The Church of Eleven22 - S02E12 - Exhort One Another

Episode Date: June 28, 2021

We all get thirsty for the temporary things of this world that will never satisfy. Do you have people in your life to point you back to the eternal well of living water of Jesus Christ? Are you doing that to others? 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 3:13

Welcome to Deepen with Pastor Joby Martin. The Church of 1122 is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. And we're praying this message helps you deepen your relationship with him. Now let's dive in. Hey, church family, welcome back to the Deep and Devo. We're following up on John chapter 7, which there was a lot going on in John chapter 7. And one of the things that struck me is that there's all these different groups of people with different opinions about Jesus. It says his brothers needed more signs because they didn't yet believe in him.

So there's a group. There's his followers that believe in him. But they're kind of, they want him to go to Jerusalem. And he has this weird dialogue where he's like, no, I'm not going. But then he does show up. There are religious leaders, and they want him to be arrested. and a part of it is because they think he's blaspheming, but I think a big part of it is there's this power shift that's happening.

Because over and over now in the Gospel of John, the Bible says that many, after they heard Jesus, they believed. And so the power brokers, the Pharisees and Sadducees and the religious leaders, they see people begin to go to Jesus. And unlike what John the Baptist did when he said, he must increase, I must decrease. They said, no, no, no, no, no. He must be arrested so that we can stay in power.

power. And yet, if you'll remember when the officials show up to arrest Jesus, they don't arrest Jesus. And when they're like, well, why not? Why didn't you arrest him? They say, we never heard anybody preach like this man. He's doing signs and wonders. So they have an opinion about him. Then there's another group of people, and they're all hung up on this one detail. They're like, he can't be the Messiah because he's from Galilee. And the Messiah is supposed to be out of the line of David from Bethlehem. It would seem like he would just take one little Sunday school class with that group, and then they could have their questions answered. And then in the midst of all of that confusion, everybody with their opinion about who Jesus is,

Jesus stands up in verse 37 of John chapter 70, he says this, and on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out. So this means like, he stood on the table and he was loud. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. whoever believes in me as the scripture has said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. And so, Jesus again, all these different people, all these different points of view, they're all looking for their own kind of personal Messiah and what the Messiah would be. Some people legitimately believe in Jesus. Other people are still too hung up on their own religion.

But the thing that they all have in common, the thing that we all have in common is what Jesus says here. If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink, which leads me to our one another of the week. We find this one another in Hebrews chapter 3, verse 13. The writer of Hebrew says this, exhort one another. That's the ESV translation. Exort one another. The NIV uses the word encourage. But I like exhort better than encourage because in English, when we say encourage,

We mean like, way to go, you can do this. But that is not what this one another is. When the Bible in Hebrews 3 says that we should exhort one another, it's not like me standing behind you, clapping and going, come on, you got it, you got it. No, no, no, no. To exhort means this. It means to strongly encourage or urge someone to do something. To strongly encourage or urge someone to do something.

Literally in the Greek, it means to like poke or poke or push. prod or spur one another on. That's what it means. And here's why what we talked about in John 7 reminds me of this, because the reality is every single one of us gets thirsty. We all get thirsty. It's similar to the conversation that Jesus has back in John chapter 4 with the woman at the well. Remember, he tells her, you keep coming back to this well and you have to come back and come back and come back because it only quenches your thirst for a minute, but you get thirsty again. And what he was really alluding to was the lifestyle that she was leading, that she has been looking for satisfaction and security in a man and then another man and then another man, she's been married

to five men, and now she's living with a man who's not her husband. And what Jesus is saying is, I know you get thirsty, but I am the only one that can quench your thirst. And so, Church of 11 22, you and I need to exhort one another, strongly encourage one another to not continuously return to those wells that are always going to leave us dry. And so in the context of Hebrews chapter 3, I want you to see what's going on here. So the writer of Hebrews is talking to the church and basically what he's saying in the first like 10 or 11 verses of chapter 3 is that Jesus is greater than Moses and that the law will always leave you lacking but Jesus will always satisfy and then what he's talking about here is even though we know God even though we have

seen his miracles even though we have been transformed by God's grace in our life every single one of us still have this tendency to complain we have a tendency to wonder away from the the God that we know. And what was happening in Israel is that Moses goes to Pharaoh, says, let my people go. God sends the ten plagues. The people of God are freed by Pharaoh, and then Pharaoh changes his mind, and so they get to the Red Sea, and the Red Sea is in front of them, and Pharaoh's armies behind them, and God splits the Red Sea, and God's people walk through on dry ground, and then when Pharaoh's army comes in behind him, the waves come crashing down, and they take out Pharaoh's army and even though the Israelites saw that happen they saw the mighty hand of god they experienced all 10

plagues and even though they when they got out into the desert god fed them every single day they woke up in the morning there was manna there was like little frosty flakes on the ground every single day he provided for them food and then he even would give them doves to eat and even though god did all of that, they still had a tendency to turn away from the Almighty God. And when you hear that, you think, how in the world? How in the world? Well, because you and I have that same tendency, that you and I are prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. And so with that in mind, the writer of Hebrews says this, take care, brothers. Lest there be any of you 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. I want you to look at verse 12 in Hebrews 3. He's saying, take care, brothers. Look around, because there may be, there probably is one among us or some among us, And in us, there is an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God. There is a pattern here. I've been on church staff for a long, long, long time. And here is what the writer of Hebrews is warning us from. Often, this is the way it goes.

