Hebrews 3:12-14: The Means Prescribed

Introduction: Continuing the Study of Hebrews 3

0:04 And now let us turn to the Word of God for the instruction of that Word to our minds and, I trust, to our consciences as well. Those who were here this morning will know that we are continuing this evening. The study began this morning in Hebrews chapter 3. Hebrews chapter 3.

0:28 Will you follow, please, as I read verses 12 through 14. Take heed, brethren, lest happily there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief in falling away from the living God. But exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called today, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become, a better translation, we have become, it's a perfect tense, something has happened.

1:09 And the results continue until now. We have become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end. In our study this morning, I sought to give a broad overview of the general thrust of the book of Hebrews, the recipients of this letter, the purpose of the letter, and the method pursued by the author. And I'll not repeat that material this evening.

1:38 And then just a brief... A brief word about the immediate context of these three verses, which have been read again in your hearing.

1:47 They come at the end of one of these cycles of instruction, followed by warning. The greater things of the new covenant being expounded, and then the sober responsibilities that derive from that dimension of greatness having just been expounded. And then coming to the text itself, we have in verse 12 what I have called, a warning issued. After showing that Christ is greater than Moses, and the tragic results in the lives of those who refused the message of Moses, the writer to the Hebrews then issues this very sober warning, which has as its object all of the brethren, take heed, brethren, which has as its nature a command to constant watchfulness, be ye continually, taking heed, and the substance of that warning is twofold. There is an ultimate evil to be avoided, namely apostasy, falling away from the living God. And there is an intermediate evil to be avoided, namely an evil heart of unbelief, which always leads to falling away from the living God. Now this evening we come to verse 13, a verse that I have entitled, A Means Prescribed.

A Means Prescribed: Mutual Exhortation (Hebrews 3:13)

3:14 Having clearly warned of the tragic sin of falling away from the living God, a sin to be avoided at all costs, the author now prescribes a very fundamental means to the attainment of this goal of avoiding that sin. In other words, having warned us and told us where we are not to go, and what we are not to do, with great pastoral wisdom and insight, the writer to the Hebrews tells us how we may accomplish that end. He not only tells us what to do, but he tells us how to do it. And the summary of verse 13 I'm sure is clear to all of us. You need no knowledge of the original languages. You need but a very limited knowledge of the English language to catch the overall thrust of this particular means prescribed by the writer. Exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called today, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

4:23 So, in a summary statement, the means prescribed is this. Believers are to strengthen each other's faith by mutual exhortation, thereby counteracting the tendency of sin. To harden the heart and to lead to unbelieving departure from God. That's the gist of the prescription given.

4:49 Now let's come to a detailed explanation and more careful analysis of this prescription given as a means to avoid the sin of verse 12. And I keep emphasizing that. This directive must not be lifted out of its context. It has directly to do with the subject of departing from the living God.

The Activity of Exhortation Defined

5:11 It has directly to do with this whole matter of taking heed lest we apostatize. And in the text we have two basic divisions. We have the means described and then the effect of this means when used under the blessing of God. The means described exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called today.

5:37 And then the effect of the means if God is pleased to bless it, lest or in order that any one of you, none of you, be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So then this means described. Look in the first place at the activity itself. We are told to exhort one another.

6:02 Now what does the word exhort mean? Well in the New Testament this word is a very broad and flexible word. If you want an interesting study to spend a profitable Lord's Day afternoon, take a Young's or Strong's Concordance and look up every usage in the New Testament of this word to exhort. It is the verb form of the noun used to describe the ministry and person of the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, parakaleo.

6:32 It is the responsibility of exhorting. Sometimes it is translated beseech, sometimes entreat, sometimes comfort. But there are other contexts in which the usage clearly has the idea of urgent instruction coupled with fervent appeal to action. Look at Acts 2 and verse 40 for such an instance.

6:58 Acts chapter 2 and verse 40. And with many other words, he testified and exhorted them, saying, Save yourselves from this crooked generation. Now what he said in the substance of his exhortation gives us a hint as to what exhortation is. He was not giving them comfort, nor was he just beseeching them or consoling them.

7:29 He is giving to them that which we could call urgent instruction and fervent appeal. He testified and exhorted, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward or this crooked or perverse generation. Again in chapter 11 and verse 23. This dimension of the use of the word comes through with great force.

