Guarding One Another From Spiritual Ruin – Hebrews 12:15-17

The word signifies a careful inspection unto a certain end. And hereof there are two parts: first, The promotion of spiritual good; secondly, The prevention of all that is spiritually or morally evil. Hereunto it is peculiarly applied by the apostle in this place. And he instanceth in four things in this and the following verse: (1.) Failing of the grace of God; (2.) The springing up of a bitter root; (3.) Fornication; (4.) Profaneness: wherein he compriseth the principal sins of the flesh and of the spirit which professed Christians are in danger of. And he doth it in a regular gradation, from the lowest declension from grace unto the highest contempt and defiance of it; as we shall see in the opening of the words. – John Owen