Perfected & Being Sanctified
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Let’s turn in our Bibles to Hebrews 10:1-18.
1 For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins? 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering You have not desired, But a body You have prepared for Me; 6 In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure. 7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (In the scroll of the book it is written of Me) To do Your will, O God.’ ” 8 After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. 10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time onward until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet. 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. 15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying, 16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them After those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws upon their heart, And on their mind I will write them,” He then says, 17 “And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” 18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin. (Hebrews 10:1–18)
Pray: Father in heaven, have mercy on our weakness and fragility. Focus our minds now on Your good Word. Shape us and nourish us this morning. Amen.
By this point in Hebrews 10, we know that the point is the supremacy of Jesus Christ over the Old Covenant priesthood and sacrifices.
I want to focus more personally this morning on the issue of sanctification, and what we are to think of our own need to grow in Christ.
A Reminder About The Law
A Reminder About The Law
Let’s be reminded that the Law of God is the highest, best Law ever given. No other law has ever been more complete, or more appropriate. No other law has ever revealed the holiness and nature of God in such perfection. Jesus condemned the traditions of the Jews; those traditions were perversions of the Old Covenant.
But Jesus also condemned anyone who would diminish or dismiss the Law of God.
“Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
The truth is that only those with a high regard for the Law of God can be saved. We must believe that we are sinners in need of a Savior, that God’s wrath will be poured out against sinners, that God is holy and judges in holiness. These are all truths revealed in the Law of God. Those who reject the Law of God reject the Savior Himself.
At the same time, we cannot earn salvation by keeping the Law. Even if we could live rightly according to the Law of God (and we can’t), the Law was never intended to save sinners, but to identify and condemn them. No one will be made righteous before God by keeping the Law. (Romans 3:20).
So, the Law of God is the highest law ever given, but it is incapable of saving anyone. And if God’s own Law cannot save, then there is no hope of salvation coming through any other law, whether Baptist, Buddhist, Muslim, Mormon, or Methodist.
The Law Is Never Satisfied
The Law Is Never Satisfied
As we see in these opening verses of Hebrews 10, the Law is never satisfied. It’s hunger is insatiable. If the Law could perfect a sinner, that sinner would cease to offer sacrifices. But the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins, and so the sacrifices of the Law are offered over and over again, year after year. The only thing that brings an end to these ceaseless sacrifices is the death of the sinner. And until a sinner dies, the Law of God never stops demanding more, yet another sacrifice, yet another offering.
This is why David, confessing his adultery, specifically says,
For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering.
Instead, David asks God for mercy and cleansing and restoration based on God’s character alone:
Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.
The Law condemned David completely, but it offered him no hope. Hope depended upon the lovingkindness and mercy of God.
Jesus Didn’t Come To Do What Had Already Been Done
Jesus Didn’t Come To Do What Had Already Been Done
It’s clear that Jesus didn’t come to carry on the same old traditions.
Rather, He came to fulfill the Old Covenant by faithfully and perfectly observing it, and then offering His own body in our place as a substitute. His death didn’t simply cover sin up; He washed it away entirely.
You could offer Old Covenant sacrifices faithfully, year in and year out, from the moment you reached adulthood until your death, and you would never be sanctified; you would never be perfected.
But Hebrews 10:10 says that by God’s will we who have believed in Jesus Christ have been sanctified through Christ’s death on the cross. He offered a single sacrifice for sins – His own body, not some animal – and He offered that sacrifice once for all time, once and never again. When His offering was complete, He didn’t turn around and do it all over again, like the Old Covenant priests. No, He sat down at the right hand of the Father, His atoning work done and complete, and His ruling work beginning.
Simul Iustus Et Peccator
Simul Iustus Et Peccator
There’s a Latin phrase that arose in the Reformation: simul iustus et peccator. It means “at the same time righteous and a sinner.” That’s every Christian in this mortal life.
Christians are righteous because of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, which God credited to us as though we lived Jesus’ life.
And Christians are sinners because we continue to sin, because our flesh is still vulnerable to temptation and prone to wickedness.
The righteousness is Christ’s, which is credited to us by God, as though we had always been faithful and obedient.
The sin is ours, which God in His love and mercy imputed to Christ as though He had violated God’s Law.
And so Jesus Christ has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Now, think about this.
He HAS perfected His people. It’s a finished work. It’s accomplished. His priestly work made an end to guilt and judgment. We stand before God in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which doesn’t simply cover our unrighteousness, but is actually credited to us. It is as though nothing has ever stood between ourselves and God.
And at the same time, Christians in this mortal life ARE BEING sanctified. It is an ongoing process, a work of the Holy Spirit, carried out every day of our lives.
