For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. – Hebrews 10:14
Our posture is that of those who are perfected in Christ Jesus. How I wish that we could all realize this and live in the power of it. If I am, indeed, a believer, I have nothing whatever to do in order to put away the guilt of my sins. I have much to do by faith to overcome the power of sin in me, and to seek after holiness; but so far as the guilt of transgression is concerned, Jesus Christ’s one offering hath perfected all His people, there is not a sin remaining upon them, nor a trace of sin; they are “without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;” before God’s sight they are perfectly lovely; they are not somewhat beautiful, but they are altogether lovely in Christ; they are accepted not in part but altogether, “accepted in the Beloved.” When I get upon this strain, words are quite inadequate to express the emotions of my soul. This truth might well make David dance before the ark of the Lord—to think that though black in ourselves, we are comely in Christ; though like the smoke-dried tents of Kedar we are foul yet clothed in our Savior’s beauties we are like the curtains of Solomon for glory. The glory of the text is that we are perfected for ever; not for tomorrow and then suffered to fall from grace; not for the next twenty years, and then turned out of the covenant; but He hath perfected “for ever” those that are set apart.
The text says, “Hath perfected them that are sanctified,” or set apart as holy unto God. We must be more and more set apart every day, we must labor after holiness; this must be our object, not in order that we may be saved, for we are saved already, but in order that by others it may be clearly seen that we are saved, and they seeing our good works may glorify our Father which is in heaven. If I have in myself no measure of holiness, how shall I be recognized as belonging to Christ? Is it not foolish presumption to say “I am perfect in Christ,” if still my soul lives in sin, and loves it? May the Lord, by His Spirit, lead us in the ways of holiness, and then, walking in the light as He is in the light, we shall have fellowship one with another; and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son shall cleanse us from all sin.
