Sermon Shorts from Spurgeon – Sermon 9: Spiritual Liberty

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

The End of Christian Freedom in the U.S.?

With the recent Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage (marriage equality), there have been dire warnings from numerous sources heralding the negative effects of this landmark decision.  Todd Starnes has outlined one in this opinion piece: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/08/11/chaplains-banned-from-preaching-that-homosexuality-is-sin.html.

Essentially, a Christian chaplain in Kentucky was told he could no longer minister to juvenile inmates because he refused to “sign a state-mandated document promising to never tell inmates that homosexuality is ‘sinful’”.  Although the final outcome will be decided in court, this is just one example of Christians being discriminated against for not toeing the the line of political correctness. Continue reading