New Salem Baptist Church

Encouraging One Another

Oct. 20, 2024

Read Hebrews 10:23-25.

The apostle had written in the verse before our passage:

²² let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.^[1]

This assurance of faith is trust in the very things that he had written in the midst of chapter ten: that Christ’s one sacrifice has perfected us for all time (vs. 14) and that God remembers our sins no more (vs. 17)! It’s an assurance of faith because we have this assurance simply by trusting in what God has revealed through the apostles.

In verse 23 he writes of hope:

²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. ^[2]

Faith is about the present time. Hope is about what is yet to come.

In the context of this letter, this hope has to do with inheriting the promises. Recall this passage from chapter six:

¹¹ And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, ¹² so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. ^[3]

Our hope looks forward to the Lord’s return to the earth when he will grant an inheritance to those who overcome:

²³ Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.^[4]

The apostle links these three things (reward, receiving the promises, and the Lord’s return) just a few verses later at the end of chapter ten:

³⁵ Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. ³⁶ For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. ³⁷ For,

       “Yet a little while,

and the coming one will come and will not delay; ^[5]

As we have seen before, more than once, in the earlier chapters of Hebrews, this hope rests upon our obedience and steady pursuit of the prize. Note that in verse 36, he writes, “when you have done the will of God you may receive…”

Simply put, those who squander the freedom that we have in Christ and do little for Christ and the kingdom, have no reason to hope for an inheritance. Every true believer possesses eternal life because this rests on faith. But not all believers will inherit the kingdom.

Let’s read verse 23 again:

²³ Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. ^[6]

We are to confess this hope. Confession is a more than profession. Confession has to do with speaking out loud. We confess to others that the Lord is returning and that his reward is with him (Rev. 22:12). We ought to hold fast to this hope. Don’t doubt it! He is coming back and his reward is with him!

The coming of the Lord is the hope for his people, but that day will be a time of woe to the world. When we confess to fellow believers, we remind them of the hope that awaits them. When we confess to the unregenerate, we proclaim Who Christ is, their need of him, and what he has accomplished.

²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. ^[7]

The apostle gives his readers a charge. He charges them to consider how to stir one another up, first, to love. Let me ask a question. If you are stirring something up what is the condition of that thing before you stir it? Whatever the condition, it’s not “up!” In other words, loving everyone is not our natural state. Now, if we are walking in the spirit, then our innate state is love. But we are not in the spirit 24/7. Therefore, we ought to consider how to stimulate love in ourselves and others.

The place we do this is in the meeting. This doesn’t necessarily mean the Sunday morning meeting of the church, although it would certainly include that. But it could be any meeting where we are getting together for this purpose, that is, stimulating love and, as he will say in the very next verse, encouraging one another.

He adds something else to love – good deeds. These must be stirred up. A few of us are doing good things quite often. But most of us need to be stirred up. We are easily tempted to sit around and do nothing, especially after a day’s work, or a day spent cleaning the house, doing laundry, or taking care of young children. We can get weary and neglect good works. All the things I mentioned – working, chores, childcare – take energy. But everyone does those things or most of those things. We are called to a higher life, a life of good deeds to others not just to our immediate family.

Let me give you an example. Andrew is busy. He has a difficult job, two wild children, and a wild wife (kidding!). Yet, when we met a partially disabled lady going door-to-door and learned that her roof severely leaked, he was willing to do the labor with another brother or two in the Lord if she could obtain the materials. As it turned out she was unable to get the supplies but he was willing to do the work despite his busy schedule. Plus, he makes repairs on the parsonage where an old guy lives. (Andrew is not the only one, and I hope he doesn’t mind me using him as an example.)

We are not to neglect meeting together. Being a follower of Christ for fifty years now, I have observed this: how often one attends and participates in the meetings of the church directly measures how strong one’s walk with the Lord is. Those who attend only once a month, for example, are not what you would classify as stalwarts of the faith. Of course, there are exceptions to this observation. Some disciples who have health issues are not able to attend as often as they wish. And there are some who never miss a Sunday but have never learned to even love their own families. What I am saying is that, generally speaking, there is a relationship between our walk with the Lord and our participation in the meetings of the church. Doesn’t this make sense? It is seen in other passages of Scripture. The apostle John in his first letter speaks of loving the brothers and sisters and how important it is. But, those we love are those with whom we want to be. If you don’t care much about being with a person you don’t truly love them.

The primary reason we ought to meet together is to glorify God together as one people, as did the Israelites under the old covenant and as we have continued to do since the days of the apostles. But, here in verse 25, the apostle gives another reason: to encourage one another.

This is now the third time in this letter that the author is calling for the encouragement of his readers. It must be that he knows how easily it is for them to become discouraged.

What may cause us to be discouraged? There are many sources of discouragement, including persecution, which the Hebrew believers were experiencing; but I am going to speak about three of the most common, especially at the present time.

