Hebrews 3:12-19 BSB

12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. 13But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first. 15As it has been said:

“Today, if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts,
as you did in the rebellion.”

16For who were the ones who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed? 19So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter.

The Scriptures are written not to men only, but also for women, and so this word “brothers” is not intended to be for men only. A better word here is the word “brethren” which has to do with belonging to the same family, in this case, with the family of God. This is written to fellow believers in Jesus Christ, whether male or female. As those who belong to the family of God, none of us should have a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God. And Paul summed up “unbelief” as equivalent to disobedience.

For faith in Jesus Christ is not shown genuine by lip service only. Our faith is proven genuine by our obedience to our Lord and the fruit of that in our lives. So, if someone claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ, but that person is still living in sin, and not in obedience to our Lord’s commands, as a matter of life practice (habit), then according to the Scriptures that person is not of genuine faith in the Lord Jesus. And this is not saying that we must be absolutely perfect, but that willful sin must no longer be our habit (practice).

And so we, as the family of God, are to exhort (encourage, urge, compel) one another DAILY to not give way to sin’s deceitfulness, but to put sin to death in our lives, and to walk in obedience to the Lord and to his commands in daily living. And this is so that, hopefully, none of us may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and then fall away from the faith. For we have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance of faith we had at first, which is only promised via us dying to sin and obeying our Lord.

For who are the ones who have heard the Word of the Lord and have rebelled? They are all who continue in deliberate and habitual sin and who ignore and do not obey the commands of our Lord, as a matter of life practice. They know right from wrong. They know when what they are doing is evil, and that it is contrary to the laws of God, and yet they do them anyway, for that is what they desire in place of desiring after our Lord and his holiness and righteousness. And disobedience, in practice = unbelief.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

As the Deer

By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1

As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You

Exhort One Another Daily
An Original Work / July 5, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love