How To Beware of an Evil Heart

To beware is to escape the always imminent evil heart of unbelief which leaves us susceptible to a departure from the living God. To exhort one another daily is the manner by which we beware, and this is an escape (1 Cor. 10:13) from hardenness through the deceitfulness of sin.

Now, we ought to consider the means by which we exhort one another. Since this is the way God has prescribed for us to escape this deceitfulness of sin, it would do us well to know how we might exhort one another.

First, this exhortation is to take place within the context of the local church. No local church? No exhortation. No exhortation? No protection from the deceitfulness of sin. Paul regularly encourages the church to edify herself, “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing (1 Thess. 5:11).” And, the work of every member, “causes the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love (Eph. 4:16).”

Second, the exhortation within the local church is to occur in-person. The church was never established on the assumption that it could one day function over the internet. The assembly of Christ’s church is in-person. We have no other biblical precedent for anything else. To exhort one another over the phone or over the internet may accomplish consolation, and it may even encourage, in some measure, a posture of holiness among Christians. But it cannot accomplish what in-person exhortation can accomplish.

In-person exhortation brings with it an intimacy that cannot be replicated through any other means. This is why, while letters were frequently written within the early church, the church did not primarily communicate through letters. They communicated through assembled fellowship, where exhortation, rebuke, and consolation took place face-to-face. Without face-to-face assembly, the church cannot exist, and Christians will not survive, being led by the deceitfulness of their own hearts.