”To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice”

(1 Samuel 15:22)

Introduction: For the past several months, we have been looking in a very
brief way at what the Bible says we are obligated to believe concerning God
and concerning what He has done. You must never forget that true religion
is impossible without correct knowledge. This is not just true of religion,
but everything else as well. You cannot work with electricity and harness
it for your purposes, unless you understand the nature of electricity. You
cannot successfully raise children in the ways of God’s covenant without
understanding something about the covenant. In the same way, you must have
enough knowledge, enough information about God and the things of God, before
you can come into a relationship with the Lord. You must know who God is,
and what He is, and you may only do this through His revelation about
Himself. You must know who man is, what he is, and what his miserable
condition is in God’s sight after the Fall. You must know what God has done
through His Son to redeem fallen man to Himself, and what man must do before
he can become a partaker of these blessings. God even gives to you
incentives to come to Him, promising wonderful future blessings based upon
the finished work of Christ. God desires you to know all these things in
order that you might come to Him, and having come to Him, that you might
fully appreciate what it is that He has done for you, so that you might give
Him all the glory. What we have been looking at is not merely theory, some
irrelevant facts that have no relationship to life, but the revelation of
God’s truth through His Word, and for that reason your soul ought to delight
in it.
But God has not only revealed what it is that we are obliged to believe
concerning Him and His works, He has also revealed to us how we ought to
live now that we have come to Him through Christ. This is the second main
division in the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms. Here, the
Westminster Divines give to us a systematic overview of Christian ethics,
answering the question, as Francis Schaeffer put it, How Then Should We
Live? God has not left it up to our own imaginations how we should worship
Him, how we should serve Him, how we should relate to our neighbors, or to
our brethren, or to His church officers, or the civil government. He has
told us plainly in His Word what He wants us to do. Therefore it is our
responsibility to know these things and to do them to the best of our
abilities, as it is also to know and believe what God has revealed.
Just how important is obedience to God? We find one example in the book
of 1 Samuel.
In this account, the Lord had commanded Saul to go and to utterly
destroy the Amalekites because of what they had done to Israel when they
came up out of Egypt. You will recall that the Amalekites came out and
fought against Israel, but were defeated by them (Ex. 17). They attacked
those who were weak and weary at their rear. For this reason the Lord
commanded Israel that after He had given them rest in the land, they were to
blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven (Deu. 25:17-19). So Saul
went and did as the Lord had commanded, except he feared the people more
than his God by sparing the best of the livestock in order to make a
sacrifice to the Lord. He also spared king Agag. When Saul returned, he
was rebuked by Samuel for failing to do what God had commanded him. Saul
argued with Samuel saying that he had obeyed all that the Lord had commanded
him to do, and blamed the people for sparing the livestock. But Samuel set
the record straight for Saul, showing him what is most important to the
 2

Lord. He says, ”HAS THE LORD AS MUCH 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 DIVINATION, AND INSUBORDINATION IS AS INIQUITY AND IDOLATRY. BECAUSE
YOU HAVE REJECTED THE WORD OF THE LORD, HE HAS ALSO REJECTED YOU FROM BEING
KING” (15:22-23). Saul was still responsible for following the Lord’s
commands, even though the people tried to persuade him otherwise.
Consequently, Samuel had Agag brought out and he hewed him into pieces, and
Saul lost the kingdom forever. People of God, obedience to the revealed
will of God is never optional. There is never a reason to disobey God.
Even if the entire world, including the Christian church, should hold to an
opinion which is contrary to His Word, you are still bound to believe and do
what He says. To disobey God is tantamount to divination and idolatry. It
is the exalting of the will of some creature over that of the Creator, and
that is the same as worshiping a false God. And so what this account of
Saul teaches us this evening is,

Obedience to all of the revealed will of God is more important to

Him than any sacrifice that you may wish to make.
What we will look at this evening is first, that God gives to us His
Law and expects us to observe it; secondly, that to obey God is better
than anything that we might try and substitute in its place; and lastly,
an exhortation to learn and do the will of God.

