“Exhort one another daily, while it is called today” – Heb 3:13
Psa 66:1-20

Part 3 – verses 13 to 20

In the first verse of our Psalm in this study, we will see that God tells us how we ought to go into His temple, into fellowship with one another, as He declares that it is with “burnt offering[s]”. In other words, it is through our collective trials and becoming comfortable in the fire together that we come to know our Lord and become purified as one body (Dan 3:22-27).

Many stories in God’s word describe this process of purification, but this particular one in Daniel is one of the most loud and dynamic parables of how God is both able to and continually is going about perfecting His saints through fiery trials via a process of judgment by which we are saved, even at the expense of people being put in very uncomfortable positions, and in many instances life and death scenarios for our sakes (2Co 4:15, 2Ti 3:16).

Dan 3:22 Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
Dan 3:23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Dan 3:24 Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonied, and rose up in haste, and spake, and said unto his counsellors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king.
Dan 3:25 He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.
Dan 3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, came forth of the midst of the fire.
Dan 3:27 And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counsellors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.

These verses below express the fruit of our fellowship, the sweetness that comes about as a result of going through the exercise of being in the fire and becoming comfortable within it (Isa 33:13-16). If we are not given to acknowledge our need to be in the fire, then it is akin to saying that we say we see and our sins will remain (Joh 9:41). If we are given to repent and acknowledge our need to die daily, then we can continue to say that we have a hope within (Col 1:27) that is purifying us (1Jn 3:3, 1Jn 1:8). The glory of this mystery among the Gentiles within us is to go from glory to glory through a process where we are blessed to continue to endure through the trials that change us and bring us to a point of being comfortable in the fire right unto perfection on the third day (2Co 3:18, Luk 13:32).

It may seem obvious now, but I remember reading these verses in particular and not seeing myself as the one who was “far off” or the sinner in Zion who was afraid, and it truly is only after God shows us that ‘we are the ones’ in fearful hypocritical flesh that we can begin to do the work that our Lord alone is going to accomplish in all those who He is making comfortable in the fire in this age (Php 2:13).

Cause

Isa 33:13 Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might.
Isa 33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Isa 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;
Isa 33:16 He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

Effect

Psa 133:1 A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
Psa 133:2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;

Pro 27:9 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.

2Co 2:14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.
2Co 2:15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
2Co 2:16 To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
2Co 2:17 For we are not as many, which corrupt G2585 the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

1Co 2:5 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

The opposite of speaking in Christ by the power of God is to do what our flesh naturally does in the court to make merchandise of our brethren, to be respecters of persons (Rev 22:9), and to idolize the flesh of men, which is all we can do until God burns this spirit out of us which naturally corrupts God’s word. It takes the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth which is found in those who have been blessed to be in the process of being unleavened by the life of Christ working in us in this age (1Co 5:8-9).

1Co 5:8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
1Co 5:9 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

corrupt G2585

– Original: κu945 πu951 λu949 υu769 ωpar – Transliteration: Kapeleuo
– Phonetic: kap-ale-yoo’-o
– Definition:
1. to be a retailer, to peddle
2. to make money by selling anything
a. to get sordid gain by dealing in anything, to do a thing for base gain
b. to trade in the word of God
1. to try to get base gain by teaching divine truth
c. to corrupt, to adulterate
1. peddlers were in the habit of adulterating their commodities for the sake of gain
– Origin: from kapelos (a huckster)
– TDNT entry: 13:03,4
– Part(s) of speech: Verb

– Strong’s: From κu945 ́u960 ηu955 οu962 kapēos (a huckster); to retail that is (by implication) to adulterate (figuratively): – corrupt.
Total KJV Occurrences: 1
•corrupt, 1
2Co 2:17

In order for the word of God to no longer be corrupt (G2585) in our hearts and in our mouth, we must go through this process discussed above, through the purifying that comes as a result of being able to lose our life so that we might find it (Mat 16:25, Joh 12:24). These following verses show us that this is God’s grace and favour and mercy that He bestows upon a few in this age to actually have hearts that are being purified unto conversion and not inclined unto evil.

It is in asking God to purify us of the weakness and sin we see in ourselves that we are blessed, if He hears us and proceeds to purify us by the chastening and scourging where needed and gives us the ability to lay aside the weight of sin and know that we are forgiven and anointed by His hand. The prayers of the saints lead us to become “the whole ram upon the altar”, “a burnt offering unto the Lord”, and these verses below describe that process very well.

Psa 141:2 Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Psa 141:3 Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.
Psa 141:4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.

Rev 8:4 And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand.

Exo 29:18 And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Deu 12:27 And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.

Rev 8:13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Psa 66:13 I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,
Psa 66:14 Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.
Psa 66:15 I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.

These verses remind us that it is upon a burnt offering (Lev 1:4) that our vows are paid and fulfilled, as we saw so clearly demonstrated through the email string of late in regards to being salted with fire, which we know that every sacrifice must be, in order to be accepted of the Lord (Mar 9:49, Heb 12:6).

Our lips utter “my vows” to God that declare we are a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1) and He comes at times of duress “when I was in trouble” (Job 5:7). God holds us up through the fiery experience so that our sacrifice is accepted before our Father through Christ (Eph 1:6) who is represented by the fatlings, the rams, the bullocks and the goats of verse 15.

Psa 66:16 Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
Psa 66:17 I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.

What God has done for our soul is what we have been discussing all along. He has been purifying it through the fire of His word which must be tried and tested in this age if we are going to be able to reveal Christ to the world as Christ presented the Father to the world (Joh 5:43, Mat 11:27, Joh 6:38, 2Ti 2:12).

Psa 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
Psa 66:19 But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
Psa 66:20 Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.

A reprobate heart, as we have discussed in the past, is an unbelieving and faithless heart (2Co 13:5-6, Rom 14:23), and when we are in this state of mind, God tells us plainly that such prayers are not heard because of their faithless nature (Jas 1:7). Our prayer is that God will keep us from this spirit of unbelief which was given to the Israelites in the wilderness for our admonition (Heb 3:7-13).

2Co 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
2Co 13:6 But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.

Heb 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
Heb 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
Heb 3:9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
Heb 3:10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
Heb 3:11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
Heb 3:12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

We can’t help it when we don’t have faith or are given over to a reprobate mind (2Co 4:4, Rom 1:28), but God does bring the elect to cry out and ask for help in our unbelief if we are his, and he delivers us by the saving grace and faith (Eph 2:8) that come from Him alone and is manifested through the body of Christ that “exhort one another daily, while it is called To day” (Heb 11:6, Mar 9:24).

2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Rom 1:28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

When God does not turn away from our prayer, we are experiencing His mercy (Rom 11:16) in this age, which acts upon those fervent and continual prayers which God grants the elect to abide in to His glory (Joh 8:31-33, Psa 119:133).

Rom 11:16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Psa 119:133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.