DRAWING NEAR
December 18
Bearing with an Exhortation
"I urge you, brethren, bear with this word of exhortation" (Heb.
13:22).
Invitations to salvation must provide both exhortation and warning.
Hell is undoubtedly full of people who did not actively oppose Jesus
Christ, but simply drifted into damnation by neglecting to respond to
the gospel. These are the kinds of people the writer challenges in
Hebrews 2:1-4. They were aware of the good news of salvation in Jesus
Christ, but weren't willing to commit their lives to Him. As a
result, they were drifting past the call of God into eternal
disaster.
The Word of God always demands a response. Any effective teacher of
it must do more than just dispense facts; he must warn, exhort, and
extend an invitation. He may have impressive knowledge of the truth,
but if he doesn't have a passionate concern for how people react to
it, he is not a worthy representative of Jesus Christ.
Jesus had that kind of compassion. Despite the rejection of His own
people, He ached for their salvation: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who
kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I
wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen ushers her
chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling" (Matt. 23:37). You
can feel His heart go out to the people.
Paul had similar compassion: "I have great sorrow and unceasing grief
in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated
from Christ for the sake of My brethren, my kinsman according to the
flesh" (Rom. 9:2-3). A true teacher is interested in more than just
academics; he is concerned that people respond rightly to what is
taught.
Just as the writer of Hebrews had to warn and exhort his readers, at
times it becomes necessary for us to warn those we are witnessing to.
If you want to see unbelieving friends, relatives, or associates come
to Christ, warn them. Let them see the passion in your heart and your
love for them. Please don't allow anyone to slip into eternal
destruction without being warned sufficiently.
Suggestion for Prayer:
Ask God to give you wisdom regarding when to warn the people you are
witnessing to.
For Further Study:
Read Hebrews 3:7--4:13, 6:4-8, 10:26-31, and 12:25-29 noting the
pattern the writer followed in presenting these other warnings.
Drawing Near, Copyright 1993 John F. MacArthur, Jr.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.
http://www.gty.org
~~~
Hebrews 2:1-4 (NKJV)
2:1 Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we
have heard, lest we drift away.
2 For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every
transgression and disobedience received a just reward,
3 how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at
the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by
those who heard Him,
4 God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various
miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?
Hebrews 3:7--4:13
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you will hear His
voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial
in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty
years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, 'They
always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.'
11 So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'"
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief in departing from the living God;
13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest
any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast to the end,
15 while it is said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not
harden your hearts as in the rebellion."
16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came
out of Egypt, led by Moses?
17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who
sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but
to those who did not obey?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us
fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but
the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with
faith in those who heard it.
3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I
swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest,' " although the
works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this
way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works";
5 and again in this place: "They shall not enter My rest."
6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to
whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,
7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today," after
such a long time, as it has been said: "Today, if you will hear His
voice, Do not harden your hearts."
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward
have spoken of another day.
9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his
works as God did from His.
11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall
according to the same example of disobedience.
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit,
and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart.
13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things
are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews 6:4-8
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have
tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy
Spirit,
5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to
come,
6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they
crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open
shame.
7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it,
and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives
blessing from God;
8 but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to
being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
Hebrews 10:26-31
26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of
the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery
indignation which will devour the adversaries.
28 Anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without mercy on the
testimony of two or three witnesses.
29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought
worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood
of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and
insulted the Spirit of grace?
30 For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says
the Lord. And again, "The LORD will judge His people."
31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 12:25-29
25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not
escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not
escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven,
26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised,
saying, "Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven."
27 Now this, "Yet once more," indicates the removal of those things
that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things
which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be
shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with
reverence and godly fear.
29 For our God is a consuming fire.
~~~
These devotions are posted with permission from John MacArthur's
first (1993) devotional work, _Drawing Near_, and they are also sent
out daily for free to several folks via e-mail.
In addition, John's second (1997) devotional, _Strength for Today_,
is also available free via e-mail only. _Strength for Today_ follows
the same format as what you have seen here from _Drawing Near_, but
with different monthly themes.
If you would like to receive daily devotions via e-mail from either
of these series, just let me know (via e-mail), and I will gladly add
you to the list(s) of your choice.
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In Christ,
Peter
Peter G. Chase :: Columbus, Ohio, USA
pchase1@wideopenwest.com
STOP! Who do you think Jesus is?
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To forgive is to set a prisoner free, and to discover that the prisoner was you. -Alistair Begg
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