I. First, Notice that God Requires Full Obedience to His Revealed Will.
A. God Has Never Left M a n in a Position Where He Is Not Sure What the
Lord Requires of Him.
1 . He originally revealed His law to Adam in the garden of Eden.
a. M a n was made in the image of God, a part of which was moral
conformity to His law. Moses wrote, ”AND GOD CREATED MAN IN
HIS OWN IMAGE, IN THE IMAGE OF GOD HE CREATED HIM; MALE AND
FEMALE HE CREATED THEM” (Gen. 1 :27).
b. A Puritan by the name of Edward Fisher, in his work on the
covenant called The Marrow of Modern Divinity, shows how
Adam, when he ate of the tree, broke not only the specific
command of God not to eat of that tree, but also broke all
ten of God’s commandments.
(i) He chose for himself another God when he followed the
devi1.
(ii) He made his appetite for wisdom into an idol and sought
to worship it.
He took the name of God in vain, when he refused to
believe Him and believed the devil instead.
He did not keep the rest wherein God had placed him,
but entered into sin.
He dishonored his Father who was in heaven, and
therefore his days were not prolonged in the land which
the Lord had given to him.
He killed himself and all of his posterity.
He committed spiritual adultery by worshiping the devil
instead of God.
He stole from God that which God had commanded him not
to take.
In believing what the devil had to say, he bore witness
against God that He was in fact lying.
And he coveted that which was God’s, and not his,
 3

before he reached out and took of the forbidden fruit

(35-36).

C. Also, Paul states plainly in Romans 2:14-15, that this law

is still written in the hearts of men. ”FOR WHEN THE
GENTILES WHO DO NOT HAVE THE LAW DO INSTINCTIVELY THE THINGS
OF THE LAW, THESE, NOT HAVING THE LAW, ARE A LAW TO
THEMSELVES, IN THAT THEY SHOW THE WORK OF THE LAW WRITTEN IN
THEIR HEARTS, THEIR CONSCIENCE BEARING WITNESS, AND THEIR
THOUGHTS ALTERNATELY ACCUSING OR ELSE DEFENDING THEM.”
d. M a n had God’s revealed will as early as the Creation.

2. And, of course, because the Fall had darkened man’s knowledge of

these laws, He later gave them again to His covenant people on
Mt . Sinai.
a. God spoke forth His words out of the midst of the fire and
darkness and gloom. He wanted them to know that this came
from Him.
b. Whereas many of His other commandments were revealed through
His mediators the prophets, these He wrote with His own
finger.
c. What He wrote them on was not a piece of papyrus, or in the
sand, rather He wrote them in stone to show that they would
always endure.
d. And lastly, they were not placed on a table beside the ark
in the Temple with the rest of the ceremonial laws, but they
were put into the ark, over which the blood of atonement
would be sprinkled, showing that it was by no other standard
that the Israelites obedience would be judged.
e. All of this is to indicate that the ten commandments are
God’s unchanging rule of obedience for all men.

B. And Since the Giving of that Law, God Has Required Full and Absolute
Obedience to It.
1 . Micah 6:8 tells us, ”HE HAS TOLD YOU, 0 MAN, WHAT IS GOOD; AND
WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE OF YOU BUT TO DO JUSTICE, TO LOVE
KINDNESS, AND WALK HUMBLY WITH YOUR GOD?” This is a summary of
the commandments.
2. Paul tells us in Romans 12:l-2, ”I URGE YOU THEREFORE, BRETHREN,
BY THE MERCIES OF GOD, TO PRESENT YOUR BODIES A LIVING AND HOLY
SACRIFICE, ACCEPTABLE TO GOD, WHICH IS YOUR SPIRITUAL SERVICE OF
WORSHIP. AND DO NOT BE CONFORMED TO THIS WORLD, BUT BE
TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, THAT YOU MAY PROVE
WHAT THE WILL OF GOD IS, THAT WHICH IS GOOD AND ACCEPTABLE AND
PERFECT.”
a. Notice that you are to give yourself wholly to God as a
whole burnt offering, not partially, a little here and a
little there. The obedience which God requires is not just
a now and then obedience, where you just put forth the
effort that you feel like doing, but it is to be a continual
obedience which you put forth with all of your might.
b. This is your spiritual service of worship. This is your
duty. This is what the Lord requires of you. This is what
the Lord requires of all men.
c. You are not to spend your time in the world being conformed
to the world. Rather you are to be transformed by putting
 4

