The Letter to the Hebrews
Exhort One Another Day After Day
Hebrews 3:12-14
I went to seminary in Southern California. While I was there, two students decided to climb Mt. McKinley in Alaska. They were both experienced mountain-climbers, so they decided to do this during the winter, because that would be more challenging.
They made it to the top, but on the way down a massive storm hit. There was a freezing, gale-force wind. To make matters worse, they were at a very high elevation where there was not much oxygen, and one of them became disoriented. He forgot where he was. He was not thinking straight. And so he stopped and took off his pack. He took off his gloves – and his jacket. Then he started taking his equipment out of his pack – and the wind blew away his gloves, his jacket, and his sleeping bag.
His friend was still thinking clearly. He was horrified when he saw what his friend had done – and he realized that his friend would freeze to death unless he took care of him. And so he took out his own sleeping bag, forced his friend to get in the sleeping bag, then he got in it with him to keep his friend warm.
As a result, his friend did not die. His friend lived. They both lost some fingers and toes because of frostbite. But because he helped his friend – his friend lived.
That’s a perfect picture of biblical church-life. The Bible teaches that sin can make your believing friend, believing spouse, believing child disoriented. Sin can deceive them. Sin can make them take destructive steps which could lead them to fall away from God to eternal destruction.
But the Bible says that God’s plan is to use your love, your encouragement, your exhortation to keep that from happening – so they will wake up and not fall away.
So biblical church life is deadly serious. Wonderfully joyful – and at the same time earnestly serious – because eternity is at stake. That’s what God’s Word teaches – and that’s what we are committed to pursuing here at Mercy Hill Church.
And this morning our next passage in Hebrews teaches this understanding of church life. So let’s turn to Hebrews 3:12-14. If you need a Bible, go ahead and raise your hand and we will bring one to you. Hebrews 3 is on page 1002 in the Bibles we are passing out. Let’s read it and see what God tells us –
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
13 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.
14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
Notice those first two words in v.12 – the words “take care.” We are to take care that our brothers and sisters avoid some danger. Which means there’s some danger our brother and sisters face. So what danger do our brothers and sisters face? The author describes this danger in two different ways.
The first is in v.12 – let’s read that again --
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
So the danger is not something outside them. The danger is something inside them. It has to do with their hearts. Your brother or sister in Christ could develop an evil, unbelieving heart. Now why is that?
It’s because, even though your brothers and sisters have been saved, they still have sin remaining in them. And sin is an active power. And so this afternoon sin will whisper to them: “Don’t trust Jesus. He won’t satisfy you. Call someone and gossip – that will make you feel better. Nurse a grudge – that will make you happy.”
So this afternoon sin will whisper to them. And if they listen to those whispers, and turn from trusting Jesus, then evil unbelief will grow in their heart. And if they let the evil unbelief keep growing in their heart – they will end up falling away from the living God.
So that’s one way of describing the danger. Another way is in v.13 --
13 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.
So not only does your brother have sin which urges them to stop trusting Jesus – this sin is deceitful. Which means it can lead him into sin without him even seeing it. Do you realize that we can be in sin and not see it? We can say things like -- missing fellowship isn’t sin – I just don’t have time right now. Or cheating my company isn’t sin – everyone is doing it. Sin is deceitful.
And notice that the deceitfulness of sin can harden the heart of your sister. First we fall for the deceitfulness of sin, and then slowly our heart grows hard towards God. So instead of being soft and worshipful and trusting towards God – our heart is hard and bitter and resentful towards God.
So the author of Hebrews wants us to understand that your brother – your sister – faces a terrible danger. They face the danger of an unbelieving heart that could cause them to fall from God – and they face the danger of being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
But do you see your brothers and sisters in this way? Think about those in your home group. Do you understand that this afternoon they will face the danger of an unbelieving heart that could cause them to fall from God? That tomorrow they face the danger of being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin?
That’s the danger your brothers and sisters face.
But now why is this danger so serious? So what if their sin leads them unbelief and deception and they fall away from God? Why is that so dangerous?
The author tells us in v.14 – look at what he says --
14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
This verse is talking about whether or not we have come to share in Christ. That’s another way of describing being saved. When God saves you, you come to share in Christ. You come to know Jesus Christ and start to receive all that He promises – forgiveness for all your sin, the gift of the Spirit satisfying your heart, and especially important for this context -- His power which will keep you holding fast your original confidence firm to the end.
