“By the which will we are sanctified through the
offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” – Hebrews 10:10
Without
Jesus Christ we would be forever lost.
We sing a song in church (I Will Arise and Go to Jesus) that says “I was
lost and doomed to ruin, not one ray of light could see, till the Word of God
so precious, pointed out the way to me.”
We all come into this world with sin reigning within our hearts. The innocence of youth masks it, but in time
the fruit of that carnal (sinful) seed that is within bears out and we find
ourselves with a two part problem. The
sins we commit and the sin that causes us to commit it. Thankfully, God is not without mercy, and he
made a way that we might be free. He
gave His Son to be the complete sacrifice for all sin. Jesus paid the price and bought/brought
salvation to mankind, and we now have access to this salvation through Jesus
Christ. We can be made holy, we can be
sanctified.
In
the Old Testament, when you sinned a sin against God there was a way to atone
for that sin. God had given specific
instructions on how you could obtain forgiveness and atonement for the sin you
committed. You must take the best of
your herd and sacrifice it on the alter.
The blood of the bull, goat, lamb, slain and burned with fire will atone
for the sin. God is merciful, loving,
and kind; however, he is also just.
There must be a sacrifice, an offering.
Under the Old law sin abounded.
Man would sin, beast would be slain, and atonement given; then by and
by, man would sin, beast slain, atonement given. This process of sin and repent, sin and
repent permeated and propagated the religious culture under the Old law. There was forgiveness but no
deliverance. There was temporary
absolution, but no absolute righteousness.
Holiness without was observed, but holiness within was never
experienced. There was no blood or
sacrifice that could be offered that would take away the sin that was reigning
within. In this, we see that man was
lost and doomed to ruin. We needed a
Savior, Sanctifier, High Priest; a New Covenant, New Fire, New Tabernacle, and
a new, better offering. Thankfully, God
is the great consolidator and he sent us all this when he sent His Son Jesus
Christ. He was the offering through
which we are sanctified, and the power that is in the blood is power enough to
cleanse the committed and carnal sin out of your soul. If you are going to be sanctified, if you are
going to go to heaven, you have to go through the cross. Jesus said: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his
cross, and follow me.” (Mat 16:24) He
also said: “I
am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
(John 14:6) It is true that he paid the price
once, for all, but not so we could do as we please and sin as we see. If you are out testifying, or preaching that
Jesus paid the price once for all, and that we are covered and can do as we
please, then you’re preaching a false doctrine.
The offering was not made so that there would be blood enough to cover
all sinners as they keep sinning. That
is a regression from the Old law. The
offering was made so that there would be blood enough to cleanse all sin in
every sinner that comes to Christ. Jesus provided access to the Father, because
of the provision made by the blood: the condemned, sinful, and unworthy soul
can go straight to God and seek salvation through sanctification.
The
blood paid the price that I could not pay, the Son made the way I could not
make, and the Spirit brought the power to help me stay, free from sin and saved
by grace. It’s all because of Jesus,
without his offering we would be forever lost.