into the computer of your mind the Lord’s holiness program

and running that.
d. And as Jesus shows us in the sermon on the mount, outward
performance of duty is not enough. If you have kept the
letter of the Law, and yet have neglected the inner elements
of love and the glory of God, you have failed to keep it.
e. And so God has given the whole law for all men for all time
and He requires perfect and perpetual obedience.

11. Secondly, Notice that to Obey God Is Better Than Any Sacrifice Which
M a n May Choose to Give Him Instead.
A. God Had Issued a Command to Saul, But Saul Offered to God in Its
Place What He Thought Would Be Acceptable.
1 . The command that God gave to Saul was not to every person
living, but to Saul himself. For that reason, Saul should have
paid closer attention to it.
a. God has given His whole law for all men, and they must obey
it.
b. But He sometimes gives specific commands to specific
individuals.
(i) When He commanded Jonah to go and preach to the
inhabitants of Ninevah, he did not mean that anyone
else should go.
(ii) Only Jonah was bound by that commandment. All others
were free.

c. In the same way, since this command was addressed to Saul, he

should have paid especially close attention in carrying it
out to the letter.

2. But instead, his fear of man motivated him to veer off the
course which the Lord had set for him and to take his own.
a. ”THEN SAUL SAID TO SAMUEL, ’I HAVE SINNED; I HAVE INDEED
TRANSGRESSED THE COMMAND OF THE LORD AND YOUR WORDS, BECAUSE
I FEARED THE PEOPLE AND LISTENED TO THEIR VOICE” ( 1 Sam.
15:24).
b. But you see, that was no excuse. There is no excuse for
failure to keep the Lord’s commands. If we choose to
disobey, we are the ones who are choosing to do other than
what God has said; no one is forcing us.
c. This is not to say that there is no forgiveness for these
sins. All sins can and are removed in Christ. But there
are certain things which may be forfeited because of our
sins: in this case, Saul forfeited his position as ruler
over the kingdom of Israel. Many Christians under
persecution in the early church buckled under it and gave up
their copies of the Scriptures, as well as offered a pinch
of incense to Caesar with the words, ”Caesar is lord!” They
did not commit the unpardonable sin; if they truly repented,
they were truly forgiven. However this does indicate
something about the condition of their hearts.
d. Others, who have had supreme love for the Lord, have gone
even as far as to lose their lives, in order that they might
obtain a better resurrection.
e. Saul feared the people, and instead of obeying God, obeyed
them and offered unto God a service which was not
 5

acceptable.

B. But God Declares that Obedience Is Better Than Anything Which Anyone
Might Choose to Bring to Him.
1 . God didn’t want Saul’s sacrifice of compromise.
2. He wanted obedience. He wanted Saul to hear His Word, listen
carefully to what He said, and then obey it to the letter.
3. Of what good are your sacrifices if they are offered to Him in a
state of rebellion? Can you expect to please God with
sacrificial acts, while at the same time you are refusing to
submit to His authority?
4. ”TO OBEY IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE.”
III. The Lord Is Showing You This Evening that:
A. You Are Not to Offer to God Anything to Replace Your Whole Hearted
Obedience to His Commandments.
1 . Saul justified the breaking of God’s commands in order to please
the people.
a. His fear of man was greater than his fear of God.
b. Whenever you are in that kind of position, you are always on
the road to ruin.
c. Jesus said, ”AND DO NOT FEAR THOSE WHO KILL THE BODY, BUT
ARE UNABLE TO KILL THE SOUL; BUT RATHER FEAR HIM WHO IS ABLE
TO DESTROY BOTH SOUL AND BODY IN HELL” (Matt. 10:28). He is
not here speaking of Satan, but of God.
d. Do you fear displeasing God more than displeasing men? Are
you a man-pleaser here this evening?
e. Do you conveniently set aside the commandment of your God in
order to get yourself out of tense situations with your
friends, family members, or brethren in the church?
f. Have you compromised the truth of God in order to preserve
peace in your personal relationships?

