Friday August 21 2015

Read Hebrews 10:10

 From the world’s perspective the word “saint” has many connotations, mostly negative. Saints are pictured as goody two shoes type people who espouse a ‘better than thou’ attitude to everyone around them. Saints are often pictured as super good people that none of us could emulate.

In some religions saints are adored, prayed to and venerated. To be a saint you need to have performed great feats and miracles and lived an extraordinary life.

And yet, when the Bible speaks about saints, it is simply referring to all believers. The word in the Greek of the New Testament, hagios or ἁγίοις, simply means holy ones. Saints are those people who have been made holy through the work of Jesus Christ at Calvary. It is everyone who has put their trust in Jesus’ Christ.

Biblically speaking you do not work your way up to being a saint. You do not and cannot earn sainthood. It is not the end product of some heavenly or earthly ‘To Do’ list.  Nor is it conferred upon you by some human organisation or some other person.

Hebrews 10:10 shows this very clearly. Jesus Christ came into the world with the express purpose of dying on the cross for the sins of the world. Everyone who believes in Him (see John 3:16) is made holy. As Hebrew 10:10 says, ‘we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.’

The verse says that we have been made holy. Technically it’s a perfect passive participle which, in layman’s’ terms means that we have been made holy by a single action in the past and the effects are ongoing. That holiness came through the sacrifice of Jesus body upon the cross. Notice that we have done nothing. We have not and cannot add to our holiness in God’s eyes.

Hebrews 10:10 ends with the phrase ‘once for all’. The Greek word here refers to time. The sacrifice of Jesus’ body was a one off event that cannot and will not be repeated. Unlike the priests in the Old Covenant who made offerings again and again, year after year, Jesus offered Himself once for all time. His sacrifice will not and cannot be repeated. It is this one sacrifice that makes all believers holy, that is “saints”.

But because you are intelligent I hear you asking, ‘But why then does the Bible call us to be holy again and again?’ Great question. This process of growing in holiness, often called sanctification by the theologians, is a process of growing and becoming what God has already declared us to be.

The bottom line is simple. If you believe in Jesus Christ then you are a saint. If you believe in Jesus Christ for your salvation then God has declared you to be perfectly holy because Christ Jesus has offered His body as the once for all sacrifice on your behalf.

Prayer:

Using today’s Bible passage and notes write down points for

Adoration:

Confession

Thanks

Supplication:

· Pray that the youth of your church would understand more clearly what it means to be holy in Christ and that they would be growing in holiness.

· Ask the Lord to equip our youth leaders and to grow them in holiness so that their teaching and their lives are a powerful witness to the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

 Discussion Questions For Families and Groups

1. What does it mean to be a saint?

2. What does it mean to be holy?

3. How can the Bible declare believers to be holy and then call them to be holy?

4. How would you sum up Hebrews 10:10?