The first thing that happens is evil, which means evil practice. Like there's some kind of behavior that somebody gets into. And they didn't wake up one day and think, you know what, I don't believe in Jesus anymore. But they wake up one day and they think, I will. want this, this book says no, and so, huh, what am I going to do? There is an evil, and then that evil behavior begins to lead to an unbelieving heart. Do you hear that? That evil behavior begins to lead to an unbelieving heart. Because the first thing we do is we say, I want to do this thing, but God's word cause that thing sin. Hmm.

So I've got one of two options. I can submit to the Word of God or I can submit God's word to what I want to do. This is what people do all the time. They have an evil first, then unbelieving heart. And then what begins to happen? When you practice one thing that is outside of God's plan and God's will and God's best for you, and then you began to justify your actions with an unbelief. believing heart? Well, I guess I don't believe some of these things about God anymore because I want

to do this and the this in that scenario actually becomes my God. Then the next step is an unbelieving heart. And then the step after that, it says leading you to fall away from the living God. So here's what happened. There's some kind of thing in your life you want? I want that. The Bible says that's sin. And then all of a sudden your beliefs begin to follow your practices. And then before you know it, what? You don't want to be around God. You don't want to be around God's people. And so you fall away and move away from God and God's people. Again, not because you woke up one day and says, I don't think I believe those things anymore, but what often happens is I sort of doing a thing, then I justified it in my mind. And now to be around God's people, that kind of makes me feel

guilty and full of shame. So I'm going to move away from that. And so in light of that, the writer of Hebrew says, okay, church, be on the lookout for the one another's. Because if you see somebody behaving that way and then begin to shape their beliefs to excuse their behavior, then watch out, exhort one another every day. And what this exhort means is, it means to, with great urgency, you go to that person and say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you were heading in a direction that you don't want to go. I know it may just seem to you right now like you're getting a little bit too busy to be at church, but used to be there all the time.

You used to worship God like crazy. You used to pour your heart out at the altar. And now what I'm seeing is I'm seeing some other things take priority in your life. And you're moving, not only are you moving away from God's people, but you're moving away from God himself. So come on back. Come on back. I exhort you. I urge you.

Or somebody used to be in your disciple group. And now they're getting too busy. And again, at first, it's just you miss one here, you miss one there. And then after a little while, you have gone down this trail and you know where that thing leads. He says, but exhort one another every day. Strongly encourage them to do something every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Because sin is deceitful.

I mean, it is a trick. And so Jesus stands up in the temple, with all of these different groups who, again, they behaved one way, and so they tried to align their behaviors, they tried to align their beliefs with their behaviors. And so he stands up and he said, is anyone thirsty? Because the reality is, we all get thirsty. We all get thirsty for status.

We all get thirsty for sensuality. We all get thirsty for some stuff. We all get thirsty for the temporary things of this world. And he says they will never, ever, ever satisfy. and Jesus has come to me and I will give you drink and I will give you ultimate security and satisfaction. And so the reason that we want another one another is because as we look around and we see our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus begin to wander away because we're prone to wonder, Lord, I feel it prone to leave the God I love. Then we out of love go to that person and say, I exhort you, I exhort you, I exhort you.

Change direction. You used to be headed in a direction that was leading to a deeper relationship with Jesus, and what I see in you, and I say this in love, and I see you falling away from God, falling away from his people, and you're being trapped by the deceitfulness of sin. So Church of 1122, may we exhort one another daily. As long as it's called today, so who do you need to today? Now I just pray for, for sure as you pray for. but maybe call and talk to and just say, I urge you, I urge you, I urge you to come back in the fold

to keep you aimed at that eternal well of the living water of Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, I thank you that we are not saved by the church, but Lord, I thank you that we are saved into the church. That we were saved into your family, your bride, your body. and Lord I pray if there are relationships that have been strained because people are moving away from you God I pray that you would just give us the grace to reach out to other parts of this faith family and put our arm around them in love but also have the boldness to speak truth and that we would exhort one another we would strongly urge one another to stop going to the temporary

wells of this world that will never satisfy, but that we would drink from you and inside of us, as you give us the Holy Spirit, that streams of living water would overflow. We prayed in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for joining us for Deepen with Pastor Jobi Martin. If you're looking for additional resources

to help you further deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ, visit C-O-E-22.com slash resources. We're praying this message you, heard today helps you experience God in a unique and fresh way. And as always, be free.