Once for all. These are the three words I want you to remember while I tell you about God's never ending love for us. It happened through an unexpected sermon.
Early Sunday evening I was driving my grandparents home from our annual family reunion about an hour north of my hometown, when an amazing God-fearing friend, Johnny, invited me to attend evening service at his home church in town. A guest pastor was speaking and though Johnny didn't know the topic he confidently stated, "It is going to good!". I was surprised that he even knew I was in the area let alone had me in mind to go to church with him. Coincidentally, my cousin Danny (Johnny's best friend) called him after he left the reunion.
I was already 20 minutes south of his area preparing to unload my grandpa's van of chairs and coolers and get them settled when Johnny told me service started in 20 minutes. I told him there was no way I was superwoman enough to make it on time, at the earliest I'd be 30 minutes late. He said "Great! I'll see you then," without even considering I'd have another option.
Exactly as I predicted I was 30 minutes late, however between worship and prayer time I had only missed a few minutes of the sermon. When I walked into the room filled with complete strangers (besides Johnny) I automatically felt like God was there waiting to change hearts.
The sermon was amazing. The guest pastor spoke of Christ's sacrifice for us. He spoke of having faith in the blood of Jesus, of living in the blood of Jesus and not giving the devil a single victory. He emphasized that we are covered in the blood of Christ once for all.
Hebrews 10:10 (NIV) says: And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:14 (NIV) continues: because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
The pastor reiterated that Jesus's blood doesn't just cover part of our sins or all of our sins for a only set amount of time. He passionately explained that Jesus's sacrifice cannot be undone, it cannot be washed off, it doesn't need repeating and it doesn't have an expiration. When we are covered in the blood of Jesus we are God's forever. Even if we stray from the path of righteousness we are still covered in the blood.
He explained that the devil is the only one who wants you to believe otherwise. The devil is the only one who brings up past sins as a current problem. The devil is the only one that tells you you are unworthy of God's love or tells you you cannot share in God's blessings because of past sins. Jesus already died on the cross for your sins.
The moment you accept Jesus as your savior, God will heal your wounds, God will remove your sins, God will forgive you, God with cover you with grace, God will bless you, God will love you and God will change your heart.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV)
For those of you already made holy through the blood of Jesus, don't ever forget that you have already been set free, you have already been healed and you have already won victory over your sins. When you live in the blood of Jesus you will be blessed. When you have faith in the blood of Jesus God can do anything through you.
Because Jesus Christ sacrificed himself once for all.
