The means appointed by God to enable the saints to persevere to the end is daily exhortation from other saints. Exhort one another every day as long as it is called 'Today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. It is written that the saints will persevere to the end and be saved. Those who have become sharers in Christ by the new birth will hold their first confidence to the end and be saved. But one of the evidences that you are among that number is that when God reveals in his holy Word the means by which you will persevere, you take him very seriously, you thank him and you pursue those means.
Eternal security is a community project.
Not just prayer, not just worship, not just the sacraments, not just Bible reading, but daily exhortation from other believers is God's appointed means to enable you to hold your first confidence firm to the end. Here the writer is concerned not only how to help people hold fast their faith but also how to help them become ablaze with love. The closer we get to the second coming of Christ the more we ought to meet together to encourage each other to hold fast our hope and to pour ourselves into acts of love. The text envisions not just haphazard meetings on the street but planned gatherings for the purpose of exhortation. Meet at work.