To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice
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Intro:
Intro:
Good morning.
This morning we want to spend some time in the Old Testament with the first King of Israel, King Saul.
Was Saul a good King? What do you think?
He wasn’t too bad … at first!
But there comes a turning point in Saul’s life in which he makes a very bad decision, and from that point on it was a downward spiral for Saul.
Ultimately, Saul ends up killing himself on the battlefield by falling on his own sword, and then David, a man after God’s own heart, ends up taking over.
Let’s look at the beginning of Saul’s downward spiral this morning as we discuss the subject — “TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE.”
That comes from 1 Samuel 15:22.
So let’s turn to that passage this morning — 1 Samuel chapter 15.
Text:
Text:
We’re going to begin reading verses 1-9 — God’s instructions to Saul through Samuel — UTTERLY DESTROY THE AMALEKITES:
(Read vs. 1-9).
This is Saul’s first mistake!
Look at verses 10-12 — God has a message for Samuel.
(Read vs. 10-12).
“He set up a monument for himself!” (Do you think there was a hint of a pride problem?)
Verse 13 — Saul thinks that he can pull the wool over Samuel’s eyes (pun intended!)
Saul’s second mistake!
Verse 14 — Samuel wasn’t buying it!
Verse 15 — Saul tries to explain himself out of trouble!
Mistake number 3!
Verses 16-19 — Samuel sets Saul straight!
No, what you did WAS a sin. You did NOT obey the voice of the Lord!
(Read vs. 16-19).
Verses 20-21 — Saul just keeps digging himself into a deeper hole!
(Read vs. 20-21).
Mistake numbers 4 and 5!
Saul is in DENIAL of what he has done, and NOW … he tries to shift the blame for the sin to the PEOPLE!
And isn’t that often what people do when they sin?
Oh, it was someone ELSE’S fault!
Remember back to the Garden of Eden — “The WOMAN whom you gave to be with me, SHE gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
Same thing here with Saul — SHIFTING THE BLAME!
But again, Samuel isn’t buying it!
Verses 22-23 - Samuel says:
1 Sam. 15:22-23 (Mark it. Underline it! You’ve got it highlighted on the screen!)
So Samuel said: “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.”
What is Samuel’s point?
His point is this — “Look, you should have obeyed God in the first place!”
“Here you are trying to justify your sin in the name of ‘sacrifice,’ and God would rather you have done the right think in the first place, rather than sacrifice!”
WHAT’S THE PURPOSE OF A SACRIFICE?
Are not sacrifices required because of SIN?
It would have been better for Saul to have obeyed God in the first place!
Without sin, there wouldn’t be a need for sacrifice!
And the Bible has a lot to say about that! (As we’re going to see in just a moment)
Well, you can keep reading in 1 Samuel chapter 15, and what you’re going to see is that Saul finally admits:
(1 Sam. 15:24).
Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.
But it was too late!
Saul asks for pardon. He asks that Samuel would return with him so that he could go worship the Lord, but Samuel refuses at first (eventually he does).
But from that point on, it was “all downhill from there for Saul!”
Samuel tells him that the Lord had rejected him from being King over Israel!
Application:
Application:
What can we learn from all of this? A lot actually!
Before we leave off of our study of this subject, I want you to notice that there are a whole HOST of parallel passages in the Bible that deal with this extremely important subject!
Psalm 51:16-17
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart— These, O God, You will not despise.
This is in the context of David’s repentance after Nathan the prophet confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba!
Verse 17 shows that God is more interested in the attitude behind the sacrifice than merely the sacrifice alone!
“A broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart!”
Going back to Saul for a moment, what if Saul had truly HAD a broken spirit and a contrite heart?
Do you think things might have turned out differently?
I can’t say for sure, but I think probably so!
Prov. 21:3
To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
The verse right before that says, “Every way of a man is right IN HIS OWN EYES, but the Lord weighs the hearts!”
God knows whether or not we are serving Him out of a pure heart, and He will judge us on that one day!
