Perfected Forever Those Being Sanctified

And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified… (Hebrews 10:11-14)

“He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified…” What an amazing statement. This is saying that not only did Jesus complete our salvation of justification (we are saved), but also at the Cross, He completed our salvation of sanctification (we are being saved). Sanctification is the process of being made holy.

Also, this statement is saying that although we are currently in the process of “being sanctified,” we actually are already sanctified through His blood and the work is already finished in the sight of heaven.

Why does there seem to be such a contradiction between what we see in our lives and what this verse says about our sanctification being made complete? Why am I a new creation, but still have to put to death daily the deeds of the flesh? (II Cor. 5:17, Rom. 8:12-14, I Cor. 15:31)

This is where transformation comes into play. When we first accept Jesus into our hearts (justification), our spirit is made alive to Christ and we begin to walk in the newness of life (Rom. 6:3-11). Our spirit is 100% holy and pure, but our body, mind, will & emotions still need to be transformed. As we look at God, we begin to be transformed into His image (II Cor. 3:18).

Romans 12:1-3 outlines this process of transformation. It says first, “present your bodies as a living sacrifice…” This is the way new believers typically begin. They stop drinking, smoking, & sleeping around. Those things have to do with the body. They are presenting their bodies as living sacrifices.

Then it says, “Do not be conformed to the world…” This has to do with coming out of alignment with the way the world leads, which is self-serving and coming into alignment with the leadership of the Cross, which is seeming foolishness to the world (I Cor. 1-2).

Next, we are to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds” which is bringing our mind out of the wisdom of the world into the wisdom of God. To do this, we must constantly be bringing our minds into alignment with Scripture and asking the Holy Spirit to lead our minds.

Then, the result is that we will be able to “test and approve what God’s will is”—this is how we bring our will into alignment with the Holy Spirit. Once the will is in alignment under the mind, which is under the Spirit, then the emotions will follow. Emotions are terrible leaders, but great followers. Also in the ideal scenario, the body is brought under subjection by the mind and the will which are being led by the Spirit.

Many of us think that this process of sanctification is impossible, and we want to give up. However, saying that we cannot have victory over sin is to deny the power of the cross in our lives. Jesus already “perfected forever those who are being sanctified…” This means that we must call forth that eternal reality in our daily lives and live as though we can taste it today. We must set that perfection before us and realize that the blood of Jesus was not only enough to save us from hell, but also enough to save us from living in sin. It is His blood that gives us the grace (ability, power) to walk in holiness.