Title: What A Hero Knows
Text: Hebrews 11:4
Intro: Able was a son that listened to his parents. They told their sons of how God structured the process of anointment. Three things were explained to these young men. Able got the importance of all three.
I. Able Knew The Importance of Sacrifice
1. Sacrifice will show your complete dependence on God.
“Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46)
When the ship Empress of Ireland sank, 109 of the 130 Salvation Army officers on board drowned. Not one of them had a life vest. As the ship went down, the crew discovered that the ship was not carrying enough life jackets for everyone. The Salvation Army officers removed theirs and strapped them on the passengers. - Herb Miller, "What Constitutes a Healthy Congregation?" The Parish Paper (American Baptist Churches of Indiana, 1997) When I give of my limited resources to the extent that it creates a perceived need in my life, it shows that my dependence is on God, not my checking account, not people, and not my own self-sufficiency.
2. Your Sacrifice Will Confuse Others.
Just a few days before Jesus’ death, He was in the home of Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Not long after the meal had been served, one of Lazarus’ sisters, Mary, took a bottle of very expensive perfume and poured it on Jesus’ feet. Immediately, one of Jesus’ disciples, Judas Iscariot started to put up a fuss. “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money used to help feed the poor?” From a human perspective, the argument that Judas gave was a good one. If his assessment of the value of the perfume was correct, it was worth almost a year’s pay since the average amount that a person could earn in any one day was a denarii.
You’ve all filled out your tax forms by now. You’ve looked at that W-2 over and over again. You know how much you earned last year. If you’re like me, during the year, you wish that you were earning more money, but when it comes time to pay your taxes, you wish that you had earned less money so you wouldn’t have to pay so much taxes. Now imagine bringing a year’s salary in cash to church next Sunday, carrying it to the front of the church and setting fire to it. You can hear the shouts of people as they see the flames begin to grow. “You idiot! We could have paid a year’s rent on the building with that money!” “Why did you go and do a stupid thing like that?! We could have put a down-payment on a piece of land with that!” “That was a total waste! What good does it do anyone now?!” We can justify a gift when we see tangible results that come out of the gift. But ultimate acts of worship are not very easily justified.
II. The Necessity of a Relationship
1. The whole reason for the sacrifice is because God desired a relationship with man
2. Many people mistake religion for relationship
Religion is what you do over and over…
Relationship is a connection, an association between you and GOD
Religion is what you do continuously…
Relationship is the kinship that exists between you and GOD
Religion is your rituals, your customs, your habitual activities… (Help you) Even the devil is religious…!
Relationship is the companionship that exists between you and GOD
2Ti 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
2Ti 4:4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
3. Those who are into religion rather than relationship
- refuse the word
- relish false teachers
- run away from truth
4. Paul told Timothy that to have a relationship with God he had to do several things.
2Ti 4:5 But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.
- Watch
• who you are friends with
• where you go
• what you say
• how you act
• keep a good witness
- Endure Affliction
• the pain
• the persecution
• the hard time
• the misunderstandings
- Do Work
• get active in your church
• get active in your witness
- Fulfill Your Ministry
• accomplish what you have been called to do
• serve
• give
• love
• worship
• pray
III. The Value of Blood
1. Old Covenant required a continual blood sacrifice for atonement
2. New Covenant required one sacrifice for all humanity
1 Peter 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
1 Peter 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
3. Blood is our source of life; without it coursing through our veins life will cease in this physical body.
- You cannot survive without blood
- Without the blood of Christ applied to our spirit & soul we are bound for the certainty of the second death
4. Healing in the Blood
Ill. A family was involved in a serious accident. Mike, the younger of two brothers involved, was badly injured and needed a blood transfusion. Mike’s big brother, Danny, who was almost eight, was the perfect blood type. His father sat down with him and explained that his little brother was going to die but if Danny would give his little brother some blood that mike would be just fine. Danny sat and thought for a minute and then said o.k. Dad I will do this for my brother. They took Danny into the operating room and hooked up the needle to his arm and the blood from his body began to flow to his little brother. Everything had gone wonderfully and the nurse removed the needle from little Danny’s arm. Danny with a tear in his eye looked at his father and said, “When do I die?” The father suddenly realized with a shock that Danny had misunderstood his explanation of giving blood. Danny thought he was giving all of his blood to save the life of his little brother! He thought that he would die after the transfusion was over. Yet he still had agreed to help his little brother.
5. Blood Redeems
- There is Power in the blood
