Hebrews 10 Lesson

PERFECTED AND SANCTIFIED BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

Our focus verse for today’s lesson is:

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

To understand this scripture, we need to ask ourselves two questions:

1. What does it mean to be sanctified?
2. How are Christians “perfected?”

SANCTIFICATION

Merriam-webster defines the word sanctify as follows:

• Sanctify: “To set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use.  To free from sin.  Purify.”

Biblestudy.com says:

• 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.

So if we are sanctified by the sacrifice of Jesus, and to be sanctified means to be used for the purpose that God intended, how do we know what God’s purpose for us is?

As always, we turn to the Bible for the answers to life’s questions. 

WHAT IS GOD’S PURPOSE FOR US?

The following five scriptures tell us about God’s purpose for us and what He wants us to do with the time we have on earth:

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.

If we ever feel lost, or unsure about what our purpose in life is, we should remember these five scriptures that tell us to do six things:

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

When we wonder about what we are supposed to do with our lives, we need to think about these scriptures and apply them to whatever situation we are in.

WE ARE PERFECTED BY JESUS’ SACRIFICE

Earlier in our lesson, we read Hebrews 10:14:

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

What does the Hebrew writer mean by “perfected” in the above scripture?  Does he mean that we are literally made perfect through Jesus’ sacrifice? 

According to the following two scriptures, we are all sinners and none of us will ever be perfect in a literal sense:

1. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” - Romans 3:23,
2. “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” - 1 John 1:8.

What the Hebrew writer is talking about is reconciliation or being made perfect with God despite our sins.  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 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)

Jesus’ perfect sacrifice reconciled us with God.  We were made perfect with God despite our sins:

• “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

Through the precious blood of Jesus, we have been perfected (reconciled) and sanctified.  As we ponder what God wants us to do with our lives, we need to study the scriptures and act on what we learn. The Bible teaches us to:

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

These six items can be boiled down to two:

1. To glorify God,
2. Serve others.

As Christians, everything that we do should accomplish one, or both, of these two things. From the moment we wake up in the morning until the moment that we go to sleep, we should be glorifying God and serving others. That is what we are called to do.

We will end today’s lesson with the following scripture:

• “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  thatyour 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.