7:54 Acts 11, 23. Speaking of this man who was a son of consolation, Barnabas, who when he was come, that is, come to Antioch, and had seen the grace of God was glad, and he exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. His exhortation was an urging upon them the necessity of continual cleaving unto Christ. It was not so much a word of comfort, a word of consolation, but it was urgent instruction and appeal.

8:35 You have also this sense of the word in Titus 2, 6 and in Jude 3. But then there is even a more pointed use of the word in Titus chapter 1, in which the concept of admonition, reproof and correction is also bound up in the word. Titus chapter 1. Speaking of the requirements for those who would assume the office of an elder, a presbyter, a bishop in the church of Christ, one of the requirements for such a person, Titus 1, 9, is this.

9:09 Titus 1, verse 9. Holding to the faithful word which is according to teaching, that he may be able both to exhort, that's the word, in the sound doctrine, and to convict the gainsayers. He is to have an ability to exhort in the healthy doctrine, in the healthy teaching. He is to have that ability not only to comfort the faithful, the people of God, but to reprove, to rebuke, to establish them in the realm of God's truth.

9:43 So you see, the activity, exhort, is a very broad activity. It is an activity that cannot be defined in terms simply of consolation or simply of entreaty and beseeching, but it brings together many strands of activity. And I would like to suggest that in the context, the exhortation which we are summoned to engage in one with another involves at least these elements. Reminding one another of the privileges of the gospel.

10:19 To exhort is to remind another of the privileges of the gospel. Secondly, to urge upon one another compliance with the demands of the gospel. Thirdly, to warn and to reprove of the dangers of departing from the gospel. In other words, exhorting is simply to do what the writer to the Hebrews is doing in this very letter.

10:45 He is setting out the privileges of the gospel. He is warning of the dangers of abusing those privileges. He is urging upon his readers compliance with the demands of the gospel. And though exhortation is a very broad thing, with many shades of connotation, it is always a verbal activity.

11:09 You never exhort by your life. It is a verbal activity, it is an urgent activity, and it is an activity calculated to a present real situation. Now those things are part of the irreducible minimum of what is involved in the activity that is laid upon the people of God as a means to avoid apostasy. We are to engage in exhortation.

11:40 This verbal, urgent activity calculated to speak to the real situation of our brethren, one in which we will remind one another of the privileges of the gospel, urge upon one another compliance with the demands of the gospel, warn and reprove one another concerning the dangers of departing from the gospel. So much then for the activity itself. Now look at the proper subjects of this activity. Who is to engage in this activity?

The Subjects and Time of Exhortation

12:14 The text answers that question with great clarity. But exhort one another day by day. Now it is clear from other scriptures that those who are elders in the church of Jesus Christ, particularly who labor in the word and in doctrine, have a special responsibility in the realm of exhortation. Paul writes to Timothy as a teacher and a preacher and says, Reprove, rebuke, exhort.

12:46 Same word. With all longsuffering and teaching. But though elders have a peculiar and special responsibility in the realm of exhortation, they do not have the exclusive and solitary responsibility of exhortation. For this text says it is the responsibility of all of the brethren.

13:11 Now granted, the apostle uses in a rather irregular way the word for one another, but it's not a singular instance. He uses the word that generally means yourselves, but in several instances it is equal to the word in the original that means one another. And those of you who have a little knowledge of the original language may want to consult 1 Corinthians 6-7 and 1 Thessalonians 5-13 as parallel passages where we have this same usage of the word in the original which obviously means one another. Well then, in answer to the question, who are the proper subjects of this activity, the text is clear.

13:49 All of the brethren to whom the warning comes, take heed, brethren, are solemnly charged to engage in this activity of exhortation one to another. At this point I can do no better than to quote verbatim from John Brown's Commentary on Hebrews in which he says, The duty of public exhortation forms an important part of the duty of Christian pastors, but it is plain from the passage before us that it is the duty of all Christians, as they have opportunity, privately to exhort and admonish one another, lest they be hardened by the deceitfulness and sin. It is too much the practice of professing Christians in our times when they perceive in one of their brethren a tendency, as they think, to depart from the living God, to speak of this condition to every person rather than the one of their brethren in whom they see the tendency. To lament over this in the presence of others instead of endeavoring to remove the evil by friendly exhortation to the individual himself and earnest prayer to God to render the use of the means prescribed by himself

15:14 effectual for the purpose to which he has appointed. Here is a solemn responsibility given as a means to avoid apostasy. And I go back to the context. This is a means prescribed to avoid infection with the evil heart of unbelief which leads to departing from the living God.