A couple of longer passages from the prophets we want to look at:
These two go together …
Isaiah 1:11-17:
Isa. 1:11-12
“To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” Says the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats. “When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts?
Isa. 1:13-15
Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
Isa. 1:16-17
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
That’s when He goes on to say, “Come now, let us REASON together, says the Lord!”
Amos 5:21-24
“I hate, I despise your feast days, And I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, Nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, For I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.
God says, “Look, I’m totally uninterested in your sacrifices right now! Totally uninterested in your worship!”
Why? Because their HEARTS weren’t right, and they were wholly given over to sin!
Jer. 7:22-23
For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’
Now, there’s some difficulty here — This passage is a little tricky, because God HAD spoken to the people about sacrifices in DETAIL in the Pentateuch — Just read the book of Leviticus, right?!
But what God is actually saying in this passage is an ellipsis (in my opinion).
And ellipsis is a phrase that has a word left out (for conciseness’ sake) that is obviously understood.
In this case, God is saying, “For I did not ONLY speak to your fathers … concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices, but ALSO this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘OBEY my Voice ...’”
Another way of looking at it (without really thinking “ellipsis”) would be, God didn’t require sacrifices IN AND OF THEMSELVES — He required them IN THE SPIRIT OF … OBEDIENCE.
OBEDIENCE is the key!
Again, to OBEY is better than sacrifice!
That seems to be the logical reconciliation of the passage here.
It requires a lot of study to understand that in this passage, but I recommend you do that (and this lines the passage up with all the other passages that we are reading).
Hos. 6:6
For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
Again, the prophet Hosea here is trying to get to the HEART of the people!
God desires all these things IN ADDITION to the sacrifices.
Obey in the first place!
Again, the purpose behind sacrifices was for when people did mess up, there had to be a sacrifice to atone for it.
(Ultimately, looking forward to?)
The sacrifice of Christ!
Hold that thought on Hosea 6:6, because we’re going to see Jesus reference that in just a moment, but we’ve got one more from the O.T. first …
Mic. 6:6-8
With what shall I come before the Lord, And bow myself before the High God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, With calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?
That gets to the HEART of the matter!
“Do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God!”
Matt. 9:13
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
This is in the context of Jesus trying to teach this point — the same point we’ve been making in this whole sermon — that is, God wants us to do RIGHT … for the RIGHT REASON, ultimately a sincere love of God and desire to do His will.
He’s teaching the Pharisees — because they were doing SOME of the right things (plenty of WRONG things, too!) — but EVERYTHING they were doing (generally speaking) they were doing for the wrong reason!
It was all to be seen of men and to heap upon themselves the praises of men!
In vain they were worshipping Him, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men! (Matt. 15:9)
The verse right before that - Matt. 15:8 — “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their HEART is FAR from Me.”
Matt. 23:23
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
ALL of it is important!
And don’t “miss the forest for the trees!”
Finally, Mark 12:32-33
So the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
Jesus acknowledged that this scribe got it right!
Verse 34 says that the scribe had answered wisely, and Jesus says - “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
As if to say, “You are on the right track! Keep studying!”
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
So what have we looked at today?
We started by looking at Saul’s grave mistakes in 1 Sam. 15, and we looked at what Samuel told him - “To OBEY is better than sacrifice, and to HEED better than the fat of rams!”
We’ve looked at a lot of other passages that teach the same concept.
And now I want to ask you — Do we still make sacrifices today?
Not ANIMAL sacrifices!
The sacrifice of CHRIST took away the need for that, and praise God!
But I read of at least a few places in the New Testament that talk about our sacrifices today …
1 Pet. 2:5
you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Heb. 13:15
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.
Rom. 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
Are we doing that?
Are we approaching God with a TRUE humble heart of obedience because we LOVE Him, and we want to do our best to be pleasing in His sight?
1 Pet. 1:22 says …
Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
Have we obeyed the truth with a sincere heart? (We have opportunity to do so this morning)