Hebrews 10:10

By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Every week golf commentators toss out the question “who would you want to putt if you had a putt from ten feet if your life depended upon it.” Tiger and Jack are usually the responses as they both had a track record of making pressure putts on a big stage. Basketball commentators ask the same hypothetical question for a free throw. There is no right or wrong answer because such a scenario will never come to fruition.

We will never be posed with such a question in reality. It is fun speculate and consider the pros and cons of each favorite. More than likely, however, everyone who is reading this devotion has been posed with a more dire and serious question. If your life depended on it, who do you choose as Savior? Many, actually most, have lived a life placing their stock in other gods, deities, and earthly possessions. They may not have actually verbally chose this direction, but they lived a life in that fashion.

We seldom make decisions with the pretext “if our life depended upon it.” However, our salvation and redemption from our sinful state is such a crucial decision that must be made. Jesus was and still is the only sufficient sacrifice for the remission of sin. Jesus lived a sinless life without stain or blemish and freely offered his life on a cross. His death on the cross culminated with a victory over death by His resurrection on the third day. All other sacrifices have been and will continue to be insufficient because of fault and stain. If no blemish, they still succumbed to the sting of a physical death and thus failed in that crucial aspect. Under the law, the people and priests had to submit regular sacrifices in the temples. However, each had an expiration date on its “saving.”

Hebrews 10:10 tells us of our enduring salvation by and through Jesus Christ. First, “we are sanctified.” Second, “by Jesus Christ.” Thirdly and most importantly, we are promised that this salvation is enduring “once for all.” Once and for all, He did it all. He was the perfect submission to the will of the Lord. He exhibited perfect obedience in all the required precepts. He also fulfilled the will of the Lord in His suffering, pain and death. Jesus checked all of the boxes for everyone who will accept Him as Savior.

How does the believer know it is through Christ that we received salvation and the promise of eternal life? Is it because some preacher told us we checked all of the right boxes? Is it because our name is written in ink on a Baptist church roll? Man has sought redemption through these faulty means for ages. A man was walking with his preacher one day and saw another man stumbling out of the local drinking established. The man told the preacher, “that’s Sam Smith and he says you saved him last summer.” The preacher rightly quipped, “he looks like someone I saved.” Man and church rolls do not have saving power. So then how do we know? The Holy Spirit gives us all the knowledge and assurance that we have been redeemed. He is present within us and has been from the time we accepted Jesus as Christ and Savior.

Most easily accept Jesus as the man, but it is the Christ part which gives them caution. Without the Holy Spirit and His conviction, man will cling to his own devices and strength. We feel we need to be the one who sinks the “do or die” putt or free throw. We want control of our own destiny. We may make the putt today, but what about tomorrow? How about when our eyes begin to fail us and hands begin to become unsteady? The odds of making the putt decrease gradually each day as our bodies wither. Through Christ, however, we are a “favored people.” Spurgeon labeled the saved as being “favored beyond cherubim and seraphim in accomplishing a service for the manifestation of the riches of the grace of God which unfallen spirits never could accomplish.” We rejoice because of this choice – His choice! He did it all and checked all of the boxes. Your life depends on it, who do you chose?