Samuel replied to King Saul, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience? Listen. Obedience is far better than sacrifice. He is much more interested in your listening to Him than in your offering the fat of rams to Him. For rebellion is as wicked as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as reprehensible as false religion and idolatry. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.” Adapted, 1 Samuel 15:22-23

God had given Saul explicit instructions to slay all the Amalekites and their livestock. Instead of doing so, Saul spared the Amalekite King, and allowed his troops to take the best of the oxen and of the sheep. When called to account, Saul tried to rationalize his disobedience by blaming the troops and claiming that the animals were reserved for sacrifice to God. But Samuel chastened Saul that his rationalization did not pass muster and that it was in fact an act of rebellion.

God has given a straight-forward command to the unconverted in the Gospel Dispensation. It is a command, the obeying of which brings eternal life, and the neglect of which brings everlasting ruin. That command is this: Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved (Acts 16:31). Belief carries with it the obvious obligation of obedience. Yet most people, instead of obeying God, want to bring Him sacrifices. They suppose their own way of salvation is much better than any that God can have devised, and therefore they offer the fat of rams.

This takes different forms, but it is always the same principle. One says, “I will give up all the things that my heart calls good, and will not that save me?” No, it will not. “Well, suppose I begin to attend a place of worship? Suppose I go regularly, and as often as the doors are open? Suppose I go to morning prayers, and to the evening song? Suppose I attend every day in the week? Suppose I come to the sacrament and am baptized? Will not all this save me?” No.

These things will no more save us than husks will fill our hungry stomach. It is not the husks we need. We need the grain. To obey is better than sacrifice. To pay attention is better than the fat of rams. All God really wants is that we trust in Him and obey Him. When we are tempted to rationalize our goodness because we go to church, give to others, or behave religiously, remember King Saul.