Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. I. THE EVIL OF THE RESTRAINING AMONG NEAR RELATIVES OF FREE INTERCOURSE ABOUT THEIR SOULS, IS EVIDENT from this, first of all — 1. That it is a breach of God's express command in the text, "Exhort one another daily." If this duty lies on professing Christians simply as such, much more must it be obligatory on husband and wife, brother and sister, parent and child. 2. The evil of it appears in that it involves, I suspect to a very large extent, the sin of being ashamed of Christ and of His words. Whence that strange silence, that awe-struck air in the presence of a brother? If it were before a stranger, one might try to account for it in different ways. But this will not do among persons accustomed to open their minds freely on every other subject. 3. This restraint cuts off all the precious innumerable benefits which God intended to arise from the exhortation enjoined in the text, and which in families were all the greater, in virtue of the constant opportunities and peculiar facilities there afforded for it. What daily consolation, what instruction, what warning, what encouragement, what direction, are thus lost for ever! 4. There is a specially mischievous effect produced by it on the children of a family. The absence of it throws a fearful stumbling-block in their way. Is heaven a reality? Is Christ indeed beloved? Is the soul imperishable? The faith of the child, such as it is, is gradually sapped and undermined. 5. Near relatives are, by this restraint, deprived of one of the mightiest incentives to a holy life. II. THE CAUSES OF THIS. 1. The unregenerate condition of too many parents, and other near relatives, professing religion. They cannot speak of Christ, because they are ignorant of Him. They cannot commend Him to others, because they have never themselves embraced Him. The world is their theme, because it is their treasure, their god. 2. Careless, inconsistent walking before God and each other, among near relatives, is one painful and powerful cause. Persons professing godliness, united in very endearing ties, are not careful to order their lives in each other's sight, entirely as becomes the gospel. Honesty forbids it. It is felt that it were hypocrisy to talk of Christ's love and of His law, unless, at least, it were with the avowed design of committing the parties to an immediate change. But still farther — 3. And in close connection with inconsistent walking, yet distinct from it, I believe that the chief cause of the restraint in question among the people of God is to be found in the want of soul-prosperity, and of a close and habitual intercourse in secret with God and His blessed Word. The want, in short, of religion, or the low' state of it, are the real causes of this evil. III. There can be little difficulty in discovering and noticing THE REMEDIES, under God, for the evil. These must take their character from the causes. 1. I besought you to ask yourselves, as in God's sight, whether ye were Christ's indeed. 2. If the cause lie with you in careless and inconsistent walking, whatever other remedies you may employ, let that command be heard, "Put away the strange gods which are among you, and prepare your hearts unto the Lord, and serve Him only." And especially — 3. In the third place, seek the remedy for this evil in a closer walk with God, in a more habitual, living fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. (C. J. Brown.) Parallel Verses KJV: But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. |
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