15:37 It is exhortation, entreaty, reproof, warning, instruction, comforting, and the proper subjects of this activity are all of the brethren in their interaction one with another. Well, having looked at the activity itself, the proper subjects, now thirdly notice the proper time in which to engage in this activity. Look at the text. But exhort one another day by day so long as it is called today.

16:10 Now, he would not have to go into all of this detail emphasizing this element of his instruction for the very form of the verb indicates perpetual activity. Be ye continually exhorting one another. He uses a present imperative. But knowing again how dull we are and how much we have done we have an aversion to some of the duties which the Gospel lays upon us.

16:37 He goes to the length that to us almost seems to insult our intelligence by saying the proper time for this activity is always present. Exhort one another day by day. Literal rendering would be each and every day so long as it is called today. In other words, he says at every opportunity we are to exhort one another so long as the day of opportunity is upon us.

17:11 That would be a free rendering of the mind and thought of the writer. Now, let's just break that down for a few moments. Now, does he mean that if I look back upon any twenty-four hour period of my life in which I have not exhorted at least one brother or sister I am living in open disobedience to the Word of God? Now, do you think that's what he's saying?

17:36 Well, that's what the Bible says. Day by day, literally every day. Now then, if any day passes in which you've not exhorted someone, you're sinning, right? Well, many people would say that's what the Bible says.

17:49 Well, you see, much of our problem is not what the Bible says. It's what does the Bible mean? Now, is the writer to the Hebrews speaking of the glorious privileges and liberties of the covenant bringing us under a rigorous demand that makes the old covenant seem free by comparison? Of course not.

18:12 He's simply emphasizing that on any day in any situation in which the circumstances warrant it I as a believer ought to engage in this activity of mutual exhortation. And in any given assembly there is not a day that passes but what someone in that assembly is in a proper position to engage in this activity. Well, what does he mean by the phrase while it is called today? Well, here he is obviously harking back to what he has quoted from the 95th Psalm in verses 8 through 11, or 7b through 11.

18:54 Look at those verses, please. Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith and this is a direct quote then from the 95th Psalm Today, if ye shall hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation like as in the day of trial in the wilderness where your fathers tried me by proving me and saw my works forty days wherefore, I was displeased with this generation and said they do always err in their heart but they did not know my ways as I swear in my wrath they shall not enter into my rest. Today! Today, if you hear his voice.

19:34 Notice how he picks up that emphasis again in verse 15 while it is said today if ye shall hear his voice harden not your hearts. What is this strange emphasis upon today? Well, I believe this is what the writer is saying. The proper time for this activity is any day, any situation in which there is need for exhortation and this is to go on as long as God's day of gracious dealing with men.

20:05 As long as God's day of opportunity to confess and forsake sin is upon us let us exhort one another lest any of us be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For if you check the historical setting of the 95th Psalm it speaks of the tragic example of the Israelites who had a day of God's entreaty. A day when God spoke to the man and pleaded with them but that day ran out and then God swore in his wrath that is God brought an end to the day of opportunity and said the time has come when hardness of heart has so taken over none of these shall enter into the land of promise and only Joshua and Caleb of that entire generation entered into the land of promise. So the today is the time appointed by God for the opportunity of dealing with sin the opportunity of laying hold of his grace and then he goes on in chapter 4 again to pick up this emphasis let us fear therefore lest haply a promise being left of entering into his rest any one of you should seem to come short of it and he goes on again to quote from that 95th Psalm. So you see this is the constant emphasis that we are not dealing with a God

21:28 whose patience will always be extended. We are not dealing with a God who gives unlimited opportunity. We are dealing with a God who is spoken of in this very epistle as the one who will deal with apostates in such a way that it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance. Hebrews 6 you read those frightening words further on in the book of Hebrews in chapter 10 it speaks of those who have a fearful looking for of judgment and of vengeance who have willfully turned aside from the way of God's revealed truth in Jesus Christ.

