Can a Fallen Christian be Renewed to Repentance?

What does mean to sin willfully? If a Christian loses his salvation, can he be saved again? I answer these questions in this video.

My notes are below:

• That this verse is referring to Christians, and not to unbelievers like some like to teach
• What ‘sin willfully’ does not mean:
• What it does mean:
• That in most cases, a person who has lost their salvation can indeed be saved again.
• That this verse is referring to Christians, and not to unbelievers like some like to teach
• First of all, it is dangerous say this applies to unbelievers
  1. There have been many unbelievers who live a willfully sinful life as these verses describe (like Paul the apostle). Hearing this taught as though it is for unbelievers can drive them to hopelessness
• Four reasons this is written as a warning to Christians and not to unbelievers:
• “have received the knowledge of the truth” refers to a Christian
• “No longer a sacrifice for sins” is because of the willful sin, not because of the doing away of Jewish sacrifices.  This is the natural reading of the text. The ‘sacrifice for sins’ is Jesus’ sacrifice for sins (v12)
• Immediate context before and after is referring to Christians, with conjunctions on both ends
• Author exhorts them to not cast away their confidence (v35), and to have endurance (v36)– this is consistent with other passages that exhort Christians to stay the course until the end.
  1. He who endures to the end shall be saved. – Mat 24:13
  2. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end – Heb 3:14
• What ‘sin willfully’ does NOT mean:’
• It does not refer to the way we sin or the kind of sinning we do.  Nor does it mean choosing to sin even though we know better.  i.e. “God’s not going to forgive you this time because you knew better”
• We know this because all conscious sin is willful in one sense
• God always provides a way of escape (1 Cor 10:13). If we don’t take that way of escape it is because we, by an act of the will, chose to indulge the temptation instead. 
  1. If we lost our salvation due to willful sin, we will all be damned the first time we sinned after we were saved. 
• If we were to understand it in this sense, it would contradict the teaching of Jesus Christ, and all the teaching regarding God’s mercy and grace:
• “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; “but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”– because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.” (Mar 3:28-30 NKJV)
• “If confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” – 1 Jn 1:9
• What it DOES mean:
• “Willfully sinning,” as described here, refers to an overall disposition towards God, not a kind of sinning.
• We see this in a comparative verse: 1 Peter 5:2
  1. Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly
• We see this within the text. Willful sin is described as:
  1. Rejecting the law of God
     1. “He who rejects Moses’ law,” – this implies that the one who is described here is someone who is outright rejecting the law of Christ, which is worse than rejecting Moses’ law
• Trampling the Son of God underfoot
  1. This is to regard the Son of God as worthless
  2. “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.” – Matthew 7:6
• Counting the blood of the covenant a common thing
  1. A ‘common thing’ is nothing special, nothing noteworthy, nothing worth ones attention or devotion. 
  2. This is to say that Jesus’ death was no different than any other, or worse, that He was unclean
• Insulting the Spirit of Grace.
  1. This is to speak against the One who convicts, draws, and convinces
  2. This is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (and so is Heb 6)
• That in most cases, a person who has lost their salvation can indeed be saved again.
• The prodigal son
• In CANNOT be that the prodigal son was saved when he was living in sin. 
  1. The unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-10)
  2. let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 1 Jn 3:7
  3. He who sins is of the devil – 1 Jn 3:8
  4. For this you know, that no fornicator… has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. – Eph 5:5
• He was dead and became alive again
  1. for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ Luke 15:24
• He left his fathers house, lived a life of sin, then came back. 
• Scripture confirms this:
• James 5:19-20
  1. Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

Summary:

These verses are warnings for us. We must be careful to stir one another up to good works. If we  allow our hearts to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, it may be that we get to the point of denying the faith and rejecting the agency the Holy Spirit