Once for all. That’s what 10:10 says, but it’s so hard for us independent Americans to believe. We want to think there’s something we can do to add to our salvation, something we can do to earn God’s favor, something that we can be proud of.

That was one of the problems with the Old Testament Law of Moses. Oh, it was intended to help people see the reality of 10:1. All those animal sacrifices were intended to help people understand that, because they had to be offered over and over again, they really didn’t do the trick. They really couldn’t save people from their sins.

But that didn’t stop many people from taking pride in the offerings they made or the ceremonies they observed. And in the same way, many people continue to take pride in the gifts they give to the Church or other charitable organizations, or in the works of service that they perform. But the very fact that these acts have to be repeated over and over prove that they have no real saving power.

No, only the blood of Christ has the power to save us from our sins. And only He could shed that blood. And as 10:9 reminds us, He alone chose to make that sacrifice, not according to our will, but according to the will of the Father. And because His sacrifice was offered once for all, there’s nothing we can possibly do that can add to it. As Jesus said just before He died, “It is finished.”

So instead of trying to earn God’s favor today, instead of trying to turn our salvation into yet another do-it-yourself project, let’s just trust Jesus to do it for us. And then let’s give Him all the worship and devotion and love that such a sacrifice deserves.

Hebrews 10:1-10 (NASB)

For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never by the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near.
2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins?
3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year by year.
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says, “Sacrifice and offering Thou hast not desired, But a body Thou hast prepared for Me;
6 In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast taken no pleasure.
7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come (In the roll of the book it is written of Me) To do Thy will, O God.'”
8 After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast not desired, nor hast Thou taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law),
9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Thy will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second.
10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.