22:08 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. So the proper time for this activity is every day while the day of God's gracious dealings is upon us and before us as individuals and as the people of God. Now then having looked at the activity itself the proper subjects the proper time now what is the intended effect of this means that he has prescribed? Look again at the text.

The Intended Effect: Preventing Hardening by Sin's Deceitfulness

22:40 We are to engage in this mutual exhortation all of us. We are to do it day by day while the day of opportunity is upon us and here is the intended effect of this engagement. Lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. That is this means must be employed so that none of your number which is the emphasis again of the original the great concern of the writer he is not concerned to say oh well there are dozens or hundreds or thousands of believers if we lose a few along the way it doesn't matter.

23:22 He says no that not one of your number not any of the number shall be found among the apostates who turn away through the effect of an evil heart of unbelief. And he says this exhortation is calculated under the blessing of God to keep us from the hardening effect of the deceitfulness of sin. Now let's look at that phrase for a bit. What does it mean to be hardened?

23:55 Well to be hardened means to become a new entity. Now here is the person who has left all of the trappings of the old covenant. He has embraced the Lord Jesus the mediator of the new covenant. He has the true priesthood the true sanctuary the true sacrifice the true Zion.

24:16 He has everything that was typified in the old economy. He is now in that realm spoken of in Hebrews chapter 12. He has come to Jesus mediator of the new covenant to the blood that speaketh better things than that of Abel to the innumerable company of just men made perfect in all of these glorious riches of the new covenant. They are all his.

24:38 And in the flush of his new faith he finds his heart and spirit are sensitive to these realities. He cannot think or speak of Christ in his blood without the deepest stirrings of his emotions without the drawing forth of the most fervent expressions of love and desire to serve such a Christ. This is the state of heart. Hardening of heart is that state that settles in in which there is no longer that response.

25:09 Now I am not talking about the mindless and oft times superficial kind of giddy joy that is the part of new converts. I am talking about the kind of joy that is rooted in a clear sight of Christ and the glory of the new covenant. Joy that grows out of clear views of truth. Any joy that has no relationship to truth ought to be clear.

25:34 This is joy that has direct relationship to truth. And so the heart is sensitive to the claims of Christ. Sensitive to grieving Christ. Sensitive to dishonoring Christ.

25:46 It takes only a glance from Christ's eye in the scriptures to break the heart. But when hardness of heart settles in that is no longer the case. Again I quote the words of John Brown who has stated distinctly what it is to be hardened. To be hardened is to become insensible to the claims of Jesus Christ.

26:07 So they do not make their appropriate impression on the mind producing attention, faith and obedience. He is hardened who is careless, unbelieving, impenitent and disobedient. Now what hardens a man? The text says he is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

26:32 It is not just sin in its bare acting that hardens the heart. But it is sin peculiarly acting in its deceptive power. And that's the aspect of sin that is underscored by the writing. And it is just that aspect that mutual exhortation is calculated under the blessing of God to neutralize.

26:57 Now how does the deceitfulness of sin work to the hardening of the heart? Well it works in precisely this way. The locks are set upon an object. And in a regenerate man, or in a man who has simply been enlightened and has not truly been born of the Spirit of God, but his conscience has felt the impingement of the law with power, he has tasted the powers of the world to come.

27:25 And like a Herod he may even tremble before true preaching. Like a Felix, I'm sorry, he may tremble. And like a Herod he may even call a John the Baptist and hear him often and hear him gladly. Now what happens?

27:39 The locks are set upon an object. And the moment the lust begins to cry out for its gratification, whether it's the lust for ease, for acceptance, popularity, the keeping of one's goods, the preservation of one's name, any of these things. I'm not using lust simply in terms of sexual deviation, though that's included. But any inordinate desire which to be fulfilled means it violates the law of God.

28:05 When that lust begins to cry out for gratification, an enlightened conscience in an unregenerate man or the conscience of a regenerate man immediately comes into conflict and there is unrest within the spirit. There is that Galatians 5.17, the flesh lusting against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh, these two contrary one to the other. Now no one likes that state of turmoil.

28:30 Now one of two things has to be done to get back to the state of peace, right? One of two things has to be done. Either you must relinquish the lust which has caused the conflict or you must try to adjust your conscience so that it will speak peace to you while you still cling to your lust. You see, here the law of God is saying kill that thing.

