Thursday after the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 27, 2022 by under
Scripture: Hebrews 10:1-10 (NKJV)
10:10 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. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.
6 “In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure.
7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—in the volume of the book it is written of Me—to do Your will, O God.’”
8 Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Devotion
“By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Here we have an explicit statement of our sanctification being wrought by Christ alone. There can be temptation to do so-called ‘fruit checking’ to make sure we are doing better in our sanctification. Even worse, there are some who measure their sanctification not by Christ’s Word, but by how much better they are doing than their brothers and sisters in Christ.
If our sanctification was according to the Law, then we maybe could have a tier system of who is and is not a better Christian. However, in spite of what our sinful flesh thinks, the Law is not sufficient for our sanctification! “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.” Instead of focusing on the shadow, we focus our sanctification on Christ Jesus to be conformed to Him.
Prayer: O Almighty and most Merciful God, of Thy bountiful goodness keep us, we beseech Thee, from all things that may hurt us; that we, being ready, both in body and soul, may cheerfully accomplish those things that Thou wouldest have done; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
