EXHORTING ONE ANOTHER

“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:12,13).The inspired writer of the book of Hebrews was exhorting his brothers and sisters to remain faithful to God and the Lord Jesus Christ. There was the imminent danger of the believers being lured back to the first covenant with all the rituals and animal sacrifices. Their hearts could be hardened if they turned their backs to the “new and living way” through Christ. In the original, the word exhort, parakaleo, basically meant to “encourage, entreat, to urge, and to comfort” (2 Thess. 2:1). Now, as then, we are to encourage our brothers and sisters to be faithful to Christ, and not to be drawn away by the devices of satan. There are brothers and sisters who are drifting away, and we certainly need to encourage them. James wrote in chapter 5:19,20, ``Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” We should do this while we have the opportunity, that is “as long as it is called today”. This exhorting can be done in various ways and anytime by the individual Christian. Perhaps a personal visit would be the most effective, however, we can send a card, write a letter, make a telephone call, or send a text to our brothers and sisters, etc. However we choose to encourage our brothers and sisters, we are instructed to do it today because tomorrow may be too late. “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:24, 25). As a part of the writer’s exhortation, he urged the disciples to “stir up love and good works” To “stir up” is to motivate, provoke, encourage and arouse one another to love one another and do “good works.” In this passage the writer mentions “the assembling of ourselves together.” We know this was a regular assembly because some members were habitually forsaking it. This assembly would definitely include meeting weekly on the first day of the week to “break bread” as was evident in the first century (See 1 Corinthians 16:1,2; Acts 20:7). The word “forsaking” means to abandon, to completely desert the assemblies. Forsaking the assemblies also involves turning away from the only salvation that is to be found in the death of Christ when He shed His blood for our sins. To forsake is to “sin willfully”, meaning there remains no other sacrifice for sins. When we assemble together to worship God (John 4:23,24), we are to exhort one another. We do this when we sing together, pray together, teach one another the word of God, and when we commune with our Lord and as a body of believers when we partake of the Lord’s Supper. We also have fellowship with one another as we give our money to the work of the Lord. Likewise, we encourage one another when we speak a kind word, shake someone's hand, express our love to one another, and just to be in the company of our brothers and sisters in Christ. There is a real sense of urgency found in the expression, “and so much the more as you see the Day approaching”. This “Day” was a time that could be ‘seen’ by those Christians who read this epistle. This “Day” can be best understood as being the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70. (Matthew 24; Mark 13 and Luke 21). That “Day” most likely occurred a few years after this epistle was written. But, there is another ‘day’ coming when we will all “appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he had done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). We will hear either “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”, or, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:34,41). Therefore let us exhort one another to be faithful “for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Matthew 24:42). Finally, brethren, “Live for Jesus O my brother, His disciple ever be; Render not to any other, What alone the Lord’s should be. Live for Jesus , live for Jesus, Give Him all thou hast to give; On the cross the world’s Redeemer, Gave His life that thou mightst live.” - Frank M. Davis