HEBREWS 10:1-2, 10-18

"The sacrifices under that system (the Old Covenant) were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. Under the Old Covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then He sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There He waits until His enemies are humbled and made a footstool under His feet. For by that one offering He forever made perfect those who are being made holy. And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For He says, “This is the New Covenant I will make with My people on that day," says the Lord, "I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then He says, “I will never again remember their sins and lawless deeds.” And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices."

So many folks read the passage from Hebrews above and stumble, because they continually fight against feelings of guilt over their sin and their penchant for sinning even now. BUT, if you will read through ALL the Epistles in the New Testament, you will NEVER find any of the Apostles calling the churches they are writing to, "To those sinners saved by grace who now belong to Jesus Christ..." 

Paul consistently calls the members of the churches he addresses in his epistles, "I am writing to the church in Corinth and to all His holy people throughout Greece." "I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and called to be His holy people." "I am writing to God's holy people in Ephesus who are faithful followers of Jesus Christ." "I am writing to all God's holy people in Philippi who belong to Jesus Christ..." "We are writing to God's holy people in the city of Colossae..." I am writing to the church in Thessalonica to you who belong to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Our ancient enemy does his worst to remind us of all our failings and weaknesses. He speaks facts and figures, truth about our brokenness and the effective work of the flesh to try and keep sin alive in us. The satanic lie is and has ever been, "What God provides is never enough...try this worldly fruit. It will satisfy." Any satisfaction from sin is always temporary and the need it promised to fill becomes only a deeper pit to fall in later. It gives birth to death.

We so easily forget (distractions being relentless in demonic subterfuge) that we have been forgiven, ARE FORGIVEN once and for all time. Romans 8:1 declares that there is NOW no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. "But our High Priest offered Himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time." 2 Corinthians 5:17 reads, "This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!" 

We forget that we were truly dead in our sin. God has given us New Life to replace our death. That New Life is, in truth, the Holy Spirit living the Life of Jesus Christ in us. The Lord Jesus is, in fact, Life within us. We have a new heart and a new spirit, a new spiritual DNA, so to speak. God has forgiven us by the sacrifice of His eternal Son, the Lord Jesus, and has confirmed that reality by raising Him from the dead!

Ephesians 1:4 "Even before He made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in His eyes." Romans 8:29 "For God knew His people in advance, and He destined them to conformed to the Image of His Son, so that His Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters."

"For by that one offering He forever made perfect those who are being made holy. " Jesus Christ has united to Himself, made ONE with Him those who have come to Him in faith, believing what He has done for them by His Incarnation, His Life, His sacrificial death, His Resurrection and His Ascension.

We have a new state of being in Christ Jesus. We ARE FORGIVEN. That is why, when the Holy Spirit convicts us of present sin, there is brokenness of heart and repentance, not terror and horror as if we had to do something impossible to make amends. We experience the forgiveness and cleansing that are part of the inheritance of the sons and daughters of God. We have access into the grace in which we NOW stand and rejoice in the hope of sharing in God's Glory. 

1 John 1:9 "But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse and keep on cleansing us from all our sins."  You receive forgiveness because you are already forgiven. Such grace leads us to want the Holy Spirit's anointing and power to follow Jesus closer and closer and to say no to the works of the flesh. In fact, to have the Holy Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh in us daily.

There is an old hymn whose lyrics contain, "He breaks the power of cancelled sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean; His blood availed for me."

Don't believe the satanic lie that because the good work the Lord Jesus began in us isn't finished yet, that we are trapped and defeated and hopeless. Remember, saints, the devil is a liar!