S24 || Perfected for All Time || Hebrews 10:14-25 || Session 24

What if perfection isn’t about flawlessness, but about being made complete? We continue in Hebrews chapter 10 and discover a new covenant that doesn’t ask for more sacrifices or harder striving. It declares, with surprising clarity, that by one offering Jesus has perfected believers for all time—and that God chooses not to remember sins. That single truth reframes the Christian life from a performance to a position, freeing us to approach God with real confidence.

We walk through the text’s turning point: the law moves from stone to heart, and access to God moves from a guarded room to a torn veil. The old way highlighted our weakness; the new way empowers inner transformation by the Holy Spirit. Faith comes first, then baptism follows as a sign of what Christ has done within. Along the way, we tackle a common struggle—wavering faith in the face of grief, unmet expectations, and spiritual drift—and show how hope rests not on our grip but on the faithfulness of the One who promised.

Community becomes essential, not optional. Hebrews calls us to assemble, encourage, and stir one another to love and good works. Isolation magnifies confusion; the local church anchors us in truth, correction, and care. We end with a practical triad you can carry into the week: draw near in faith, hold fast to hope, and stir up love. If you’re longing for a clean conscience, deeper assurance, and a reason to re-engage with church life, this conversation points the way back to the finished work of Christ.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs encouragement, and leave a review so more people can find these studies. What truth from Hebrews 10 will you put into practice today?

Chapters

• 0:00 Perfected By One Offering
• 2:00 New Covenant And Sins Remembered No More
• 6:30 Law On Hearts, Gentiles Grafted In
• 10:30 Confidence To Enter Through Christ’s Blood
• 14:00 Clean Conscience, Faith Before Baptism
• 18:00 Hold Fast To Hope Without Wavering
• 22:00 Do Not Forsake Assembling Together
• 27:00 Faith, Hope, Love And Unity
• 32:00 Tease For Next Topic: Willful Sin

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

And it says there, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. That is God speaking about them whenever the new covenant is established. Well, he doesn't say there that he's going to forget their sins. He doesn't say that he's going to overlook their sins. He says he's not going to remember the sins anymore. That is a willful act to not remember something.

SPEAKER_01: 0:34

Many athletes will work for many years doing very hard work to perfect their craft and their athleticism. Artists will do the same thing. And even professionals like surgeons and doctors will work for many years to try to be absolutely perfect in everything they do. Well, they never can be absolutely perfect because all of us are flawed humans. Well, today in the Bible, we're going to learn that God can make us perfect in a certain area. And we'll learn that today on reasoning through the Bible. Hi, my name's Glenn. I'm here with Steve. We go verse by verse through the Word of God. So if you have your Bible open to the book of Hebrews, chapter 10. And if you were with us last time, we learned that Jesus is the one who sat down at the right hand of God simply because he had finished his work. And in Hebrews 10, 14, it says this for by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. So there's that word, perfected. And because of Jesus' final offering, he it says, perfected for all time those who are sanctified. We've been sprinkled with the blood of Christ and are now considered purified and clean before a holy God. So Steve, in that verse that we just read, verse 14, how long does it say our perfection lasts?

SPEAKER_00: 2:11

It says it lasts for all time. So that's the synonym for everlasting.

SPEAKER_01: 2:17

How can it determine us to be perfect when if we are just honest with ourselves, we are flawed human beings?

SPEAKER_00: 2:26

Well, that word perfect in Greek means really complete. It doesn't mean that we don't have flaws or something like that. It means are we complete or not? So for by one offering he has made us complete might be another way to say it. For all time, everlasting, for those who are sanctified, those who are set apart or are being set apart. So when you look at it that way, we're completeness that we have, or our perfection, using that term, is not us doing anything. It's all being done by Jesus Himself.

SPEAKER_01: 3:05

And that's really the key is that Jesus does the perfecting. We in ourselves cannot perfect ourselves like the athlete or a surgeon or an artist. We can work at our craft, but we're always going to have some imperfections. But here in Christ, he can declare us perfect, he can make us perfect. And notice that verse He has perfected its past tense. It's an already done deal. He perfected us. And so when God looks at those that are in Christ, he sees perfect people simply because we have Christ's perfect righteousness credited to our account. It tells us other places in the New Testament. So once we are in Christ, all Christians are already perfected for all time. And this is a great, great teaching. And it's not because of our righteousness, but because of Jesus' sacrifice. And it's only man's religion that keeps trying to sneak in works for us to make ourselves perfect when we never really can. Instead, if we just trust Christ and are in Christ, then he has perfected us and the perfection lasts for all time. That is a tremendous teaching that is difficult for a lot of people to believe, but it's right here in the Word of God. And if we look at the previous verse, verse 13, who will be the ultimate victor in the struggle over good and evil?

