COMPLETELY FORGIVEN, ONCE AND FOR ALL

One of, it not my favourite chapter in scripture is found in Hebrews 10. This scripture is the single greatest comfort for the Christian and it is found in the fact that all our sins have been forgiven, once and for all. In the cross of Christ, not only were our past sins forgiven, but also our present and all our future sins as well. There is nothing now left for the Christian to be forgiven. While we may at times need to turn from a willing practice of sin, and while we still may feel regret and sorrow at what we have done (as we are human and the Spirit within us can still be grieved), this being called 'repentance' in the Word, we never again need to have our sins forgiven by Christ.

If you doubt this, think this way. If we still need our sins to be forgiven, at what point do we ask for forgiveness? We would have to ask for forgiveness, not only at the smallest act of sin, but continually ask for forgiveness because WE ARE SINNERS (our actual state is sinful, not just the acts we perform). After all, we all still have a sin nature and the fallen nature with us (the flesh), even though we are to consider ourselves dead to sin (the flesh) and alive to Christ. If, at the smallest act of sin, our relationship with Christ was damaged, then we would have to live in a constant state of having to ask for forgiveness in order to maintain our relationship and closeness with Christ. This would make us live in a constant state of fear and this would give us a constant burden. This is completely against what the book of Galatians tells us about our salvation, as the writer tells us that it is by faith alone that we have been saved and even that faith is a gift of God:

Gal 3v15:

We who are Jews by both and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.'

v17: "If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!

For further proof of this truth, lets look at Hebrews 10. In this chapter, the writer compares the sacrifices of the Old Testament, to the New Testament Covenant, to see the difference in our relationship with God. The writer reveals that no matter how many sacrifices were made, the worshippers in the Old Testament that gave them could never be made perfect, once and for all, so they had to keep on giving them:

Heb 10v1-3 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.

Notice that the writer here says that if the sacrifices that had been given could have made the offerer PERFECT, they would have stopped being given. But because they weren't made perfect and because they weren't PURIFIED ONCE AND FOR ALL, they had to keep being given. As such, they were REMINDED of their sins each year. But notice one of the most crucial aspects of this passage is found at the end of it. The writer says that if the sacrifices they had made purified them once and for all, THEY WOULD NO LONGER HAVE BEEN CONSCIOUS OF THEIR SINS. This is crucial. While we still can recognise sin and when we sin at times, we should never, from that, believe that we need to be purified from those sins again. In Christ, THEY HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, ONCE AND FOR ALL:

Heb 10v10: 'And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.'

It is extremely clear what the writer is saying here. We have BEEN MADE HOLY (past tense), and this is ONCE AND FOR ALL (for all time and for all of our lives). So because this has already happened, and we have already been forgiven, we do not need to be forgiven again. The Old Testament sacrifices had to be made again and again, but Christ doesn't need to be offered again and again; once was enough. And verse 14 reinforces this again. One offering has perfected us (made us completely Holy in His sight through Christ), and has sanctified us (past tense). There is no more perfecting that needs to be done in our salvation, it has been completed. Yes, our practical reflection of that life that has been placed in us may change from time to time, but that doesn't alter our salvation in any way.

This new covenant means that Christ will no longer remember or hold our sins against us:

Heb 10v16: "This is the covenant that I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.' '…"Their sins and their lawless acts I will remember no more." And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.'

If we have accepted Christ and accepted the gift of faith, and received the one sacrifice of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, then all our sins, for our whole life, have been forgiven at that one point in time. That one sacrifice was enough, and all our sins were placed on Him, punished, and then forgiven.

This is the greatness of the sacrifice Jesus made for us! How great is His love for us and how great is His name! Thank you Jesus!