To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice

1 Samuel 15:22  KJV  And 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 hearken that the fat of rams. 

Growing up I was greatly impacted by Baptist and Calvinist (Sovereign Grace) teachings. I learned a lot of  what the scriptures say. Later in life around 1990, I would meet my best friend in life, Billy Grate. God is merciful as he chose Billy who was a Pentecostal at the time and I a Calvinist! The first day we spent any time together we were talking about doctrines and I began to talk to him about Calvinism. I am thinking I have the truth and I am talking to a Pentecostal who I believe is in darkness and probably even speaks in tongues! So I began to explain to him the doctrines of grace (5 points of Calvinism) and all the while confident he is in a false religion that preaches another gospel!

Little did I know the Lord was about to shake my world! As I was talking to him I looked into his face and for the first time in my life I saw overwhelming compassion, and it was coming from Billy's eyes! This made no sense to me. Why is he having compassion on me when I have the truth and he is in a false religion? I had been trained on meat! I knew the bible very well and had spent much time studying Calvinism! I knew the truth! Well, actually just a little. Later I would realize I had seen God's compassion for me, in Billy's eyes.

Much happened in the meantime, but about ten years later the Holy Spirit told a man who saw my business ad in the Shepherd's Guide, to go see the owner. He showed up, told me his story and said he did not know why God told him to drive such a long distance to see me. So we talked. He was a Baptist and I by this time did not want to affiliate with any denomination. After several minutes I asked him about his marriage. He immediately said "maybe that is why I am here", then calmly told me he was thinking about divorcing his wife and he thought he had found a woman to take her place. I told him of my personal failure, but then boldly and fervently warned him not to put confidence in the Baptist line that you cannot fall away. I warned him that if he divorced his wife he may never return to God, die in his sin and split hell wide open. As I was warning him very sternly he looked at me and said "there is such compassion coming from your eyes". I was shocked as I was being very stern in my warnings. After I finished talking to him, I could not wait to tell Billy that God's compassion had shown up in my eyes too!!!

Well the rest of the story would take months to tell, but Billy had been sent by the Lord to hold me up. I have cried and he has cried with me. Often we discover we have just read the same passages, spoken the same words, called each other at the exact same time, etc, etc, etc. Very often the Holy Spirit shows up and we are filled with joy in his presence as he gives us revelation. In early 2010, I received the gift of tongues of which Paul told the Corinthians he spoke in  more than all of them! How ironic! I used to teach against tongues!  I am not ashamed of Jesus and I am not ashamed of The Holy Spirit's gift of tongues. Neither was Paul!

Why did I write all this? Because we all need to be delivered from "religion", as we are all in some way impacted by religion and false teachings. We simply are taught a system of teachings and explain away the verses in the scriptures which disagree with our beliefs. As a Calvinist I had John Gill's book "The Cause of God and Truth". It was very thick and explained away every verse that challenged Calvinism and their understanding of what they call "The Doctrines of Grace". Each denomination does somewhat the same thing. Each believe "they have the truth in a special way" and believe the way they see doctrines is the truth and "meat of the word", not milk.

As I listened to Keith Green sing in the video below, "to obey is better than sacrifice", I saw how obedience is the best doctrine we can build on, Jesus the Rock. It prompted my writing. I ask this - If we have been born again and obey what Jesus and the Apostles told us to do and not to do, would we not please God? Jesus and the Holy Spirit tell us: 

John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. KJV

John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. KJV

1 Samuel 15:22 "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice"  KJV

In Revelation: Jesus addresses the seven churches and tells most of them "I know what you have done" and praises or warns them based upon what they have done, not their belief system. This is not meant in any way to  challenge the importance of scripture, the very Word of God. Understanding the Word of God is critical as many churches have departed from the truth.

Keith Green died July 28, 1982