SPEAKER_00: 4:38

Well, it will be Jesus because it depicts there of his enemies being underneath his footstool. So it's Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_01: 4:48

Such a tremendous thing. And we are in a period of sanctification, then, which is to be set apart for his purpose. Such tremendous teaching. The next verses will again quote Jeremiah 31. So, Steve, can you start at verse 15 and read down to verse 18?

SPEAKER_00: 5:16

And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us. For after saying, This is the covenant that I will make with them, after those days, says the Lord, I will put my laws upon their heart, and on their mind I will write them. He then says, And their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. Now, where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

SPEAKER_01: 5:44

He is again quoting Jeremiah 31, talking about the new covenant. It was quoted in previous chapter of the book. So this verse again makes it very clear that the new covenant is fulfilled when Jesus made his sacrificial death. The context here in chapter 10 is that people are unable to be righteous following the law. So Jesus sanctified all those who are to receive him. The contrast here is tremendous between the old and new covenants. It's very dramatic. We are no longer under the rules and regulation of the old covenant. We are now under the law of Christ in the new covenant. The old covenant gave hundreds of rules and commands, and yet they were not enough. They were not enough because we are weak. The new covenant merely tells us to love God and love our neighbor, and it is sufficient with God's grace. That's the tremendous part of being in the new covenant. When we are in Christ, the Holy Spirit enters us and helps us. God then writes his laws on our hearts, is what it says in the passage we just read. Christians are not controlled by rules from the outside, but by an inner drive, an inner motivation that is prompted by the Holy Spirit. God wrote his laws on our hearts. And it says at the end of verse 16, God writes his laws in our minds as well. So, Steve, this is a great passage. What did you get out of this?

SPEAKER_00: 7:24

Whenever I see the new covenant from Jeremiah quoted, I always get out of it that yes, the covenant is with the nation of Israel, but us as Gentiles, we are benefactors of it. We went through that whenever we went through this, these same verses earlier in the text. I'm just feel so lucky, um, if I can use that term, to have a God that decided he was going to work through a certain nation to give them his ordinances and statutes, to show other nations who he was and how he worked with people, and that he came in the form of a man, lived a sinless life, died, and was buried and resurrected so that he could be the satisfactory sacrifice. And in that process, he initiated this new covenant, yet we are able to be able to be partakers of it. We have uh the law of Christ written on our hearts now, and we have the ability to be able to be uh believers in him and have eternal life. So that's really what I think of as we go through here. He's making a very good case to those people that are Jewish, but it's just wonderful that us as Gentiles are able to make application to it in our lives today.

SPEAKER_01: 8:52

And we made that point. We emphasized it when we ran into this Jeremiah 31 quote earlier in the book. But just to emphasize it here, this passage here in Hebrews 10 makes it completely clear that the new covenant is in Christ. So, therefore, if we then compare Jeremiah 31, it makes it also very clear in context of the rest of the chapter that the new covenant is with Israel, ethnic Israel, and it talks about geographic features in Jerusalem that cannot be extricated from the new covenant. Therefore, we come with a new covenant with the nation Israel, of which the Gentiles are then grafted into. And it has multiple layers to the fulfillment. Therefore, when we are in Christ, the Holy Spirit does all these things, put my laws upon their heart, it says in verse 16, and on their mind I will write them. But that doesn't negate the promises that God made with the nation of Israel. So tremendous. It's also very clear that it is only in Christ. Therefore, any Jewish fulfillment would have to be with Jewish people that are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one way to salvation, and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. It does not mean that God is limited to salvation and what he can do. He can also have personal redemption and national redemption as well. If we look down at verse 18, it once again repeats that the animal sacrifices are over because of Jesus. Therefore, we are in the new covenant today and not the old.

SPEAKER_00: 10:35

And one last thing before we move on, Glenn, there in verse 17, and it says there, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more. That is God speaking about them whenever the new covenant is established. Well, he doesn't say there that he's going to forget their sins. He doesn't say that he's going to overlook their sins. He says he's not going to remember the sins anymore. That is a willful act to not remember something. If you happen to forget something, that's something that you do unconsciously. But if you choose not to remember something, that is something that is done on purpose. So I think that that is another great thing and shows the merciful God that we serve in that in this new covenant of being in Christ, belief in Jesus as the Messiah, as God, and forgiveness of our sins, belief and trust in Him, that we then have our sins that aren't remembered anymore. I just think that's just a tremendous thing.

