Exhortations are intended to stir God’s people up in their resistance to sin. Exhort one another daily, it says, lest anyone be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin (Heb. 3:13).
We see that sin hardens and, extending the metaphor, exhortations soften. We sometimes in our folly think to reverse this. We blame exhortations for hardening people, and we think that the experience of sin makes them tender. While it is true that someone who has been forgiven much loves much, and can be used by God for that reason, and it is also true that a certain kind of ham-fisted exhortation can be counterproductive, the basic fact is that sin itself hardens, and exhortations are intended by God to retard that hardening process.
When you come to church and you hear unpleasant things about yourself, and about your heart motives, it is tempting to say that the real problem is “out there.” The church is legalistic, or too concerned with reputations, or they want to put on surface appearances. It is not hard to cook up reasons to not listen to an exhortation.
But hear the Word of God. Sin is a destroyer. Sin is a cancer. Sin rots your soul. Sin likes to hide in the crevices. Sin likes to blame other people. Sin is self-righteous. Sin doesn’t mind going to church provided it gets left alone. Sin is hypocritical. Sin is judgmental. Sin puts it off.
Sin is not your friend. Your friend—the one with the exhortation—is.