June 17, 2025 | Be God's Family
Christ 's Sacrifice Made Us Holy
Scripture: Hebrews 10:5-10(NIV)
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’”
8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Devotional
“Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Lev. 19:2). Such words can seem overwhelming to us who claim Jesus as our Savior. One writer defines being “holy” as someone or something who is “set apart for the use intended by its designer…. In the Biblical realm, things are sanctified or holy when they are used for the purpose God intends” (Bible Study.com). A person is holy, therefore, when he or she lives according to God's design and purpose.
However, the fact is that we are all sinners. Despite our best intentions, we are all going to sin and do things that we wish we had not done. In the old ceremonial law of Moses, the Jews had to offer yearly sacrifices to cleanse their sins. But when Jesus died on the cross for you and me, His blood was the perfect atonement required to cleanse us from our sins. The Jewish sin offerings were just a foreshadowing of Christ’s sacrifice. “Then said He, ‘I come …to do thy will, O God.’ He taketh away the first that He may establish the second” (Heb. 10:9).
Through His blood sacrifice, “ye are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (v. 10). Only one sacrifice was required. Jesus Christ brought His sacrifice once. He put away our sins once. And now those of us who believed in Him have all the benefits of His perfect work. We are to be holy people (C.H. Spurgeon from Expositions on his Sermons). God reminds us, "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth” (Deut. 7:6).
Living a holy life means being shaped by God's character. It looks like the life that Jesus lived. Jesus said that anyone who has seen Him has seen the Father (John 14:9), and we can know what God is like when we look to Jesus. It may seem overwhelming, but God has given us Jesus as the perfect example of how to live a holy life. We just need to yield completely to Him.
English hymnwriter Frances Havergal penned these words about living a holy life:
Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my heart; it is Thine own…
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee….
How can we consecrate our lives to Christ every day? Are we able to show God’s holiness through our daily actions and words?
Poem
I'm Here - To Do Your Will
Psalm 40
Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”
Psalm 40:7-8
The posture of a Glor’ous King full seated on the throne
Is one of strength and power; authority His crown
A scepter stretched to welcome allows the lowest in
A fierce command, a ruling, make mighty shrink within
A good King’s hands bring blessing, abundance in the land
An angry King, a cursing, great violence to expand
The servants’ postures, ready, to bid to King’s wills voice
The servants, empty of all pow’r, yield to the King’s plans choice
To do a menial task of care or summon to great conflict
To sacrifice their own life’s blood, or in long patience sit
Despite the summons—small or great—the Servant must fulfill
For love of King, a bowed reply, “I’m here—to do Your will.”
And so, the Prince of Glory, great, for love of King and Father
Submits to Great King’s plan of course, “Redeem sisters, brothers!”
He bows, assenting to the plan, and stripping off His glory
Takes on the flesh clothes of the weak, to save salvation’s story
At every turn He harkens to the voice of Father’s Spirit
Each word and action, solely lived, His people to inherit
He walks the path of righteousness straight, though the road be crooked
He heals the sick, dines amid sin and challenges the wicked
Each step He takes true to the plan of His Almighty Love
While living ‘midst the anguished cries, His ear to God above
Until the crux, the suffering, harsh, brutal, faithful still
“O, King, O, Father, O, My Love, I’m here—to do Your will.”
The posture of the risen Prince, now seated on the throne
Is one of honor, glory, pow’r, and wisdom fully known
Because He sits at God’s right hand to judge all who’ve shared life
He knows each hair, each thought, each deed; He knows each hidden strife
His scepter stretches ‘cross the world; to offer life abundant
It is His choice—tasks great or small—to usher in triumphant
Not only Kingdom’s greatest goals, but each soul which He saved—
This is His great inheritance through conqu’ring death and grave
So we, now baptized in His death, rise up, a mighty throng
The servants of this blessed Prince, in battles to stand strong
With law written upon our hearts, we echo Great Love ‘til
We lay our crowns down at His feet—"I’m here—to do Your will!”
