The Vision (11.12.15): But exhort one another daily

Here are some notes from last Sunday’s sermon on Hebrews 3:7-13:

Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

Psalm 95:7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

“But exhort one another daily….”  The call here is for mutual exhortation or mutual admonition.  The same verb is used later in Hebrews, probably with regard to those who had stopped attending the Lord’s Day meetings of the church:

Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

Compare:

Proverbs 27:17:  Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Notice also the frequency.  Exhortation is encouraged not “annually” or “monthly” or “weekly [each Sunday]” but “daily.”  Compare:

Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Where can we get daily mutual admonition? From husbands and wives in Christian marriages, from interactions in Christian homes, from Christian neighbors, from Christian friends, from reading Christian authors (living and dead), and, in this internet age, from listening to sound Christian sermons and teachings online.

Matthew Poole notes that what is addressed here is the Christian’s private duties to be continually stirring up, persuading, and encouraging perseverance in the Christian religion and putting away an evil heart, but, he adds, it also refers to public duties, “by the regular ministration of the word and ordinances of the whole society of Christians, as they are personally obliged to it, being members of one another.”

Finally the inspired author brings it back to Psalm 95.  Engage in mutual exhortation, “while it is to day, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

Don’t be like those rebellious Israelites of old who wandered forty years in the wilderness.  Do not become hardened to the things of God.  Do not allow yourself to be deceived by sin.  Sin rarely looks wrong.  It deceives us by making itself look right.

Let us exhort one another daily.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle