THE DANGER OF LIVING WITHOUT CHRIST

Apostle Sam Agyeman-Tabi

Main Scripture: Rev. 20:11-15

God has given men our will to do whatever we want on this earth. Nevertheless, In Prov. 3:5-6, the Bible says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Here, the Bible calls us to surrender our will to God, so that He graciously directs our paths.

• The Bible talks about a jailer who didn’t know Jesus and was assigned to take care of Paul and Silas who had been imprisoned for preaching and casting out a demon.
  • In the prison something happened, and I want us to read from

Acts 16:25-34 NKJV But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.” Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptised. Now when he had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.

• • Because of Paul and Silas prayer and hymns, there was a great earthquake which shook the prison foundation and all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. God set them loose.
  • When the jailor saw what has happened, he was shocked and terrified, so he decided to kill himself, but Paul shouted at him to stop.
  • The danger of living without Christ is that when something terrible happens in your life, you may not know what to do because you have no saviour or comforter.
  • The Jailer after seeing the wonderful things which happened said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Acts 16:30 NKJV
  • Let’s listen to the response of Paul and Silas. They said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” Acts 16:31 NKJV
• The big message to you today is, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your
  household” Acts 16:31 NKJV
  • If you don’t believe in Jesus Christ now, you will stand one day before the throne of Christ, where books will be opened to search for your name but your name will not be seen in the book of life because you have not accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour.
  • There is a book in heaven called “The Book of life” and whoever repents of his sins, believe, and accept Jesus as Lord and saviour, will be given the power to become God’s child and his or her name will be written in that book. May the Holy Spirit convict your heart to believe in Jesus and your name will be
    written in this book.
• The book of Revelation 20:13 said, “The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works”. The good news is that, those who repent of their sins and accept Jesus as their Lord and personal saviour, will be raptured to heaven before the final judgment. So, the sea, the death and hades will not find them
  and deliver them for judgement. They will be gone by then.
  • The danger of living without Christ is that, if your name is not written in the Book of Life, you will be cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:15 said, “Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
  • Living without Christ is very dangerous because of what the Bible describes as the Lake of fire. The unbeliever may not see anything dangerous in his lifetime, but the future is dangerous. That’s why we all need to come to Jesus who can save us from this Lake of Fire.

Summary

When you believe in Christ, you are saved from the danger of the future death and your destination will be Heaven and not the Lake of fire. Therefore, if you have not accepted Jesus to be your Lord and saviour, repent and confess him now before it is too late. Romans 10:8-10, But what does it say?
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. Let us read Ephesians 1:13-14 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also,
having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

1. When you gentiles believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.
2. The Holy Spirit is God’s seal:
   1. Guaranteeing that he has purchased us to be his own property forever.
   2. His seal of deposit guaranteeing that he will do what he has promised concerning us.
   3. If you have Jesus, you have escaped all the dangers ahead of you. You have the seal of God which gives you permission to enter heaven when you die.

Glory be to God.