The first thing that we need to mention is the word "willfully." What is meant by "willfully"? Does this word mean "consciously"? This may be the answer that we would give. But I would ask if there are many Christians who sin unconsciously? Every day we sin. Yet how many times do we sin unconsciously? I believe that probably every time we sin, we sin "willfully." Very few people commit sins unconsciously. Most of the time, we sin "willfully." In Romans 7, Paul says, "For what I work out, I do not acknowledge; for what I will, this I do not practice; but what I hate, this I do" (v. 15). By this we know that Paul did not fall into sin accidentally. All of his sins were committed after he was fully conscious of their wrong. Hence, it is clear from Romans 7 that all of Paul's sins were committed "willfully." If Paul sinned "willfully," then according to Hebrews 10:26, there would remain no longer any sacrifice for sins. If a person perished and went to hell, he would see Paul there, because even Paul had no more sacrifice for sins. Hence, we need to see that the word "willfully" in Hebrews 10:26 does not mean consciously. If this were the case, then all of the Christians would perish. No matter what kind of Christian you may be, countless times in your life, you sin consciously rather than unconsciously. If the above situation were true, no Christian would be saved. Hence, "willfully" here must mean something else.

A second point is that verse 26 begins with the word "for." For this particular word to be used at the beginning of a sentence, something has gone on prior to its use. This word cannot be used without a preceding sentence. In verses 26 through 29, the first sentence begins with "for," which means that there was something mentioned before. Prior to this, verse 25 says, "Not abandoning our own assembling together, as the custom with some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day drawing near." Why should we not abandon our own assembling together, but exhort one another? It is because when we sin willfully after receiving the full knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. If we do not read this portion carefully, we will not realize that these two verses go together. If we read it carefully, we will realize that these two verses are linked together. They are very meaningful. We must realize that not abandoning our own assembling together and sinning willfully go together. We must not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but exhort one another, for when we sin willfully, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. Negatively, we should not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. Positively, we must not sin willfully. If we assemble ourselves together, then we are not ones who sin willfully. If we customarily forsake the assembling of ourselves together, we are ones who sin willfully. Here, the apostle put the abandoning of our assembling and sinning willfully together. Why is there such a close relationship between abandoning the assembling of ourselves and sinning willfully? At this juncture we must come to the third point. We have to know the background of the book of Hebrews. Who were the ones mentioned in this book? They were the Jews who believed in the Lord Jesus. Hence, the book of Hebrews was written to believing Jews. The position of the Jews is different from that of the Gentiles. The Gentiles have the spiritual position only and not the earthly, physical position. The Jews have both a spiritual and a physical position. They have a heavenly as well as an earthly position. Today when we speak of the Holy of Holies, immediately we think of a place where God dwells in heaven. But to the Jews, when they consider the Holy of Holies, what occurs in their thought is the Holy of Holies inside the temple at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah. Not only do the Jews have a Holy of Holies in heaven, but they also have a Holy of Holies on the earth. Not only do they have a temple in heaven, but a temple on earth also. Thus, in their mind, there is the spiritual aspect as well as the physical aspect, the heavenly aspect as well as the earthly. They have the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. They still have the physical Holy of Holies, and with it the offerings.