So – if becoming a partaker of Christ means receiving His power which will keep you holding fast your original confidence firm to the end – then if you have become a partaker of Christ – what will you do? You will hold fast your original confidence firm to the end. Not that you will be sinless. But when you see sin rising up you will fight it – you will confess it – and by God’s grace you will overcome it. And so you will not develop an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God – you will not have your heart hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
So everyone who genuinely becomes a partaker of Christ will hold fast their original confidence firm to the end.
But what if someone IS hardened by the deceitfulness of sin? What if someone DOES develop an unbelieving heart which causes them to fall from the living God? Read v.14 again --
14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
If someone does not hold fast their original confidence firm to the end – that would show they had never become a sharer in Christ.
So that’s why this danger is so serious. If your brother develops an unbelieving heart and falls away from God – if your sister is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin – then unless something changes they will not be saved. Not because they lost their salvation. But because their continuing in sin would show that they had never been saved.
Now let’s get real concrete. Let’s say that a brother in your home group – a brother who has shown great love for Jesus, a brother who has prayed for you with great power, who has shared meaningful Scriptures with you – let’s say that this brother tells you in confidence that his wife is not that interesting to him anymore, and that he thinks God understands why he needs to have an affair.
Now when that happens, you must not say – he is saved – there’s no problem. Nor should you say – he’s not saved – I can’t believe it! No. What you should say is – he has become a sharer of Christ if he holds fast his original confidence firm to the end. But he’s not holding fast. Unbelief is growing in his heart. Sin is deceiving him. So he is in grave danger. His eternity is at stake. I must do something.
So -- what should we do about this danger? One problem we all face is that the Christian culture in this country makes us think that if our brother or sister is struggling – that it’s between them and God. We say things like – “Who am I to get involved? I’ve got my own struggles. It’s not like I’m sinless. I’ll just pray for them and let them work it out with God.”
But that’s not what the author of Hebrews says. He does not say – let them work it out with God. He says – do something. And he gives two steps to take, one in v.12 and one in v.13.
In v.12 we are told to “take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” In other words, we are to be concerned about our brothers’ and sisters’ hearts.
When we are together, our top concern should not be – what do they think of me? Or – when can I tell that joke I heard yesterday? No. When we are together, our top concern should be – how is my brother’s heart? How is my sister’s heart? Are they strong in trusting Jesus? Or are they starting to drift from God?
We don’t do this in a judgmental way – or in a proud way. We do this in a humble way – in a loving way. But we are called to be concerned about our brothers’ and sisters’ hearts. That’s what v.12 is calling us to do.
Then v.13 says that we are to “exhort one another every day as long as it is still called “today”.” Now that last part – as long as it is still called “today” – means that we are to do this until Jesus comes back. Until Jesus comes back, it is still “today” – it is still the day of salvation – it is still time for people to turn to Christ. As long as Jesus has not yet come back – we exhort each other day after day.
Now why “every day”? It’s because they face temptations every day. Every day Satan is shooting flaming darts at your wife or husband or children or parents. Every day Satan is like a lion seeking to devour that brother in your home group – that sister in your home group. And so every day we need to be exhorting those in our families and those in our home groups.
This is one of the reasons we have structured our church as home groups – so that you can have brothers and sisters you are exhorting daily and so you can be exhorted by brothers and sisters daily.
And again – why is that so crucial? Because they have come to share in Christ IF they hold their original confidence firm to the end. And because God has ordained fellowship as one of the ways He will keep His redeemed strong in faith to the end.
See – the Bible teaches that when God saves us He starts a work which He will let nothing stop. He will keep you from falling away. He will keep you continuing in the faith. And one of the ways He does this is through our daily encouragement of each other.
So think about it –
- Your phone call tomorrow night to that woman in your home group could be the means God has ordained to keep her from falling away.
- Your prayer with your wife could be the means God has ordained to keep your wife from falling away.
- Your breakfast with that guy in your home group could be the means God has ordained to keep your brother from falling away.
- Your text message of a promise could be the means God has ordained to keep your husband strong in the faith.
And – as far as we know – if we don’t take those steps – the people around us could have unbelief grow in their heart, could become hardened by sin’s deceit, and could end up falling away.
So – exhort one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today.”
Questions?
Why is so much fellowship so shallow? Why is so much Christian talk about nothing more than the Fiscal Cliff and the Lincoln Movie and the 49ers and the sale at Kohl’s? It’s because we don’t take seriously what the author of Hebrews says here.
He says -- our brothers and sisters face a danger – the danger of unbelief, the danger of deception, the danger of falling away from God.
And if they fall for this danger – and nothing changes – that would show they never became sharers in Christ.
But your exhortation could be the means God uses to keep them from falling away – so they will be saved.
So – exhort each other every day.