What a fantastic pair of truths they are.
If we were simply declared righteous in Christ, and no ongoing work was taking place, we would have such a misshapen, crippled idea of what holiness means. We would be proud and arrogant, thinking that the declaration of righteousness meant that we were behaviorally righteous.
On the other hand, if we were not justified, credited with Jesus’ own righteousness, and were only being sanctified by the Holy Spirit, we would easily and quickly fall into despair. How far we have to go! How long the distance is between were I am right now and where Jesus has always been!
But the Lord joins these two truths together for us. We have been perfected, declared righteous, credited with Jesus’ life and obedience. That is done and accomplished. And now the Holy Spirit is lovingly, gently, patiently, insistently, faithfully, transforming us, sanctifying us, purifying us, making us more and more into the image of Christ. We aren’t proud of our justification, because it was a gift, and because the Spirit of God reminds us daily of our need to grow. And we don’t despair of our need to grow, because the promise of God has been made sure and certain. The Spirit of God is not simply taking me as far as He can in the time He has; He is taking me all the way to the likeness of Christ Himself.
So today Christians are simul iustus et peccator, but the day is coming when we will be solus iustus, only righteous.
How Does The Spirit Do This?
How Does The Spirit Do This?
You might be wondering how the Spirit of God is achieving our sanctification. Look at Hebrews 10:15-18, and you’ll see. Those words might sound familiar to you; they are the core of the New Covenant, promised in the prophets, and fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The Spirit puts the Law of God on our hearts and minds, and continues to forgive and cleanse us of sin.
The Lord Jesus said,
“The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
Our behavior doesn’t determine our hearts; our hearts and minds determine our behavior. The Spirit of God doesn’t simply teach us new behaviors, but makes us different on the inside. He gives us new desires and affections. He teaches us new ways of thinking. And those new affections and new thoughts begin to work themselves out in our actions.
The reason that the New Testament letters begin with so much doctrinal truth and end with practical application is that the foundation must be laid before the house can be built. It is because God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in Him (Ephesians 1:4) that we are to let no unwholesome word proceed from our mouths, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear. (Ephesians 4:29).
Bringing it Home
Bringing it Home
Jesus Christ ended the sacrificial system in order to fulfill the will of God. He died once for all time, once and never again, so that all who believe in Him would be perfected and sanctified.
God does not take pleasure in sacrifices; they cannot satisfy His wrath against sin, and they cannot restore us to holiness.
But He did take pleasure in the death of His Son, because Jesus’ death did satisfy His wrath, and it does restore to holiness those who trust in Christ.
By one offering Jesus Christ has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
At the same time we have a finished work and an ongoing process.
Jesus Christ has perfected His people for all time – that’s the finished work.
The Holy Spirit sanctifies Christians on a daily, even moment to moment, basis - that’s the ongoing process.
We don’t work our way up the perfection and sanctification ladder, hoping to get as high as we can before we die.
We begin our lives in Christ, by grace and through faith, already at the top of the perfection and sanctification ladder. We have Jesus’ own righteousness imputed to us by the Father. He gives Christians credit for the holy life and perfect faith of Christ.
Selah - let’s think about this, and consider some of the implications of this truth.
First, our ongoing sanctification is a result of our new life in Christ. Putting it in the simplest terms, we don’t earn eternal life by doing good works, we do good works because we have been granted eternal life.
Second, that eternal life is more than a promise about what will happen in the future. It means, as we see in Hebrews 10:17, having God put His laws upon our heart, and write them on our mind. This is truly practical. It isn’t a theory about heaven, but a plan for today.
Third, there is no offering for sin that can satisfy God’s wrath. The only sacrifices God ever commanded are found in the Law. Every other kind of sacrifice or good work – sacraments, prayers, penances, good deeds – were not commanded by Him at all, but rather are forms of idolatry. Now, if the sacrifices GOD commanded cannot perfect anyone or remove sin, how much less can human traditions perfect us and remove sin?
Finally, while we do get discouraged that the work of sanctification is not done yet, the very fact that it is taking place should boost our faith and courage. The process of sanctification does not lead to perfection, but rather is the result of perfection. God has granted Christians full credit for the righteousness of Jesus Christ; now He is teaching us to live like that righteousness is ours. He wouldn’t teach us those lessons if we didn’t belong to Him.
Can you lose this sanctification? No. When Jesus died, He ensured the complete, final sanctification of His people. Not one will slip through the cracks. His sanctifying work took your entire life into account, including every moment that you haven’t yet lived. If you are sanctified by Jesus at all, then you are sanctified for all time.
Let us rejoice and give thanks and be encouraged to live according to the ongoing, faithful work of God in our lives!
Let’s pray.