2. There is absolutely nothing that you can render to God in the

place of obedience to His Word.
a. Such behavior is evil in the sight of God, and no amount of
good works will suffice to appease Him.
b. You cannot escape from your responsibility to obey God by
burying yourself in things that you know, under other
circumstances, would be pleasing to God.
c. God was not pleased with the many animals which Saul brought
back to sacrifice, because there was the outstanding problem
of his direct disobedience to God’s will, even though He
might have been pleased by it under other circumstances.
d. I see this in my own children. You parents probably see it
in yours as well. And you children will recognize what I am
talking about is true of you too.
e. Your parents ask you to do something, and you don’t want to
do it. So instead, you try and distract them by doing
something else they might like or by telling them something
that they would like to hear.
f. And if each of you here this evening examine yourselves
closely on this matter, you will find that you are guilty of
this sin as well.
g. You know what the Lord requires of you in the way of
godliness and holy obedience; you know what His will is; you
know what He wants you to do. But yet, you continue to
 6

procrastinate and justify your not doing them.

h. You think that you can’t do what the Lord commands because
you’re just not sure that that passage of Scripture means
that anyway. You need more information; you need to hear
more sermons on the subject before you make up your mind.
i. Or maybe you think that what God commands is too difficult,
and no one could do all He asks. Surely He doesn’t mean
that I should leave everything to follow Christ? Surely He
doesn’t require all that He asks of Me in Scripture? Surely
God just wants to make my life in this world more pleasant.
To do all that He requires means that I will have to give up
everything I want to do in life. And I’m not sure that I
want to.

Or maybe the results of following His will might create

strife in my personal relationships, and I know that God
doesn’t want to do that. He doesn’t want me to be at odds
with my brother for reproving him for his sin, or with my
father for telling him the gospel, or with my children for
warning them of their need to turn from their sins and do
the will of God from the heart. After all, God is a God of
peace isn’t He? Jesus really didn’t mean what He said where
He tells us that He came to divide households, did He?
k. And as far as reaching out to my neighbors, or bringing
others to church, that’s the job of the minister, isn’t it?
Surely there is someone who can explain the Gospel better
than I can to my neighbor. Besides, if I let my neighbor
know that I’m a Christian, he may not like me anymore.
Under these circumstances, God will surely let me off the
hook, won’t He?
1. So instead of doing these things, I will just keep trying to
learn what God really does want me to do. Surely He will
see my heart and know that I really want to serve Him.
m. People of God, we all have many excuses as to why we believe
that we are unable to do the will of God. Saul thought that
he had a good excuse, but God did not accept it. He was
perfectly capable of doing what the Lord asked of him, and
you are able, through Jesus Christ, to do what He requires
of you as well.
n. The Lord requires obedience from you. He wants obedience in
every area of your life. He wants your whole life. He does
not want an hour here and there; He wants all of your time,
all of your resources, all of your strength, and all of your
affections.
0. If you have found that you have been making excuses like
Saul why you can’t or shouldn’t listen to and obey the
commandments of God, then you need to repent and to renew
your obedience. God promises to wash away all of your guilt
in Christ Jesus when you truly repent. And He is willing to
give you the strength that you need to fully carry it out.
P. But if you really don’t want to do His will this evening,
then come to Christ and ask Him for the grace to change your
heart and to save you from your sins. Good intentions will
mean nothing in the day of God’s scrutiny. What will matter
is that you be able to bring forth the fruits of a life
 7

which has true love for the Savior. Amen.