As Long as it is Called "Today"
“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.” (Hebrews 3:12-13)
As the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and missed the promised land, many today miss God's best, including eternal life, because of unbelief. We can say that we believe in God, but what do our actions say? Many who say they believe in God live like practical atheists. If we believe and trust in God, we will hear and obey His voice. We won't be sinless, but as we take time to listen to His voice daily through the word of God and pray for the strength to obey, we will sin less. What’s more, we will experience a close fellowship with the Lord that will bring joy, peace, and satisfaction to our lives.
If we’ve heard the voice of Jesus inviting us to come to Him and trust Him as Savior and Lord, we are saved. And if we are saved, His Spirit lives within to make Christ’s presence real in us and to give us ears to hear His voice and the power to obey. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27.)
When we are one of Christ’s sheep, we will hear His voice and follow Him. When you truly know Him as Savior and Lord, His voice becomes precious to you. This is one of the clear evidences of true saving faith. It is possible to believe that Jesus exists and even that He is God. But the question is, have you placed your faith and trust in Him as Savior and Lord? Through the virgin birth, God the son became the son of man. And because He was fully God and fully man He is the perfect Savior. “He needed to be God to supply the righteousness humans could not achieve. He needed to be man to supply to God the sacrifice we owe. And in so doing, He became the only mediator between God and man—the God man, Christ Jesus. Thus, He is the only way for men to come to God.” -Thabity Anybwile
Have you heard His invitation to come to Him for salvation and responded in faith or have you turned a deaf ear or said, "Tomorrow I’ll come, or someday I’ll come?" God’s word says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (Hebrews 3:15). The danger of putting off what God says to do today is not only that tomorrow may be too late, but that our hearts will become hard, cold, and indifferent. To not respond to God’s voice today already demonstrates a prideful and rebellious lack of faith in God’s goodness and might. So when we keep turning a deaf ear to God, our lack of faith can turn to a settled unbelief. That is, your heart becomes deadset against God.
To keep the heart from becoming hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, the author of Hebrews writes, “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.” To grow strong in faith and keep our hearts sensitive to the voice of God, we must make time daily to be with God in prayer and the word and obey Him. But we must also make time for daily exhortation. As the body of Christ, we must mutually encourage one another in the Lord! We must not only be in fellowship with other Christians so that we can receive encouragement, but also to give encouragement. This is God’s strategy for protecting our hearts from being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Charles Spurgeon elaborates, “You are to watch over your brethren, to exhort one another daily, especially you who are officers of the church, or who are elderly and experienced. Be upon the watch lest any of your brethren in the church should gradually backslide, or lest any in the congregation should harden into a condition of settled unbelief, and perish in their sin. He who bids you take heed to yourself, would not have you settle down into a selfish care for yourself alone, lest you should become like Cain, who even dared to say to the Lord himself, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’”
We need the encouragement and accountability from our brothers and sisters to grow strong in faith. To think otherwise is to deceive ourselves, which our hearts are prone to do. As David Guzik noted: “Christians must be vigilant against hardness of heart. That hidden sin you indulge in – none suspect you of it because you hide it well. You deceive yourself, believing that it really does little harm. You can always ask forgiveness later. You can always die to self and surrender to Jesus in coming months or years. What you cannot see or sense is that your hidden sin hardens your heart. As your heart becomes harder you become less and less sensitive to your sin. You become more and more distant from Jesus. And your spiritual danger grows every day.”
Give someone who is wise permission to speak into your life, to ask you the hard questions, and will hold you accountable. And seek to be that person in someone else’s life. When someone comes to your mind who might need encouragement, reach out as soon as you can. Don’t put it off. People are going through hard stuff. God can use you to rescue a soul from spiritual ruin and destruction. Let’s exhort one another daily while it is called "today" so that none of us may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
In your service,
Pastor Marco
As the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years and missed the promised land, many today miss God's best, including eternal life, because of unbelief. We can say that we believe in God, but what do our actions say? Many who say they believe in God live like practical atheists. If we believe and trust in God, we will hear and obey His voice. We won't be sinless, but as we take time to listen to His voice daily through the word of God and pray for the strength to obey, we will sin less. What’s more, we will experience a close fellowship with the Lord that will bring joy, peace, and satisfaction to our lives.
If we’ve heard the voice of Jesus inviting us to come to Him and trust Him as Savior and Lord, we are saved. And if we are saved, His Spirit lives within to make Christ’s presence real in us and to give us ears to hear His voice and the power to obey. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27.)
When we are one of Christ’s sheep, we will hear His voice and follow Him. When you truly know Him as Savior and Lord, His voice becomes precious to you. This is one of the clear evidences of true saving faith. It is possible to believe that Jesus exists and even that He is God. But the question is, have you placed your faith and trust in Him as Savior and Lord? Through the virgin birth, God the son became the son of man. And because He was fully God and fully man He is the perfect Savior. “He needed to be God to supply the righteousness humans could not achieve. He needed to be man to supply to God the sacrifice we owe. And in so doing, He became the only mediator between God and man—the God man, Christ Jesus. Thus, He is the only way for men to come to God.” -Thabity Anybwile
Have you heard His invitation to come to Him for salvation and responded in faith or have you turned a deaf ear or said, "Tomorrow I’ll come, or someday I’ll come?" God’s word says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion” (Hebrews 3:15). The danger of putting off what God says to do today is not only that tomorrow may be too late, but that our hearts will become hard, cold, and indifferent. To not respond to God’s voice today already demonstrates a prideful and rebellious lack of faith in God’s goodness and might. So when we keep turning a deaf ear to God, our lack of faith can turn to a settled unbelief. That is, your heart becomes deadset against God.
To keep the heart from becoming hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, the author of Hebrews writes, “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.” To grow strong in faith and keep our hearts sensitive to the voice of God, we must make time daily to be with God in prayer and the word and obey Him. But we must also make time for daily exhortation. As the body of Christ, we must mutually encourage one another in the Lord! We must not only be in fellowship with other Christians so that we can receive encouragement, but also to give encouragement. This is God’s strategy for protecting our hearts from being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Charles Spurgeon elaborates, “You are to watch over your brethren, to exhort one another daily, especially you who are officers of the church, or who are elderly and experienced. Be upon the watch lest any of your brethren in the church should gradually backslide, or lest any in the congregation should harden into a condition of settled unbelief, and perish in their sin. He who bids you take heed to yourself, would not have you settle down into a selfish care for yourself alone, lest you should become like Cain, who even dared to say to the Lord himself, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’”
We need the encouragement and accountability from our brothers and sisters to grow strong in faith. To think otherwise is to deceive ourselves, which our hearts are prone to do. As David Guzik noted: “Christians must be vigilant against hardness of heart. That hidden sin you indulge in – none suspect you of it because you hide it well. You deceive yourself, believing that it really does little harm. You can always ask forgiveness later. You can always die to self and surrender to Jesus in coming months or years. What you cannot see or sense is that your hidden sin hardens your heart. As your heart becomes harder you become less and less sensitive to your sin. You become more and more distant from Jesus. And your spiritual danger grows every day.”
Give someone who is wise permission to speak into your life, to ask you the hard questions, and will hold you accountable. And seek to be that person in someone else’s life. When someone comes to your mind who might need encouragement, reach out as soon as you can. Don’t put it off. People are going through hard stuff. God can use you to rescue a soul from spiritual ruin and destruction. Let’s exhort one another daily while it is called "today" so that none of us may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
In your service,
Pastor Marco