Hebrews 10:1-14 NASB 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 being sanctified.
Twice in these verses, the word perfect or perfected and twice the word sanctified is used. At the cross, when Jesus cried out, “It is finished,” the same word for “perfect” used here in Hebrews 10 was spoken. Actually, “perfect” would be a more accurate translation of what Jesus said at the cross. It can also be translated as “accomplished” or “completed.” It carries the idea of a task or a goal being perfectly completed. Jesus came to destroy the power of sin in the lives of human beings. He came to set us free from living with a constant consciousness of sins. He came to set us free from sin’s power and sins condemnation and sins shame. The finished work of Jesus at the cross was the perfect answer for sins, power, and sin’s shame, for in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, sin was forever paid for, and the old man (the enslaved sinner) was crucified, and a whole new creation in Christ was raised up in His resurrection. The new creation in Christ is free from enslavement to sin and free from condemnation and shame. I am not saying that the Christian is yet perfect in their walk, but I am saying that the perfect work of Calvary is true about us and being worked out in our experience daily. To live with a sin consciousness is to believe that you are simply still a sinner, though saved by grace, and therefore, your true identity is that of a sinner. When we wake up every day expecting to sin because it is inevitable, and we walk around with a constant sense of shame about our weaknesses and past failures, we usually fulfill what we believe about ourselves. What God believes about us is that we are the righteousness of God in Christ. He believes that the work of the cross was perfect in setting us free from being enslaved to the power and shame of sin. It says in verse 10 that we have been sanctified through the offering of Jesus Christ once and for all, but verse 14 says that because of his perfect work at Calvary, we are being sanctified daily. That simply means that God’s perfect work, or God’s complete solution to the sin problem in our lives, was accomplished 2000 years ago at Calvary but is being worked out in manifestation in our lives day by day. You will find that when you start believing what God says is already true about you, you will, by faith, start manifesting that truth. You have a new identity in Christ, and that identity is his righteousness, not sin. Approaching His presence or facing a life that includes temptation with a sin consciousness is not humility; it is unbelief.