29:01 Lust is crying out, let it live and feed it. Now both can't have their own way. It's like two guys going for the same girl and asking her to marry. I mean, they're both not content just to date her for the next 40 years. She's got to make a choice. One's saying, you know, will you walk down the aisle with me? And the other one says, will you walk down the aisle with me? Well, she just can't go on dating them both forever. I mean, she's got to bail out of one relationship or the other. The claims are too total when both are asking the woman's hand in marriage. Well, that's what the law of God does. The law of God does not come beckoning just for an occasional date.

29:38 The law of God comes with all the authority and strength. And sin does not just go for an occasional date. Sin wants total possession. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth for death. So here are these two totalitarian claims. The law of God upon the conscience claiming all. Lust and sin claiming all. You've got to do one of two things. You must either in the strength of the Spirit of God say no to lust, whatever that lust may be, and complying with the law of God know something of that peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. Or, and here's where the deceitfulness of sin comes in, you must try to adjust the voice that is bringing the turmoil and saying, well, I must find some reasonable grounds to indulge the lust while at the same time convincing myself I'm obeying the law of God. And nowhere is the power in the human heart more subtle than here. Deceitfulness

30:45 of sin. Think how it might work in the Hebrew, professing Christian. He's tempted, you see. The pressure's getting heavier.

30:54 The situation's getting warmer all the time. The persecution is rising, which was probably written about the time of the persecutions of Nero. And so a man begins to rationalize and say, but wait a minute. If I turn away from this strict adherence to the mediator of the new covenant and the heavenly sanctuary, can I not just maintain all of the substantial reality and still find myself flirting with the shadows? After all, God gave the priesthood, God gave the directions for the sacrificial system, etc. You see what he's doing? He finds himself in turmoil. He's tempted to turn back, but everything in him as an enlightened or regenerate man says, no, you must not turn back. You must press on

31:44 and cling to Christ at any cost. Now, sin will work by its deceitfulness to find some specious justification for going back and still profess allegiance to the living God. Now, the intended effect of this matter of mutual exhortation is to do what? To check this terrible influence of the deceitfulness of sin, which if succumbed to will do one thing, harden the heart.

32:20 Once you start toying with your conscience, you're on the road to apostasy. The Scripture says of certain ones having cast off faith and a good conscience, they may shipwreck concerning the faith. The minute you begin to tamper with conscience, you're on the high road to apostasy. And you're going at breakneck speed.

32:41 Now, where in the world does mutual exhortation come into all of this? Oh, may God make it plain to us, dear ones, just at this point that very, very frequently, my brother or sister can see the influence of sin's deception upon me, where I myself am blind to it. And it is at that precise point the writer says, exhort one another, day by day, while the day of God's opportunity is still upon us, before a man is crossed over that line and has come to whatever it means when it says, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance while it is yet day, while they are still at least found among the visible saints of God, while they still at least profess adherence to His word and His truth and His laws and His people, while it is called a day. If you see that deceitful effect of sin upon them, exhort them, warn them, plead with them, entreat them. Who knows but what God will make you an instrument to rescue them from the deceitfulness of sin. That's the responsibility that's laid upon us.

Application 1: Our Responsibility to One Another

34:01 That's the intended effect of engaging in this activity. And now having expounded the verse with very little application, I wish in the concluding part of our study tonight to trace out several lines of application and as old John Owen would say, observation. One, two, three, and four. Number one.

34:27 Here is one of the clearest statements in all of scripture concerning our responsibility one to another within the confines of the visible church. Who was the first person who tried to act as though he had no bona fide responsibility to anyone else other than himself? Remember who he was? Remember who he was? His name was Cain.

34:54 His name was Cain. And when God came to him, he says, am I my brother's keeper? I don't know anything about my brother. Who he is, where he is, what he's doing, that's his business. I take care of Cain. Am I my brother's keeper? And my friend, the spirit that says, I am only responsible for the maintenance of my own spiritual walk while I can be indifferent to the state of my brethren is the spirit of Cain and not the spirit of Christ. It's the spirit of Cain and not the spirit of Christ.

