The Sword and the Blog

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. - 2 Timothy 3:14-17

Confessions of a Church:God’s Promises
Confessions of a Church, Deuteronomy Joseph Spurgeon Confessions of a Church, Deuteronomy Joseph Spurgeon

Confessions of a Church:God’s Promises

Obedience to the Word of God is not optional. We see in the text today that blessings accompany obedience to God's Law, and on the flip side, curses accompany disobedience, curses like being carried off into captivity and being broken off of the vine and cast into the fire. We know that obedience apart from faith avails us nothing but damnation, because we are saved by grace through faith, not by our works.

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Confessions of a Church: The Most Difficult Time to Live
Confessions of a Church, Deuteronomy Joseph Spurgeon Confessions of a Church, Deuteronomy Joseph Spurgeon

Confessions of a Church: The Most Difficult Time to Live

"We must not think that, because the deliverance of the church and the destruction of its enemies are not effected immediately, therefore they will never be effected. God will do his own work in his own method and time, and we may be sure that they are always the best. Thus corruption is driven out of the hearts of believers by little and little. The work of sanctification is carried on gradually but that judgment will at length be brought forth into a complete victory."

 

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Confessions of a Church: Family Discipline
Confessions of a Church, Deuteronomy Joseph Spurgeon Confessions of a Church, Deuteronomy Joseph Spurgeon

Confessions of a Church: Family Discipline

In other words, as you claim that all the promises of God are yes and amen, that you believe God has ordained from eternity past that He would raise up a nation of priests to worship Him in Spirit and Truth, and that Jesus is the head of said Nation, the Church, which He died for, crushing the serpent's head, becoming the substitutionary atonement for our sins, rose from the dead, and now sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty: if you say you believe all that, does it manifest itself in your life in how you disciple your children?

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Confessions of a Church: Delayed Obedience
Confessions of a Church, Deuteronomy Joseph Spurgeon Confessions of a Church, Deuteronomy Joseph Spurgeon

Confessions of a Church: Delayed Obedience

Delayed obedience is disobedience.
Obedience which does not conform to the standard presented by the One in authority to whom obedience is due, is disobedience.
Grumbling in the midst of “obedience”, is disobedience.
Israel learned this lesson the hard way. Here and in the previous few verses we are reminded that the LORD had commanded Israel to advance into the land of the Amorites, only to have Israel respond with grumbling and unbelief. God’s response was one of righteous anger, referring to the men as an “evil generation”.

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Confessions of a Church: Father Carries a Son
Confessions of a Church, Deuteronomy Joseph Spurgeon Confessions of a Church, Deuteronomy Joseph Spurgeon

Confessions of a Church: Father Carries a Son

o not be shocked, nor fear them. The Lord your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.

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Confessions of a Church: The Darkness
Confessions of a Church, Ecclesiastes Joseph Spurgeon Confessions of a Church, Ecclesiastes Joseph Spurgeon

Confessions of a Church: The Darkness

How do you respond to the darkness? Do you turn to food? Pleasure? Entertainment? When the fiery trial comes, and it seems that God has turned His face away from you, what do you do? Do you curse God and wish for death? Do you plunge yourself into hopeless despair? Do you flee into the refuge of health, wealth, and family?

Friends, the darkness is coming, if not already here. But all is not gloom and doom. As stated earlier, Jesus did say "In the world you have tribulation". He also said "Fear not, I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

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