Exhort One Another Daily

Hebrews 3:5-11 ESV

 

“Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

 

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

 

“’Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

    on the day of testing in the wilderness,

where your fathers put me to the test

    and saw my works for forty years.

Therefore I was provoked with that generation,

and said, “They always go astray in their heart;

    they have not known my ways.”

As I swore in my wrath,

    “They shall not enter my rest.”’”

 

Many people in America profess faith in Jesus Christ, but it appears the majority are not following Jesus Christ with their lives. They are not committed to his service, to obeying him with their lives. Their hearts and minds are elsewhere and Jesus is not truly their Lord and Master. They serve the gods of this world, instead. For they are worldly and there is not much distinction anymore between the church and the world. They all blend in together, as so much of the church is catering to the people of the world.

 

Now this passage of Scripture does not take it for granted that everyone who professes the name of Jesus actually is a follower of Jesus Christ. We have a lot of these “IF” verses all throughout the New Testament that let us know what a true follower of Christ looks like and what it looks like if we are not truly following Jesus with our lives. And this “holding fast our confidence” is not a “name it and claim it.” This has to do with us daily dying to sin and to self and following our Lord in obedience, by the grace of God.

 

And that is obvious by the verses which follow, for they warn us against hardening our hearts as the children of Israel did when they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. Most of them did not enter into God’s eternal rest because of their rebellion against the Lord and due to their deliberate and habitual sinning against the Lord and their refusal to repent of their sins and to obey the Lord. And God called their continual disobedience unbelief, and he still calls deliberate and habitual disobedience unbelief.

 

So, this is a warning to all who profess faith in Jesus Christ and who believe their sins are forgiven and that heaven is their eternal destiny. If we hear God’s voice speaking, which we should if we are believers in Jesus, we are not to harden our hearts like the children of Israel did in the wilderness. We are not to engage in sexual immorality and wild living and idolatry and the testing of our Lord by disobedience and by grumbling against the Lord like they did in the wilderness (see 1 Corinthians 10:1-22).

 

For if we walk (in conduct, in practice) in habitual and deliberate sin, the Scriptures teach that we will not enter into God’s eternal rest, either, regardless of what faith we profess with our lips. For Jesus said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter into the kingdom of heaven but only the one DOING the will of God the Father who is in heaven. And many who professed his name on this earth are going to hear him say on that day, “I never knew you! Depart from me you workers of iniquity.”

 

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 8:31-32; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 11:17-24; 1 Co 6:9-10; 1 Co 15:2; 2 Co 5:10; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-11; 2 Tim 2:10-13; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Pet 1:17-21; 2 Pet 1:5-11; 2 Pet 2:20-22; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

 

Hebrews 3:12-15 ESV

 

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, ‘Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’”

 

Now, again, this is being addressed to Christians and to those who give lip service to Jesus only. We are the children of God, his church, his body IF we hold fast to our faith in Jesus Christ. And what does that faith look like? It has to do with us dying with Christ to sin and being raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. So it involves us repenting of (turning away from) our sins so that we can follow the Lord Jesus in obedience to his commands.

 

[Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Eph 4:17-24; Tit 2:11-14; Lu 9:23-26]

 

So, again, this is a warning and a caution to us to not take God’s grace for granted like the children of Israel did in the wilderness. For we still live in flesh bodies. We still have a propensity to sin. So we are still capable of allowing evil to reign in our hearts once again and to the point to where we fall away from our Lord and from our walks of faith and obedience. And so we are being encouraged here that we need to exhort (urge, counsel, instruct, encourage) one another every day so that none of us are hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

 

And do you know what that looks like? Well, that is what I am doing every day, but I know not everyone is called to do exactly what the Lord has called me to do. But he has called all of us to exhort (urge, push, spur) one another daily so we are not led astray by sin’s deceitfulness. And the internet is a great place to do that, especially on social media. For you can share a Scripture a day or you can share words of counsel and of urging each other to live holy lives and in how to avoid the pitfalls of sin.

 

[Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:17-27; Col 3:16; Heb 3:13]

 

I see so many professing Christians talking to their friends about everything but Jesus. They talk just like the world does. Their conversations are about sports, movies, games, politics, music, entertainment, and jokes, etc., which is not all bad, mind you, but this should not be what is primarily in our minds and on our tongues. So gatherings of Christians and gatherings of non-Christians often look pretty much the same. So there is nothing to distinguish Christian and non-Christian. This should not be!

 

For we are to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. And we are to proclaim the excellencies of God who called us out of darkness (sin) into his wonderful light (Christ, truth, righteousness). And we are to be his witnesses throughout the world. And we are to make disciples of Christ of people, baptizing them (where possible) in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey the commands of the Lord. And we are to speak the truth in love to one another to help us grow in our walks of faith.

 

[1 Pet. 2:9; 1 Pet. 2:21; Matt. 5:13-16; Matt. 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Rom. 10:14-15; Jn. 4:31-38; Jn. 13:13-17; Jn. 14:12; 1 Jn. 2:6]

 

For we have come to share in Christ if indeed we hold our original confidence to the end. And this “original confidence” must align itself with the teachings in the Scriptures on Salvation and our walks of faith and eternal life. For we are to be dying daily with Christ to sin and living daily to him and to his righteousness, free from slavery to sin, and in walks of obedience to our Lord, in the power of God, and for the glory and praise of God.

 

[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15,21; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Rom 12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; Heb 12:1-2; Jn 6:44; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 Co 15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13]

 

How Long Till the Morning

 

Scripture: I Thessalonians 4:17

By C. E. Couchman

 

Consider the mornings of this mortal land,

Each a new beginning from the Maker’s hand.

While the storms may gather ‘gainst the evening sky,

The day breaks cloudless in the morning.

 

Rise up to the battle, for the skies dawn clear.

Let us gather courage while the foe draws near.

Though the night falls weary, saints of God, march on!

And He’ll raise our banner in the morning.

 

When the trumpet sounds to signal Heaven’s day,

Resurrection Morning when the dead shall wake,

What a glorious gath’ring when the Lord descends

And we rise to meet him in the morning.

 

How long, my Lord? Till we see the morning?

How long, O, my Lord, till we see your face?

O my Lord, guide us through our troubles

Till we rise above them in the morning.

 

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