35:35 Whenever we observe in another that which seems to indicate a departure from the doctrines or laws of Christ, we are solemnly charged to engage in this activity. Now granted, I know there are people who abuse this. And they go around as the Lord's chief checker-uppers on everybody. I know that. I know that. There is no truth but what the ignorant and unstable will not rest to their own and others' destruction and harm. Granted. Granted. But do you allow the abuse of other truths to keep you from their proper use? Lots of people abuse the sanctity of sect. I'm not about to go into a monastery and become a celibate. While in Christian marriage I can know the beauty and the sanctity of the sexual relationship. Lots of people abuse things and they make a god of their car. Well, I'm not about to go

36:28 walking from Cedar Grove over here every time we have a meeting. Nor am I about to follow the advice of some of the bumper stickers and get a horse.

36:40 The abuse of any gift of God is no reason to keep us from the proper use of that gift. Here is a biblical directive and perhaps be clearest in all of the word of God concerning our duty one to another. Exhort one another daily while the day is upon us. And though there may be proud and ignorant and insensitive and hypocritical people who abuse the truth, it is only as the truth is properly expressed that their abuse will be seen for what it is and everyone will know them to be what they really are, saints and shams. For the fall is false and the counterfeit is never more exposed than when it is in the presence of much of the real church of Jesus Christ. If this assembly, Trinity Baptist Church, is marked to this command, the language of Galatians 6 in humility and meekness, considering ourselves lest we also be tempted, the more there is the expression of this in its true biblical setting, it will not be visible any fateful way because his own inadequacies

38:03 will be shown up for what they really are. Again, I shall take the liberty to quote from John Brown. Whenever we observe in brethren what appears to us an indication, notice how guarded he is, what appears to us. Now that's only what we can go on. We're not God. I can't read your heart, you can't read mine. Whenever we observe what appears to us an indication of departure from the path of Christian truth and duty, we're to use the means prescribed by the inspired writer for bringing them back. That's the end, you see. Lest anyone be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. The end is not to get even. The end is not to prove a point. The end is that as I do not want to apostatize, I am taking heed.

38:52 Lest I have an evil heart of unbelief, I know that my brother has the same fear. And so I'm committed to help him in the pursuit of perseverance. That's my goal. As I trust he's committed to help me, he needs me. I need him if we're to take heed. Lest we depart from the living God under the influence of an evil heart of unbelief. Every step they take in the downward path makes their recovery more difficult. And some of us know how true this is.

39:25 Every step anyone takes in the downward path under the influence of an evil heart of unbelief, under the increasing influence of the deceptiveness of sin, every step downward makes the recovery more difficult. And yet a little while and they will be removed beyond the reach of our exertions. If any one of us has a friend whom we think in danger of the greatest of all evils, the loss of his soul, let us be speedy, diligent, earnest, whether by instruction, admonition, or prayer. Oh, how soon may he or she be in that world where warning is too late.

40:07 While it is called today, that's the emphasis. There's the sense of a urgency, the sense of immediacy. As time wastes, the sinner hardens. Not only is the season passing away, but the work is becoming more and more difficult.

40:27 It is plain that the duty here enjoined on the Hebrew Christians is from the nature of the case obligatory on Christians in all countries and in all ages. Now get this last statement. So long as there are evil hearts of unbelief in those who profess adherence to the Christian faith, so long as they're exposed to the fascinating influences of an evil world and the endless devices of that old serpent, so long will they need to be exhorted daily, lest they be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So the first observation or application I would make of the text is this assertion here in this text is one of the clearest statements in all of Scripture concerning our responsibility one to another within the confines of the visible church. Secondly, here is one of the clearest statements concerning the reality of the presence of sin amidst the best of God's people here on earth. The writer to the Hebrews has told them to go on to perfection. Now if that means what some perfectionist teachers tell us it means, then the writer would have had to write subsequent, and if you obey this, you cancel out what I told you in chapter 3 because you won't need it anymore.

Application 2: The Reality of Sin Among God's People

41:51 You'll be put beyond the reach of sin's deception. You will be cleansed wholly from inbred sin. That's the language of Wesleyan perfectionism. You'll be given a heart perfect in love. You may still have mistakes and shortcomings. You redefine sin, you see. You start adjusting the standard of the law to meet the reality of your experience, but that's another whole issue. But you see, he writes knowing that no matter what he says of the glory of Christ, the perfection of the new covenant, the provisions of God in Jesus Christ, he says as long as they are here and the day of salvation is upon us, the best of God's people will have to reckon with the ugly reality of sin. My friends,

42:41 many of God's professing people are living in a fool's paradise. We have a number of visitors with us today. Many, many others hear these messages via the tapes. I have people from time to time ask us how come in your worship services you don't have a lot of special music and you don't have a lot of testimonies and you don't have this, don't you?

