Hebrews 10 Lesson

Today’s lesson answers the question:

• What does God want me to do with my life?

Our focus verse for today’s study is taken from the Book of Hebrews:

• “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” – Hebrews 10:14. 

SANCTIFICATION

To sanctify something means:

• “To set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use.  To free from sin.  Purify.” (Source: Merriam-Webster)

Biblestudy.com, building on that definition, states:

• The generic meaning of sanctification is "the state of proper functioning." To sanctify someone or something is to set that person or thing apart for the use intended by its designer. A pen is "sanctified" when used to write. Eyeglasses are "sanctified" when used to improve sight. In the theological sense, things are sanctified when they are used for the purpose God intends. A human being is sanctified, therefore, when he or she lives according to God's design and purpose.

Therefore, if we are to be sanctified by Jesus, we need to live our lives every day according to God’s purpose.

WHAT IS GOD’S PURPOSE FOR US?

There is only one way to learn about what God's purpose for us is, and that is by studying the Bible.

The Bible is full of scriptures that tell us about how God wants us to live our lives.  

For today’s lesson, we have highlighted the following five verses:

1. “The conclusion, when everything has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.” - Ecclesiastes 12:13,
2. “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” – Ephesians 2:10,
3. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – Mathew 28:19-20,
4. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” – Mathew 22:35-40,
5. “Serve one another through love.” - Galatians 5:13.

These five scriptures tell us to do seven things:

1. To fear God,
2. To keep His commandments,
3. To do good works,
4. To spread the Gospel,
5. To love God with all our heart, soul, and mind,
6. To love our neighbor as ourselves,
7. To serve one another in love.

If we find ourselves unfulfilled, or feeling like our lives have no purpose, we need to refocus ourselves on these seven things.

PERFECTION FOR SINNERS?

The Hebrew writer tells us that Jesus’ sacrifice has perfected those that live their lives according to God’s purpose:

• “For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.” – Hebrews 10:14. 

To fully understand this scripture, we must be able to answer the following question:

• How can I be perfected if I am also a sinner?

The fact is, we are all sinners.

Despite our best intentions, we are all going to make mistakes and do things that we wish we did not do.

The Apostle Paul wrote about this in his letter to the Romans:

• “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” - Romans 3:23.

In John’s first epistle, he had this to say:

• “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” - 1 John 1:8.

The power of Jesus’ sacrifice is that even on our worst day, we can still be reconciled with God.

Not because we are perfect, but because Jesus is perfect.

Consider the following thoughts on the subject of reconciliation:

• “Reconciliation is bringing again into unity, harmony, or agreement what has been alienated. According to Biblical teaching, there is a need for reconciliation between God and man because of the alienation between them which has its source in human sin and the righteous aversion to it and hatred of it on the part of God. The Bible teaches that God Himself has provided the means of reconciliation through the death of His Son Jesus Christ.” – (Source: biblegateway.com)

The good news of the Gospel is that despite our sins we can still be reconciled with God because of the precious blood of Jesus.

• “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” - 2 Corinthians 5:18-19,
• “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” - Romans 5:10.

CONCLUSION

All of us are sinners living in a sinful world.

The good news for us is that, despite our sins, we can all be reconciled with God through the atoning blood of Jesus.

To do this, we must commit ourselves to learning what the Bible says and then applying its teachings to our daily lives.

Our lesson today highlighted seven things that God wants us to do with our lives:

1. Fear God,
2. Keep His commandments,
3. Do good works,
4. Spread the Gospel,
5. Love God with all our heart, soul, and mind,
6. Love our neighbor as ourselves,
7. Serve one another in love.

These seven things can be boiled down to just two.

As Christians, our purpose in life is to do these two things:

1. Glorify God,
2. Serve others. 

If we want to live meaningful lives doing what God created us to do, we need to focus on doing these two things.

That is our calling.

That is our purpose.

We will end today’s lesson with the following scripture taken from the Gospel of John.

• “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.” - John 15:12-17.