Hebrews 10:12,14 But this Man, after He had suffered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God… For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
As a Believer, how many times have you thought you have disqualified yourself from receiving God’s blessings because you haven’t been good or deserving enough? If this is how you have thought in the past (or maybe you continue to think this way now), let’s go back to our opening Scripture and read it again.
It says: Jesus suffered one sacrifice for sins forever… Jesus didn’t need multiple attempts, He got it right the first time.
Then it says: For by [this] one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
Jesus' sacrifice for you upon the cross has perfected you forever! I know it sounds too good to be true and too hard to believe, but that’s what Jesus has done for you!
So what you need to understand is because of this great work of Jesus through the cross, you are now “perfect” in the eyes of God. As Jesus is perfect before the Heavenly Father (1 John 4:17), so are you. It is not when you get your act together and start getting on top of all the struggles, temptations and failings. No, the good news is you are already forgiven and perfected, once and for all through the work of Jesus.
Now, this doesn’t mean you are a perfect person in this life and can do no wrong. No, you are still a human being living in a corrupted, fallen body that will fail in thought, word and in deed. But you must understand that in the eyes of the Heavenly Father and through the work of the Lord Jesus, you now carry the same perfect righteousness of Christ as your heavenly identity!
Hebrews 10:14 explains this gap between our redeemed state of perfected righteousness in Christ and our current sanctified reality…
For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
This means that what Jesus did for you upon the cross is a finished perfected work – this is your new creation identity. But as you continue to grow in your consciousness of this new reality, the same grace of God that redeemed you at the cross continues to go to work sanctifying your soul and transforming you into the likeness of Christ! (2 Corinthians 3:18)
So as a Believer your doing is not to try to change yourself, but to simply fix your eyes upon Jesus and let His Holy Spirit transform you (Hebrews 12:2).