43:04 Well, there are a number of reasons, but I'd like to state that one of them lies right here. Hearing lovely little ditties about how good somebody feels in love with Jesus and the people of God for this life and death battle where sin is standing up with a beautiful voice that makes me tap my foot and admire their abilities. What does that do to harm me to face the deceptiveness of sin within my own breast? I need lengthy and careful and glorious settings forth from Scripture of the power and majesty of the Savior, the glory of His salvation, the seriousness of discipleship, the responsibilities and privileges of the gospel. Now, that does mean there's not a place for music. Those of us who are here in Trinity know that we have an appreciation of the gift of music. We have our concerts.

44:03 I hope we have more of them. We have some voices. I hope we can use them more in circumstances that are suited. I'm talking now about what the work and purpose of public worship and fellowship is.

44:14 It is, among other things, to arm us for the reality of this conflict. My friend, we're not playing games. Sin is real and hell is real and wickedness is real. And the living God is a fearful God if you fall into His hands in a state of impenitence.

Application 3: Incentive for Visible Church Community

44:33 And so this text not only is one of the clearest statements of our duty one to another. It's one of the clearest statements of the constant presence of sin amongst the best of God's people. Thirdly, this text sets before us a strong incentive towards becoming and remaining a vital part of a visible community of God's people. You say, now where in the world do you get that? Well, look at the text.

45:01 It says, exhort one another day by day the implication being we have such a relationship that it makes such day by day exhortation both possible and natural. If I don't see you anywhere but from a distance let me get more personal. If all I know about you is your name and that you shake my hand at the door or one of the other elders' hands, how can I admonish you in terms of anything that I may observe to be an effect of the deceitfulness of sin? How can we engage in this with one another if we're not within observable distance of each other? And one of the curses upon the visible church is this insulated existence. We have an unwritten rule in many churches. You don't bother me and I won't bother you.

45:59 We'll sit in the same pew, sing the same hymns, shake the same preacher's hand, put our money in the same plate, but you leave me alone and I'll leave you alone. My friend, that's not what this text says. It says exhort one another. That means you're close enough to me to know when I need to be exhorted and I'm close enough to you to know when you need to be exhorted and sufficient rapport of love and confidence has been built up that we don't tear one another to pieces with holy shock when we attempt to do this.

46:37 It becomes a natural thing. The fellowship of what our brother mentioned earlier of true koinonia, shared life, common participation with one another. That's why we want you to know we don't begrudge any money that's spent on the electric bills because this building is usually open an hour, an hour and a half after every service. I'll bare my heart and say whenever I've been away and come back, it's one of the things I thank God the most for.

47:04 Most other churches I go in, they're emptied in 15 minutes. And I stand around with my tongue hanging out and my jaw down looking for some people just to fellowship with. They've all come and heard this sermon and gone their way. And I rejoice to see that sense of shared life that in some measure God's given us. But oh, dear people, we need to abound more and more. We need to abound more and more so that we get to know each other and know the difference between what may be the deceitfulness of sin working in my brother to harden him and what may simply be a low point in his natural emotional cycles. See? Because the worst thing to do for a dear brother who's simply down in the dumps, he's not hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, he's just being kicked around by his temperament.

47:50 The worst thing to do is to come at him with your finger and bring down fire and brimstone on him. I mean, the guy's down. Don't kick a dead horse. It's just not fair.

48:01 And now, how are you going to know the difference? Well, you see, the whole ethos, the whole climate of this passage in practical outworking means that we know one another well enough to discern what is the effect of sin's deceitfulness and what may be merely temperament. I say it's one of the strongest passages providing an incentive towards our becoming and remaining a vital part of a visible community of a people of God. If we're not known, none can exhort us. If we do not know others, we cannot exhort them. And the fourth observation is this. Do you see the tragic, tragic position of being in constant contact with sin without the grace of God to deal with that vicious thing? He's writing to the brethren. Think now.