SPEAKER_01: 11:43

Up to this point in the book of Hebrews, it's been mainly doctrinal and theological about the person of Jesus Christ. Starting in Hebrews 10, 19, it's going to increasingly talk about how we should then live. So I'm reading now in Hebrews 10.19. Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, his flesh. And since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful, and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. So in verse 19, on what basis does it say that we can enter the holy place of God?

SPEAKER_00: 12:59

We can enter based off of the blood of Jesus, and we can enter with confidence as well.

SPEAKER_01: 13:05

It is through the blood of Christ that we can enter the holy place. Remember, in the Old Testament sacrificial ceremony, the high priest had to bring blood with him before he could go behind the veil in the Holy of Holies. And so we can now enter because the veil was torn when Christ died. But it is through Christ's blood that we can enter.

SPEAKER_00: 13:30

You know, this word confidence, Glenn, what brings to my mind are a couple of things, is that even though the priest was there on that day, he had to have a blood sacrifice to enter into the Holy of Holies. But you also get the sense that he he wasn't confident. In other words, if if something wasn't done correctly, if it wasn't done properly, then he was at risk of being struck dead. We have the examples of whenever the ark was being uh taken across and it started to falter a little bit. There were a couple of people that reached out to touch the ark, and when they reached out and touched it, they were struck dead. You have uh the priests, uh Aaron's sons, who put on the altar of incense strange fire, and they were struck dead because of that. So you know that you have running through these priests' mind those type of things. If there's something that I haven't actually done correctly, then I'm at risk of being struck down. So here it says that we can go in with confidence, that we don't have to go in timidly, that the blood of Jesus Christ makes it that everything is done, everything has been done right and correctly. Therefore, we can go in with confidence. We don't have to go in timidly, we don't have to go in thinking that maybe there's something else left to do. No, the blood of Jesus Christ has made everything complete and right, and we can have confidence to enter in and uh give our petitions to God.

SPEAKER_01: 15:09

Again, verse 20 says, by a new and living way, which he inaugurated for us through the veil that is his flesh. Well, the veil there speaks back to again in the tabernacle and temple ceremony, there was a veil in between the holy place and the holy of holies. That when Jesus died on the cross, that veil was torn from top to bottom, making a way. So when Jesus' body was torn, the actual veil in the temple was torn. So we enter by this new and living way. The old way, under the Mosaic law, was a way of death. Not because there was anything wrong with the law, but because all we could do is fail by trying to keep it. So again, when Jesus died, he made a way, a new and living way into the presence of God. And we can enter that with confidence. Such a tremendous teaching. When his flesh was pierced, so was the actual veil. It says, though, therefore, we can draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. We don't have to cower outside of where God is. We can go in anytime, any place, to the throne room of God, and he will accept us. In verse 22, question with all of the sin we have committed in our lives, is it possible to have a clean conscience? Really, in our day, can you and me, Steve, and our listeners have a truly clean conscience?

SPEAKER_00: 16:46

Well, according to that verse, we can, because it says there that with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, it says our hearts are sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. So the sprinkling goes back to whenever the high priest would go into the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the blood from the offering on the mercy seat, he would do it with a hyssop, a branch from a tree or shrub. And Moses also, as he sprinkled the people, as they provided their promise to follow God's ordinance and statutes back when the Mosaic covenant was instituted. So, yes, it says right here that we can have a clean conscience.

SPEAKER_01: 17:35

Only in Christianity can we have a truly clean conscience. All other religions will give you a path, it'll give you instructions to do, it'll give you things to do or to things to distract you from your dirty conscience. But only in Christianity can all the sins of the past be washed away, and we approach God with confidence, with a truly clean conscience. How tremendous it is to be able to wake up in the morning and not feel guilty, to be able to go to bed at night and not feel guilty. Too many people uh live under a sentence of a convicted conscience when all they have to do is fall at the feet of Christ and he'll wash all that away, my friend. Today is the day of salvation. Notice the progression in verse 22 when it talks about this. Let us draw near in faith. And when we do that, our conscience is cleansed, and then our bodies are washed with water baptism. So, therefore, the faith that we have results in both our clean heart and water baptism. It is not the other way around, that it is not the case that we approach God through water baptism that results in a cleansed heart and a gift of faith. It gives us exactly the other way around. We start with faith and the others follow. Then in verse 23, it starts talking about practical wisdom for how to live. Why does it tell us to hold fast the confession of our faith?