One source of discouragement is laziness. Let us revisit a passage from chapter six:

¹⁰ For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you showed for His name when you served the saints—and you continue to serve them.  ¹¹ Now we want each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the final realization of your hope, ¹² so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance. ^[8]

His readers had been both loving and energized in serving others. But Paul had a concern that they would become lazy. Have you ever had this experience? At one time you were active in your service to the Lord, but then you get into a phase of life when you are simply lazy. It can be quite discouraging.

We need to be encouraged out of our laziness and one way is through the “realization of your hope.” We need to be reminded of the promises, as Paul has been doing throughout this letter.

Another source of discouragement is feeling overwhelmed by the problems facing us. When Jesus told the Parable of the Sower, he identified the thorns that choke out the good plants as being of three types. One of those types are “the cares of this world.” No fruit is produced in the life of the one claims faith because of the cares of this world. Indeed, we can feel hopeless because of what faces us at times.

During the third Crusade in 1191 and 1192 AD, led by King Richard, better known as Richard the Lionheart, the knights regained the Holy Land except for Jerusalem itself. To undertand how some of the battles turned in favor of the Crusaders, one must know the reputation of Richard the Lionheart. When I read about his exploits I thought surely they were either exaggerated or legendary. But, what I read was from eyewitness accounts by the Muslim generals who faced him in battle.

He was 6’5”, of athletic build and imposing in stature. This height was gargantuan for the Middle Ages, when the average height of a man was shorter than today. His swordsmanship and strength were unmatched. He would always lead the charge in battle and “no one can stand against him,” according to Muslim sources.

The Muslims attacked a Christian city in the Holy Land named Jaffa, which is still there today on the coast. The attackers, the Turks, had 20,000 horsemen and 100 “powerful emirs.” The cities protectors were a tiny fraction of that. The Turks overtook the city, so the surviving soldiers holed up in the citadel, a kind of fortress within the city. This was more difficult to breach but it seemed that it was inevitable that it would fall.

King Richard arrived by sea with only 54 knights and about 2,400 other warriors. Upon embarking from the ships, he routed the Turkish soldiers there defending the port. When the frightened and discouraged Christian soldiers within the citadel saw this they were so encouraged and emboldened that they rushed out of the citadel and attacked their attackers and defeated them within the city! King Richard and the residents of Jaffa defeated their attackers even though they were outnumbered ten-to-one! Do you see what a difference encouragement can make?

Encouragement can make us to conquer overwhelming problems.

Still another source of discouragement is sin. It can be the sin of a family member or a brother or sister in the Lord to whom we had looked up to for guidance. But, more often than not, it is our own sin that discourages us. The author addressed this in chapter three:

¹² Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. ¹³ 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.^[9]

When we considered these verses before, I pointed out the “unbelieving heart” to which Paul refers is not a heart that denies God. It’s a heart that refuses to trust God to deliver. Similarly, the “falling away” is not abandoning God by one’s words, but no longer living for Him, just living to meet one’s needs.

Verse 13 warns about our hearts becoming hard by the deceitfulness of sin. Sin, when practiced, hardens our heart. Even when our hearts are soft, our own sin can bring us great discouragement. So, we are admonished to “exhort one another.” Many translations have “encourage one another” here. I think exhort is actually a better word because it carries with it the idea of speaking. And, that is the main way we encourage each other, by speaking positive things found in God’s word. Exhortation is a form of encouragement.

[Application] Having seen the need for encouragement, how do we then actually encourage each other? We saw the sources of discouragement. We must see the source of encouragement. The source of encouraging each other is loving each other:

2 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, ² that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ,^[10]

See that the apostle was struggling in prayer that the Colossians would have their hearts encouraged, but this would happen when their hearts are knit together in love. Is this not our experience? When we recognize that we are loved by another our hearts feel lifted up. It’s an encouragement to us.

How do we encourage one another? By loving each other, this includes acts of help. When you help a brother or sister this communicates you love them.

But the other way is by speaking words of encouragement to them:

¹¹ For you know how, like a father with his children, ¹² we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. ^[11]

The “we” here are Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy. When they were in Thessalonica they exhorted the Thessalonians. There is that word again, exhorted. It has to do with speaking. We need less speaking about politics, automobiles, and mundane matters; and, more speaking about the truths of God’s word that will encourage others.

What did Paul and the others say? They charged the saints there to walk in a manner worthy of God. Don’t be afraid to speak the truth. Don’t act like you are walking on egg shells. If someone is not living in a worthy manner (walking means living), then encourage them by reminding them that God has called them into his kingdom. Tell them to get ready for the kingdom! Isn’t that what Paul did? It’s right there in verse 12.

The last way (last on my short list, not last in importance) to encourage ourselves as well as others, is something you may have heard before. Or, maybe you never heard it:

⁴ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.^[12]

How about that? The Scriptures encourage us! They will not only encourage you, but when you abide in them you will then be equipped to share something encouraging with others. We can only supply others with the supply that we already have.

So, we do not neglect meeting together. Rather we encourage each other. We do this by:

• loving one another
• exhorting one another, and
• abiding in God’s word.

This is one of your callings. You were called to be an encourager!