Application 4: The Tragic Position of the Ungodly

49:03 People whose sins have been cleansed in the blood of the everlasting covenant, who have at the right hand of the Father an intercessor who is committed to bring them safely all the way home to glory, able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him, indwelt by the Spirit as he tells them in chapters 8 and 10, quoting from Jeremiah 31, the blessings of the new covenant. All of these blessings and yet, he says, take ye heed lest there be in any of you with all the privileges of grace, beware lest there be in any of you such people an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. Listen, in the words of Peter, if the righteous scarcely be saved, where will shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? My friend, if sin is such an ugly reality and such a vicious enemy to the saints of God with all their privileges, I pity you tonight if you sit in this place and you have no indwelling spirit to aid you in the battle, no mediator at the right hand of the Father to plead your cause, no blood of the everlasting covenant applied to your conscience. Oh, my friend, my friend, you are the victim of an enemy that will destroy you, and none can interpose but the mighty

50:31 deliverer, the one who is spoken of in Matthew 1.21, thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. And this text that we've studied must never be read or contemplated in any other context than the broad strands of emphasis here in the book of Hebrews that Christ is the mediator, Christ is the deliverer, Christ is the Savior, it is Christ's blood, Christ's spirit, Christ's work that delivers from sin. And so we've not laid before you some kind of a new legalism, saying, now go around and pick on one another and point out each other's sins. No, no, no.

51:13 This is one of the means that the mighty Savior incorporates into his own almighty work of saving his people, and it's in that light and that light alone that it must be viewed. But, listen carefully, he has incorporated it into his saving work. And when the text says that thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he'll save his people from their sins involved in that work of saving his people, is this taking heed to ourselves, lest an evil heart of unbelief lead us to depart from the living God? Taken into the orbit of his saving work, is this exhorting one another day by day, lest any of us be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin? And Jesus Christ does not accomplish his saving work apart from the means that he himself has ordained. And it is not magnifying the grace of God to say, I have Christ, I don't need this exhortation. No, no, my friend. That's turning the grace

52:15 of God into lasciviousness. That's to be guilty of presumption. Christ has ordained this as one of the means by which he will preserve his own. And that's why the text goes on to say, and God willing we'll study that next week, this motive with which he enforces the whole admonition. For we have become partakers of Christ, we have become those who are vitally joined to Christ within the orbit of the saving work of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end, and we do so by means of all these things that God has put at our disposal. This is a matter of life and death. And as we said this morning in the introduction, so I close. Thank God it is certain that every true believer will persevere to the end. Don't anyone go out

53:15 tonight and say, oh that preacher could be saved and lost. I never said that. You can't quote the Bible right and say that, let alone expound it. But the same Bible that says all true believers shall persevere, it teaches the certainty of their preservation.

53:32 It also teaches the necessity of their perseverance. And the use of every means to that end. I mentioned to someone this morning, these verses with two or three various ways of approaching the exposition have been sitting in the file for a couple of years, and every time I've tried to preach on them I've just backed off. I felt they were too much for me, and I feel that way after attempting to preach on them today. But may God be pleased to write them upon our hearts. My friend, do you have an almighty Savior between you and your sin? Do you? One who's come to your aid, if you don't, I wouldn't trade places with you for a billion worlds. But if

54:21 you have an almighty Savior between you and your sin, the most feeble saint among us, dear child of God, you're safe in Christ and in the way of obedience to His Word. Let us pray. Our Father, how we thank You for the Word of God written, as we have tried to imagine what it would be like to meet with no Bible to instruct us. O God, we praise You for Your Word. We thank You that it's a lamp unto our feet and a light to our pathway. We thank You that by it we learn how to fight the good fight of faith. We pray that these words that we've studied today and their application and implications in life may be written upon our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. O Lord, forgive us when we've allowed ourselves to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Arrest

55:32 some who this very night are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Sin having promised what it could never give and having failed to promise what it inevitably brings. O God, expose the deceptiveness of sin tonight and grant that some who have never known what it is to have the Lord Jesus interpose on their behalf may cast themselves upon Him and know what He is to be brought within the orbit of His own gracious work in being a Savior from sin. And we ask for us who are Your people, Lord, do preserve us, we pray.

56:15 Give us grace to take heed to ourselves. Give us grace to exhort one another day by day. Forgive us when we fail to do this. O Lord, help us. O Lord, undertake for us what You have done. We commend to You now the word preached this day and ask that the Holy Spirit will be pleased to bring fruit from that word unto the praise of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Now may the blessing of Your own presence rest upon us and abide with us through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.