ESOCS Devotional 23 November 2025 – Turn to the Perfect Sacrifice
MEMORY VERSE: “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Hebrews 10:14
TEXT: HEBREWS 10:1-15
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.
11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
15 But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before,
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I want to draw your attention to something that most people ignore or fail to see. This is you, Christian. He’s talking about you. And he says that Christ “has perfected (you) for all time.” Don’t overlook the past tense. Something has happened to you through faith in Jesus that is foundational to your Christian identity and life. You “have been perfected!” It is accomplished, finished, and complete, and nothing can add to it or detract from it.
This doesn’t mean you will never again sin or make mistakes or forget where you left your car keys. It doesn’t mean you will never lose your temper when someone cuts you off on the highway or that you will never look upon someone with lust or envy those who have something you lack. Rather, the “perfection” that He has in view is the forgiveness of sins. You are “perfect” in the sense that God has forgiven all your sins and declared you righteous in His sight, and thus qualified you for acceptance in His presence. And that will never change.
So, I would just want you turn to that same source that has finished the work. I would like us to turn our eyes upon Jesus, especially in verse 14 of Hebrews 10. We need to remember what happened when Peter turned his eyes on the power and grace of Jesus in Luke 5:8: “When Simon Peter saw (the power of Jesus in the great catch of fish), he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” In other words, seeing Jesus clearly causes us to be deeply conscious of our sinfulness and our unworthiness.
This is a wonderful thing. Most of us are in a deadly dream world most of the time when it comes to how seriously we are in trouble with God because of our sin. We worry more about being stopped by a policeman for speeding than we do about the seriousness of sin. But sin is infinitely serious. And God’s anger at sinners is the biggest problem in everyone’s life, whether we know it or not. Several times in the book of Hebrews, we are warned about the anger of God against those who turn from Him in sin. For example, Hebrews 3:10-11, “I was angry with this generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; and they did not know my ways;’ as I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.'”
To be blind or oblivious to this wrath of God against sinners is incredibly dangerous, like not being able to smell the gas leak gathering around the pilot light of your water heater, ready to blow your basement to smithereens and burn your house to the ground. It is so dangerous not to be aware of the anger of God against those who turn from Him in sin. And the reason it is so dangerous is that, if you are blind to this reality of God’s wrath, you won’t take steps to find a remedy for sin and an escape from God’s anger. So, I say again, this is wonderful what happened to Peter when he fell at Jesus’ feet and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O, Lord.” This is not an experience to be avoided, but to be cherished. O that God would do it this morning, as we turn our eyes on Jesus! Because when it happens, the Lord gives relief.
CHALLENGES
- Do you have difficulty maintaining the purity Christ gave you on the Cross? If so, why?
PRAYER POINT
- Lord Jesus, abolish my days of ignorance and help me to remain the finished work of the cross.
FURTHER READING: Job 29:1-6 ; 30:13-31; Hebrews 10:16-39
ESOCS Devotional 23 November 2025
