OUR PERFECT HIGH PRIEST SERIES

1. Determination: Do You Have It?
Hebrews 3:1-19
Paul, Moses, and Jesus have many things in common: Nevertheless, they all
had this one thing: Mission: A Mission that has taken exiles out of bondage
unto freedom…vs.1, 2
• Jesus>sent to earth to save sinners
• Paul’s>was to go to the Gentile world
• Moses>Leader/Patriarch>was to go to from Egypt to Canaan…
All three men had a mission, a message, and a determination to accomplish
their task. Jesus’ mission was to die while Moses’ mission was to live.
Their determination was so great that it loomed larger than life itself.
• Jesus was determined to save this world
• Paul was determined to shake his world
• Moses was determined to change his world
Vs.7 Determination has to be wholesome and holy. Otherwise, it’s defiance
vs. 8. The wilderness experience: 2weeks/over. It took 40 years. Defiant!
• Determination is softening/defiance is hardening/
• determination is obeying/defiance is rebelling/
• determination is receiving while defiance is rejecting/
Are you in such a situation? 2 Classes: Vs.10=apathy; vs.11=ignorance
Acts 17:30, “In times of ignorance God winked at; but now
commands all men every where to repent”
• Jesus was faithful to his father’s will
• Moses was faithful to God’s will
• Paul was ignorantly faithful to superiors will. Yet he was sincerely
wrong.
• Judas was faithful to his will. He saw one thing; money.
Ignorance is no excuse for not knowing; apathy gives no excuse for not
doing.
Vs.11-12. “So I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.”
“Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in the
departing from the living God.”
“Defiance:”
2 Peter 2: 4-11 says, “If God spared not the angels who sinned...spare you?”
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2. If God cast the angels down to hell, would… deliver you?
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If God spared not the ancient world but saved Noah would….?
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If God turned Sodom & Gomorrah into ashes, making an example out
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of them to those [that’s you & me] who afterward would live ungodly,
would you expect him to exempt you?
Determination is holding today’s truth that will become tomorrow’s triumph.
Luke 9:62, “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand
to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
• Jesus said, “Not my will but your will”/Paul said, “I press toward
the mark.”
Moses said, “Num. 31:31 Choose he this day.
• Jacob, “Gen 32:26 I will not let thee go except thou bless me.”
And as a result in vs.24, “the angel touched his thigh; and the hollow of
Jacob's thigh was out of joint.”
? Are you so determined to hold on to Truth that you’ll even risk walking
with the hollow thigh out of joint until he blesses you?
Determination is reliance upon God. Defiance is reliance on man. Vs. 1,5,14
• Jesus relied on God/Moses relied on God/Paul relied on God.
• Lot’s wife relied on material things: that’s how you remember her!
• Ananias & Sapphira relied on deceit: Church ground to the burial ground.
• The rich man relied on his riches: he lost his life in the end.
Herod relied on his drunken friends: he ordered the execution of [John]
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his friend just to appease his conscience.
Pilate relied on the crowd in order to remain neutral: what he did was but
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neutral.
1/3 of the angels relied on Lucifer: They were cast out with him.
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Eve relied on her reasoning. And look ate the mess she’s put you in!
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Hitler relied on his military and intellectual pedigree: He ordered the
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throwing of babies into burning infernos.
• Balaam relied on bribery: A donkey had to alert him to his senses.
Question: How much lower is mankind able to sink before he sees his
unworthiness? And why is mankind so proud of his DNA?
Vs.16 says, “For who having rebelled? Was it not all who came out of
Egypt led by Moses?” vs.17 says, “Was it not with those who sinned, whose
corpse fell in the wilderness?”
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3. Determination is due to a cause while defiance is due to a symptom:
• Jesus died for mankind because Adam sinned. As a result...
Death, disease, violence, and Murder are symptoms of Adam’s
defiance.
? Why would God Almighty in Revelation 21:8 bundle the unbelieving with
the: Cowardly/abominable/murderers/sexually immoral/sorcerers/idolaters &
liars?
Satan: At first had no intentions; look what happen later on.
In Deuteronomy 3:6: God destroyed: men/women/and children.
In Joshua 6:21: Man/woman/the young/the old/the ox/sheep/and donkey.
In 1Samuel 22:19: Men/women/children/nursing infants/oxen/donkeys/and
sheep.
In these texts, God had absolutely no problems destroying the
unbelievers. However, believers are the one’s giving God the most
problems. Read vs.16, 17, 18 & 19.
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