SPEAKER_00: 19:14

Well, because uh he's gonna get into hope here a little bit. And when we get into chapter 11, he kind of starts that out talking about uh hope in regards to faith. So here he's saying hold fast to the confession of our hope. Okay, hope that Jesus Christ is going to return again, and the hope of all the promises that he has made and we put our trust into. And this word hope is not something like a wishful type of hope. Oh, I'm I'm hoping that it's going to come true. No, it's a hope with expectation that it is going to happen. It'd be like if you're expecting a loved one that is returning from a trip somewhere, you know that they are coming in. And returning to the house that day. And you might express, well, I hope they're here before we eat dinner. It's not a hope of a wishful thinking that they're going to be there. You know that they're going to be there. You have the confidence that they're going to be there. You're just saying that they a particular time frame as far as when they're going to arrive. I think it's the same thing you're here with this. That hope is the expectation of all the promises that we have been given are going to happen. It's with expectation. Therefore, without wavering, don't waffle and go back and forth and say, Well, I, you know, I'm not sure it's going to happen. And then another time say, Yes, I'm confident it's going to happen. Doing that type of wavering and faltering is not good overall. Okay. And he gives the reason why at the very last, because he says, He who promised is faithful. So our hope that we have can be a confident hope because it's not based on anything that we're doing. It's based on God, the one who has given those promises, being faithful. That's why we can have a confident, expectant hope.

SPEAKER_01: 21:15

Again, verse 23, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Why should we hold fast to our Christian confession? It's because he is faithful. We can have confidence that the Lord is faithful. We don't have a lot of confidence in ourselves, but we can have confidence in him. We should always have confidence in him and not the power of ourselves. So hold fast to your confession, my Christian friend. It also tells us there to hold fast to our confession without wavering. Now that triggered a thought, Steve, have you ever experienced either yourself or with someone you knew, somebody who had a wavering faith, somebody who may be strong one day and then it got weak? Or what happens to people with their Christian walk when their faith wavers?

SPEAKER_00: 22:17

In my experience, many times the point of a wavering faith comes whenever there's some sort of a tragedy that happens in someone's life. And I know from my experiences of losing my wife, in that it is a point where you can have your faith waver, not to the point that you completely walk away from it, but you have questions of why. That's mainly the thing that comes about is a question of why this is this going on. And it does go and and and put you to a point where you really have to depend on your faith and depend on the promises of God. So that's the type of wavering I think of that usually comes about some sort of a tragedy that comes about in families or with people, whether it be with sudden accidents or whether it be with uh illness that takes a long time. Generally, that is uh something that that brings about maybe a little bit of wavering of faith.

SPEAKER_01: 23:34

When I think of wavering faith, I think of two things. The first thing I think of is is uh unmet expectations. We we think, oh, well, God should be doing such and so, and I don't see that in my life or around me. And what I'm really doing is projecting my expectations on God, and then he's disappointing me because I put my expectations in there instead of me submitting to his. The other thing I think of with wavering faith is people that just don't spend diligent regular time in the word of God. If we're gonna see as we go on here that faith comes by hearing the word of God. And if we stay in the word of God, then our faith will stay strong simply because the word of God is so wonderful. It's when we get off of the word of God and think about ourselves or think about the world, that's when the wavering faith happens. But he tells us to hold fast to our Christian confession because he is faithful and we can have confidence in him. And if we look at that same thing, it it verse 25 commands Christians to do what? What does it say in verse 25?

SPEAKER_00: 24:46

It says that we are to assemble together and we are to encourage one another. That is what we're supposed to do.

SPEAKER_01: 24:54

It says there specifically to do that, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. So to me, this is very clearly saying that all Christians should be a member, a regular attender of a local church, a regular attender of a local church, because we should, again, not forsake the assembling together, but we have a purpose there. What tends to happen, Steve, when Christians don't join a local church and don't become a faithful member if they say, well, I can be a Christian at home, or I can do my own studies, or I've had a lot of, you know, there's so much drama at the church, then I don't want to get sucked into that. I just want to between me and God at home, and they don't really plug into a local church. I've known some people like that. What happens to people that don't follow Hebrews 10, 25, and they do forsake the assembling together of a local body?

