just a coating of thin veneer to hide your sins.
And the good things you say about God don’t mean a thing.
WITHOUT CHRIST your religion is dead, corrupt, a stench, a nuisance before God—something He can't stand, because where there is no Christ there is no life and no devotion; there’s nothing in it for God to see that can possibly please Him.
And what I have described is a true description of all those who are WITHOUT CHRIST.
A good moral person WITHOUT CHRIST is just as lost as those who are immoral.
Rich and respectable people, WITHOUT CHRIST, will be just as damned as the prostitute that walks the streets at night.
WITHOUT CHRIST, even though you are generous and give to the poor, and even if you would die for another, God wouldn’t assign any value to you.
All of these things wouldn’t gain you a thing; instead, you would be shut out of heaven, and banished from the presence of God.
WITHOUT CHRIST, you are destitute of every benefit which He and He alone, can give.
WITHOUT CHRIST, implies, that you are without the benefit of all those wonderful promises of Jesus, which are written in God’s Word.
WITHOUT CHRIST, you are without a shepherd to care for you, and you don’t have anyone to call on when you are in trouble.
WITHOUT CHRIST, you have no mediator to plead your case in heaven; you have no representative to stand up yonder and represent you, and prepare a place for you.
WITHOUT CHRIST, you are like sheep without a shepherd; WITHOUT CHRIST you are like a body without a head; WITHOUT CHRIST you are miserable orphans without a father.
WITHOUT CHRIST, you are without a Savior; so what will you do?
What will become of you, when you find out that you need a Savior, but it’s too late?
And since you don’t have a friend in heaven, you are WITHOUT CHRIST.
To sum it all up, you are without anything that can make life a blessing, and make death a happy occasion.
WITHOUT CHRIST, even though you may be as rich as Rockefeller, and as famous as Elvis Presley, and as wise as Socrates, you will still be naked, and poor, and miserable, since you don’t have the One who made all things, and for whom all things were made.
Surely, this should be enough to stir up the conscience of even those who are the farthest from God.
But unfortunately, for those who are without any of the blessings which Jesus brings, and who miss all the good work which Jesus does—His presence is an irrelevant matter!
The great danger for many people today is to be without Jesus Himself.
Can you see Him being led away like a sheep to the slaughter, fastened to that cruel wooden cross--bleeding, dying; for you?
WITHOUT CHRIST you are without the benefit of that great sacrifice; you are without the value of that atoning blood.
Can you see him lying in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, asleep in death?
That sleep is a burial of all the sins of all people for all time.
But WITHOUT CHRIST, your sins are not atoned for, and they will go before you to judgment; they will shout for your condemnation, and they will drag you down without hope.
WITHOUT CHRIST, remember, you will have no part in His resurrection of the dead.
Those WITHOUT CHRIST will rip open the bonds of death, and they will rise, but not to newness of life, and not to a heavenly home, since shame and everlasting torment will be their destiny, because they are WITHOUT CHRIST.
Can you see Jesus as he rides through the streets of heaven, scattering gifts for men and women; but WITHOUT CHRIST, none of those gifts are for you.
There are no blessings for those who are WITHOUT CHRIST.
Jesus sits on that lofty throne at the right hand of God, and He pleads your case, but those WITHOUT CHRIST will not be included in His mediation, and they will have no share in his glory.
He is coming!
He will come, surrounded by majestic splendor, and all of His saints will reign with him; but WITHOUT CHRIST, you can not participate in all that splendor.
WITHOUT CHRIST, there will be no one to wipe away the tears from your eyes.
Listen, I cannot begin to tell you the unhappiness and misery that is contained in the meaning of these dreadful words--WITHOUT CHRIST.
WITHOUT CHRIST, every good thing you do amounts to nothing, since our righteousness is like filthy rags to God...
WITHOUT CHRIST, all the commands of God and all the grace of God are worth nothing to you.
Even his precious word, which is more precious than rubies, is of no help to you.
You may have Bibles in your rooms, and I believe you all have them, but the Bible is only a dead letter WITHOUT CHRIST?
I wish everyone could say what a poor woman once said.