Without Him

(photo of Mylon LeFevre)

WITHOUT HIM

“At that time ye were without Christ…having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12)

      INTRO.:  A song which reminds us about the spiritual condition of those who are without Christ and have no hope in the world is “Without Him” (#184 in Hymns for Worship Revised).  The original text of two stanzas was written and the tune was composed both by Mylon R. LeFevre, who was born on Oct. 6, 1944, in Gulfport, MS, the youngest son of Urias and Eva Mae LeFevre. The LeFevres were a pioneering Southern gospel music family, and when Mylon was old enough, around age five, he began to sing and play guitar with the group.  The family moved around a lot.  After attending a private religious high school associated with Bob Jones University in Greenville, SC, as a teen, Mylon graduated from public high school in 1992. At 18 years old, when in the Army, where he was paid $84 per month, he wrote his first song, “Without Him,” which was published in 1963 by the LeFevre-Sing Publishing Company. Stationed at Fort Jackson, SC, LeFevre hitchhiked over 600 miles to get to a gospel convention in Memphis, TN, where The LeFevres were performing. That weekend, he sang “Without Him” onstage but did not know that Elvis Presley was there. After the concert, Elvis asked to meet him.  Shortly thereafter, Elvis recorded the song for his album, How Great Thou Art, and within the next year, over a hundred artists would record his song.   According to LeFevre, writing the song took about twenty minutes and produced an initial royalty check of approximately $90,000.

     After leaving the army, LeFevre released his first solo album, New Found Joy, on Skylite Records in 1964.  He then became a member of the famed Stamps Quartet (1966–1968). His aim was to write and sing contemporary music that gives glory to God and would reach unbelievers on the street by fusing rock music with the message of the gospel, but there seemed to be no place for his music—or his longer hair and long sideburns—in his family or his church.  His first mainstream album, entitled Mylon, We Believe released by Atlantic/Cotillion Records in 1969, is considered by some to be the first true “Jesus Rock” album. LeFevre took the classic song “Gospel Ship” and set the familiar southern gospel melody to rock and roll tempo.  However, in his music the gospel message was gradually taken over by the rock, and his lifestyle began to change dramatically with the direction of his songs.  LeFevre started using drugs to deal with the stress and to fit in. His drug use escalated to a near-fatal overdose of heroin in 1973. So LeFevre committed himself to a drug treatment program that year, and seven months later, he came out clean, eventually returning to his faith, family, and gospel music.

     In 1980, LeFevre quit secular rock and returned to his home church, the Mt. Paran Church of God, in Atlanta, GA, where he worked as a janitor, while attending Bible-study classes. In 1981, he started a Christian band called The Gathering Ground Band, later to be renamed Airborn with some musicians he met in the Bible study. In 1982, the band changed their name to Broken Heart. Over the next ten years, the group released ten albums and traveled over a million miles. Then in mid-1989 he suffered a heart attack on a tour bus but against the physicians’ advice continued touring.  In 1990, the group disbanded after the tour completed. In 1992, LeFevre inked a solo recording deal with Star Song Records and began releasing material that was less musically “edgy” than past offerings.  In 2005, the Gospel Music Association Foundation (GMAF) inducted Mylon, along with Walter Hawkins, Evie Tornquist, and The Lewis Family, into the GMAF Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Following his heart attack, LeFevre increasingly turned to preaching and teaching as his vocation. He and his wife Christi minister by teaching and singing in about 75 churches a year. He sometimes can be seen on television networks, such as TBN and Daystar.

     Among hymnbooks published by members of the Lord’s church for use in churches of Christ, “Without Him” has appeared in the 1977 Special Sacred Selections edited by Ellis J. Crum; the 1977 edition of the 1971 Songs of the Church, the 1990 Songs of the Church 21^st C. Ed., and the 1994 Songs of Faith and Praise all edited by Alton H. Howard; the 1983 edition of the 1978 Church Gospel Songs and Hymns edited by V. E. Howard; the 1986 Great Songs Revised edited by Forrest M. McCann; the 1992 Praise for the Lord edited by John P. Wiegand; the 2009 Favorite Songs of the Church and the 2010 Songs for Worship and Praise both edited by Robert J. Taylor Jr.; and the 2012 Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs edited by Steve Wolfgang et. al.  When we sing some of these one and two stanza songs, I often imagine what it would be like to have at least three full stanzas, and sometimes I am able to come up with an additional one or two. 

     The song emphasizes the need for Christ in our lives.

I. Stanza 1 says that without Him we would be aimless

Without Him I could do nothing,

Without Him I’d surely fail;

Without Him, I would be drifting

Like a ship without a sail.

 A. Jesus said that without Him we can do nothing: Jn. 15:5

 B. Without Him we would fail or fall short of God’s grace: Heb. 12:15

 C. Indeed, without Him our lives would be drifting without a sail away from God: Heb. 2:1

II. Stanza 2 says that without Him we would be hopeless

Without Him I would be dying;

Without Him I’d be enslaved;

Without Him life would be hopeless,

But with Jesus, thank God, I’m saved.

 A. Without Jesus we would be dying spiritually because sin brings spiritual death: Jas. 1:14-15

 B. As a result, without Him we would be enslaved to sin: Rom. 6:16-18

 C. And without Him, we would be hopeless in this world: Eph. 2:12

III. Stanza 3 (added) says that without Him we would be lost

Without Him I am a sinner;

Without Him I should be lost.

Without Him I would miss heaven;

But Christ died to pay the cost.

 A. Those who are without Jesus are sinners because all have sinned: Rom. 3:23

 B. Thus, without Him we would be as lost as the prodigal son: Lk. 15:11-24

 C. The final end will be that without Him we shall miss heaven because He is the only way to God: Jn.  14:6

     CONCL.: The chorus points to Jesus as the answer to all our spiritual needs

Jesus, O Jesus!

Do you know him today?  Do not (orig. You can’t) turn him away,

O Jesus, O Jesus,

Without him, How lost I would be.

Before we leave this life, we need to give serious consideration to our relationship with Jesus and spend some time contemplating what eternity will be like “Without Him.”