Once for all. That’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 that will complete the process and perhaps earn God’s favor for us, 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 verse 1. All those animal sacrifices, because they had to be offered over and over again, were intended to help people understand that 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 indicate 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 verse 9 says, only He made the choice to make that sacrifice, and He made it 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. Now that we have been forgiven, no other offering ever needs to be made (v. 18)

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 that such a sacrifice deserves, obeying God from hearts full of thanksgiving and love (v. 16).

Hebrews 10:1-18 (ESV)

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.
2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year.
4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me;
6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.
7 Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'”
8 When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law),
9 then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second.
10 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
11 And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet.
14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
15 And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying,
16 “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,”
17 then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
18 Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.