Paul wrote, "For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment ----". (Heb. 10:26-31)

  It seems to me that the Bible provides several illustrations to prove that one can "willfully sin" BEYOND REPENTANCE. By that I mean one can continue in sin to a point where they will not be given godly sorrow to repent, and/or not be given "timely forgiveness" and not be restored to God's timely blessings in this life. This seems to be the principle taught by the "sin unto death" that is spoken of by John in I John 5:16.  I offer the following as proof.

 The Children of Israel rebelled against God almost as soon as they were delivered out of bondage. Right after the Egyptians were drown in Exodus 15 - we find them murmuring against Moses and Aaron in Exodus 16 saying "Would to God we had died in the land of Egypt". We find them murmuring again in Ex. 17 and "tempting the Lord" with their words, "Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of the land of Egypt, to kill us and our children -- with thirst". While Moses was up on Mt. Sinai receiving God's Law - Aaron was making a golden calf and said to the people "These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt". God's wrath fell upon three thousand, but Moses interceded in behalf of the people and the nation as a whole was spared. (Ex. 32 & 33)

  Then we find them at the entrance of Canaan and Moses sent out the spies to spy out the land for forty days. They brought back proof that the land "floweth with milk and honey" -- But some brought up an evil report saying "We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we".  They considered themselves "as grasshoppers – in their sight". They had forgotten The I AM God that delivered them from Pharaoh and the bondage of Egypt.

  The Bible says in Numbers 14:1-5, "And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the LORD brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel."

  They had just tempted the Lord for the Tenth time. IMO, they sinned wilfully after having received the knowledge of the Truth. They had just gone beyond Repentance. They had just sinned the "sin unto death". And Scripture proves this to be TRUE.

  We read in Numbers 14:11-2  "And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they."

  "And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that  thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation . "

  Moses asked the Lord to PARDON the people and not "slay them as one man" - not to kill the whole people as One at One time, which plea the Lord granted - But inflicts a TIMELY judgment on ALL over 20 Years Old that allows NO Repentance - NO Restoration. A Pardon removes the "immediate sentence" but does not remove the GUILT. In this case the immediate sentence was "spread over a forty year period".

  "And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word: But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD. Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land wherein to he went; and his seed shall possess it.

  "And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die."

  The Rebellious tried to REPENT - But it did not Prosper: "And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper. Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.

  "For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment ----". (Heb. 10:26-31)

  This statement has nothing to do with one’s eternal destiny or salvation. It says in Hebrews 10:12, 13 “But this man (Jesus Christ) after He had offered ONE sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; ---- For by ONE offering He hath perfected for ever THEM that are sanctified” Them that are sanctified, are those whom foreknew, those whom God chose in Christ before the world began, those whom God predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son, those whom God called, and whom God justified, and whom God glorified. They are them who are called the Elect (Rom 8:28-33). Therefore nothing can be laid against their charge eternally, it is God that justifieth them.  BUT this text has everything to do with one’s timely salvation and his standing before God in timely judgment should he sin beyond repentance. John puts it this way. “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death”  (I John 5:16-17).

  We have shown how that many of the children of Israel had murmured against God some ten times from the day the left Egypt until they reached the border of Canaan at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. After the spies returned from spying out the land and gave an evil report, the people said, “Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or Would God we had died in this wilderness”. The Lord God was going to kill the whole nation of people as one man, but Moses interceded and God pardoned the whole nation according to Moses’ request. BUT the Lord pronounced judgment upon those that had murmured those ten times and gave them what they had asked for – death in the wilderness. When Moses told them they would die in the wilderness “they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised; for we have sinned” (Numbers 14). But it was too late! The last willful sin went beyond repentance and judgment was pronounced and there was nothing they could do escape the punishment of death. Everyone from twenty years old and upward who had murmured against God wandered in the wilderness for forty years and they all died in the wilderness. God said, “As ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do unto you”.

  The House of Eli with his two sons is another example of where "there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins". We read in 1 Samuel 3:11-14,  "And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever."

  “Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD”. “Now the sons of Eli were sons of Belial; they knew not the LORD”. When men came to worship and sacrifice before the Lord, the two sons of Eli the priest, Hophni and Phinehas were there. They not only polluted the sacrifices offered to the Lord, but they lay with women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. “Wherefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD: for men abhorred the offering of the LORD” (I Sam. 2:17).  AND Eli was not an innocent by-stander. The Bible says, “Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel; and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he said unto them, Why do ye such things? for I hear of your evil dealings by all this people. Nay, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear: ye make the LORD’S people to transgress”. Eli KNEW about the sins of his sons, but as the Lord said, “he restrained them not.” It is not enough just to know about corruption, God requires action on our part to stop it.  The Fence Stradlers of today are like the Eli’s of old.

  As Eli “sat” by the temple and allowed his sons to sin by polluting the sacrifices, and committing fornication in front of the tabernacle – the Philistines smote the armies of Israel and took captive the Ark of the Covenant. It seems to me the Ark of the Covenant was under the watchcare of Eli the priest, just as the Doctrines and Practices of the Lord’s church are under the watchcare of the Elders and Pastors. The Elders are to “take heed unto themselves and to ALL the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made them overseers”.  But some are sitting on a seat, leaning against a post, in front of the Church, while the Philistines are stealing the congregation and perverting the doctrine.

  The only good thing that happened in the battle was that Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli were slain. When they told Eli about the Ark of God being stolen, “he fell from off the seat backward by the side of the gate, and his neck brake, and he died: for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years”. BUT he had sinned beyond repentance, for God said, ”therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli's house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever."

  "For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment ----". (Heb. 10:26-31)