SPEAKER_00: 25:56

Well, the main thing is they get isolated. And what do they get isolated from the other Christians? What goes along with that? Fellowship with them, talking with them about things that are happening in your life. Another Christian is going to understand some of the things that you are going through because they most likely have gone through them theirself. So therefore, they can, as it says here, encourage you and encourage another's. And also you can encourage the other believers. If you're off on your own, you can't do that with other believers. Another thing, if you get isolated on your on your own, yes, you can study God's word on your own. But if you don't occasionally have the word being taught to you from a teacher of a small group or a preacher from a pulpit, then possibly you can drift off into some strange doctrine, studying the word of God on your own. Even though we are teachers, Glenn, I quite often bounce off of fellow teachers and fellow Christians that I have a relationship with, things that I'm studying in the Bible, and I get feedback from them. And they help me through that feedback to stay true to the word of God. And then if I happen to get off, they'll give me their perspective as to, well, we don't quite see it that way. Here is how we see it. So being with fellow Christians helps you to be able to stay true to the word of God. Whereas if you're isolated and by yourself, then you might get to the point that you come up with some very strange doctrines. And who do you have there to convince you that it's not the correct doctrine? Nobody. And so you convince yourself that it is the correct doctrine. And sometimes if you're by yourself for quite a while, then whenever you do encounter other Christians and they might try to correct you on the doctrine that you have, you're already well ingrained in that doctrine. And there's really very little things that can be said to convince you that the maybe the doctrine that you've come up with is an incorrect doctrine. So not assembling together with other Christians on a regular basis can bring about unintended consequences that for believers, still believers, still have salvation, but uh getting together with fellow Christians helps so much in so many ways to help us with our faith as we go through this worldly life.

SPEAKER_01: 28:34

All that's very true and very important for what is needed by the Christian in the local church. I would also add to that what's said in verse 25. It says we should be with other Christians so we can encourage one another, is what it says. Our job as Christians is to belong to a local body so we can serve them. We can encourage them. My friend, your skills are needed in a local church. Every church I've ever seen is there's there's never enough people to get everything done. And so what we need is Christians serving. If you're not serving, then you're not really following the commandments of God. We should all be able to serve and love one another. How do you love one another? By doing things for them. The scripture always emphasizes what the Christian will give and do for others. It is not talking about what the Christian can get from others. And usually the reason why people say they don't go to a church is because of something in themselves. Well, it doesn't suit me. Uh, I don't enjoy it, etc. Well, my friend, you may be needed to make that church better. The biblical way is for us to love our neighbors. We should not focus on what we get from others, but what we should help others to be able to do. I find this to be a tremendous teaching. In this chapter, Hebrews 10, verses 22, 23, and 24 have three commands that the Christian should focus on as far as attributes. Verse 22, let us draw near in faith. 23, let us hold fast our hope, and then let us stimulate one another to love. So there's a lot of lettuce in here, and the lettuce is to draw near in faith, hold fast our hope, and stimulate one another to love. And Steve, I'm reminded of 1 Corinthians 13, 13, where Paul says to abide in faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love. And this passage right here is one of the reasons why that some people feel the Apostle Paul wrote this, is because there's these parallels, faith, hope, and love.

SPEAKER_00: 30:54

One last thing that also comes to my mind, Glenn, in verse 25, forsaking our own assembly together, as is the habit of some. I think back to Peter, whereas he was out meeting with the Gentile believers, because the Gentiles were able to be believers now, and that all food was considered to be clean, there weren't unclean foods. So this was a little bit of a paradigm shift. Peter was out meeting with the Gentiles along with Paul, because Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. Yet there was an instance where some Judaizers came in to the same place where they were assembling together. And when the Judaizers came in, Peter went and separated himself from the Gentile believers, and Paul rebuked him. This is something that Paul records in one of his epistles, and he rebukes him for that. So I think that's another thing here is that he's saying, as is the habit of some, think back to the context. The writer is giving this epistle to fellow believers in Jesus, Hebrew believers, and they're wanting to get pulled back into the lifestyle of Judaism. And part of that lifestyle would be you can no longer meet with Gentiles because Gentiles are unclean and other things and aspects of it. So he's telling them don't let Judaizers, don't let this old way of thinking keep you from assembling with others. Could continue to assemble with your fellow believers, mainly Jewish believers in this case. But if you have Gentile believers as well, you're to assemble with them also.

SPEAKER_01: 32:47

We probably should stop here for today because of time, but there's a tremendous question coming up next in the next verses. Talks about what about a Christian that goes on sinning willfully? What happens to that person and is there forgiveness for them? So we'll be continuing to reason through the book of Hebrews next time.

SPEAKER_00: 33:10

Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.