Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost: Epistle, Hebrews 3:12-19        

Hebrews 3:12-19

The first couple of verses of our epistle reading this week are harrowing, but hopeful.

 “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’” (Heb. 9:12-13).

Note first: you and I can fall away from the Living God. You cannot fall away from Someone you had no connection with in the first place. And note as well what it is that causes the separation: an evil, unbelieving heart. The evil here isn’t pointing to evil works but the lack of saving faith. That is the highest evil because God has done everything to secure our belief. And He gives it to us as a gift over and above all He has supplied. Yes, unbelief is the height of evil on our part.

But read on. God gives it into the hand of His people to “join” Him in His rescue plan. “But exhort one another …” So begins verse 13. You and I carry the responsibility of exhorting and encouraging one another DAILY toward Christ. Not that we are saved over and over again. But that in the midst of all the world, the flesh, and the devil would do to destroy faith, we are given one another. There’s something immensely beautiful about that assignment. Sin hardens the heart. The love and encouragement of brothers and sisters God uses to combat those horrid effects.

God saves us into His family. For good reason. I cannot justify myself and neither can I “tote hall His good gifts home” on my own. I need my family, His family to help. I thank God, dear reader, for you this morning. Let’s exhort and encourage one another toward the Savior today. God be praised!