Tag Archives: heaven

Sermon Shorts from Spurgeon — Sermon 19: David’s Dying Song

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Ah! brother, you once had peaceful hours and sweet enjoyment in the presence of God; but now you are in gloom and doubt; you have lost your roll. Well, let me tell you, though you have lost your roll, the covenant is not lost, for all that. You never had the covenant in your hands yet; you only had a copy of it, You thought you read your title clear, but you never read the title-deeds themselves; you only held a copy of the lease and you have lost it. The covenant itself; where is it? It is under the throne of God; it is in the archives of heaven, in the ark of the covenant; it is in Jesus’s breast, it is on his hands, on his heart—it is there. Oh! if God were to put my salvation in my hands, I should be lost in ten minutes; but my salvation is not there—it is in Christ’s hands.

From the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Volume 1, Sermon 19 by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Sermon Shorts from Spurgeon – Sermon 9: Spiritual Liberty

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The afflictions of this mortal life are not punishments for sin to Christians; they are fatherly chastisements, and not the punishments of a judge. For me there is no hell; let it smoke and burn, if I am a believer I shall never have my portion there. For me there are no eternal racks, no torments, for if I am justified, I cannot be condemned. Jesus hath suffered the punishment in my stead, and God would be unjust if he were to punish me again; for Christ has suffered once, and satisfied justice for ever. When conscience tells me I am a sinner, I tell conscience I stand in Christ’s place, and Christ stands in mine. True, I am a sinner; but Christ died for sinners. True, I deserve punishment; but if my ransom died, will God ask for the debt twice? Impossible! He has cancelled it. There never was, and never shall be one believer in hell. We are free from punishment, and we never need quake on account of it. However horrible it may be—If it is eternal, as we know it is—it is nothing to us, for we never can suffer it. Heaven shall open its pearly portals to admit us; but hell’s iron gates are barred for ever against every believer. Glorious liberty of the children of God!

From the Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Volume 1, Sermon 9 by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

https://ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/sermons01/sermons01.viii.html

Let There Be a Firmament

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After creating light on the first day, God focuses His attention on completing the Earth.

Genesis 1:6-8  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.  7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.  8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

The Hebrew word translated “firmament” means “expanse” or “spreading out”.  It refers to the space above the surface of the Earth, which is why it is also called “heaven” in this verse.  The Hebrews thought of it as being where the birds fly or the “first heaven”.  We would call it our atmosphere or sky.   Continue reading →

Christians Are Dead?

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Colossians 3:1-3 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

In this passage, Christians (i.e. those who are “risen with Christ”) are told to keep their focus on heaven and not Earth.  Then we read something rather strange.  Paul writes, “For ye are dead…”  Huh?  I thought we were made “alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:11)  What does it mean that we are dead!

When we read the word “dead” in the Scriptures, it needs to be understood as “separated”.  Death is always a separation.  Physical death is a separation of our spiritual part from our physical body.  Spiritual death is the separation of a person from God.  We are told in Romans 6:2 that believers are “dead to sin”, which in context means separated from its penalty, and by extension, its power. When one is dead to something, the thing in question has no power.

So in the passage above, believers are dead to the things of this world.  Therefore, the things of the world should not be our focus.  The life of the believer is “hid with Christ in God.”  It is “hid” in the sense that it cannot be found on the Earth.  It is where Christ is, and that is in heaven.  Christian need to keep looking to Him.