And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet. For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. (Hebrews 10:11-14 ESV)
In the sacrificial system of Israel, given to Moses by God to make atonement for sins, priests came before the Lord daily, bring the sacrifices of the people for sin by the blood of goats and bulls and lambs. Over and over again the sacrifices were made so the people's sins could be forgiven. The problem is that sin is not just an obedience issue, it is a heart issue. The blood of these sacrifices could grant forgiveness, but they could not give freedom from sin and death.
Everything changed when Jesus came. The Son of God entered our human existence in flesh and blood and offered the one, perfect sacrifice for all time that not only forgives sin but sets us free from sin's power and consequences. He laid down His life as the perfect and sufficient sacrifice for sin in our place - His death as a substitute for our death. Thanks be to God!
Then Jesus ascended to heaven and sits at the right hand of God, interceding for us there until the glorious day when He will return to "judge the living and the dead" (the Apostle's Creed) and usher in God's perfect, eternal Kingdom of shalom (true peace and justice). He's coming back some day. Whether it is at His glorious return or at the moment of my death, Jesus is coming to take me home to a place He has prepared for me. (John 14:1-2)
But what about in the meantime?
We live our lives in the meantime, when the Kingdom of God is within us and eternity has already begun to give us life that cannot be conquered by death, and yet the consummation of the Kingdom is not yet realized. In the meantime, we walk with Jesus. In the meantime we grow in discipleship and live to honor Him. In the meantime the Holy Spirit works on our lives to make us more and more like Jesus.
For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
Notice the juxtaposition of the tenses in this single verse. In the meantime He has perfected (past tense - already accomplished) for all time those who are being sanctified (future, ongoing tense - a process of making us Christlike). We are being made holy because God is holy. And we have already been granted status as His perfect daughters and sons. This already-done-and-not-yet-accomplished sanctifying holds great hope for our transformation and God's ultimate goal for our lives: restoring His image in His created image-bearers (you and me).
When Holy God looks at you and me who have entrusted our lives to His Son, Jesus, He no longer sees us as sinners. Jesus' once-for-all sacrifice changed that. We are made righteous in God's sight by grace through our faith in Jesus. We are covered by the blood of the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. (John 1:29) But God's heart for us is not that we are fully forgiven and then keep on living under the power of our old sin nature. His longing is to impart into our lives the righteousness that He has already imputed (granted by grace) through His Son.
And so the Holy Spirit takes up residence in our hearts and begins a work of sanctification - of making us holy in love. He roots out sin and grows in us the fruit of the Spirit so more and more our thoughts, words and deeds are motivated by the holy love of Jesus, and not by our own self-interest. He reshapes habits and sets us free from addictions. He gives us the grace to live our lives out of that holy love for God and for others in a way that restores the tarnished image of Himself that He placed within us at creation and that we have denied by our sin. We become image bearers of the Living God, and people see Jesus in us, which makes our lives witnesses for Him.
It is grace that draws us to Jesus and makes us aware of our need for a Savior. It is grace that saves us from our sin and reconciles us to God as we put our faith in Jesus and His atoning sacrifice for us on the cross. And it is grace that keeps perfecting us, making us more Christlike and holy in thought, word and deed as we grow in Christ.
Our part of the process is learning and growing. Our part in the process is cooperating with the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit and not grieving Him by resisting that work. Our part is to bring every motive and action in our lives to the Cross, to be filled with the holy love of Jesus, and to begin to live new lives in the freedom that can only be found there. God is not so much interested in making us happy as He is in making us holy. And He knows if our lives are fully immersed in Jesus' holy love we will have joy.
It's a long way from the 15-year-old kid who put his trust in Jesus Christ some 57 years ago to the follower of Jesus I am today. There has been a lot of growth, often by the crucible of hardship and repentance and difficulty, but always by the grace of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit. I thank God today for the truth of this quote from John Newton, the former slave runner who wrote the hymn, Amazing Grace:
“I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.”