Revival - Part 4 — Doc Greenway

The Price of Revival and the Necessity of the Cross

Just as there is no Pentecost without the Passover, there is no revival without a price that has to be paid. And I think we have to realize this sooner or later. Any study of revivals and awakenings in the Old Testament and in the Bible as a whole will amply confirm this fact.

And it seems that just as there is an historical fact that the Passover preceded Pentecost and Pentecost is reckoned from the Passover, so unless the cross of Christ is allowed to have its way, its place in our lives, then our hope of revival is very dim indeed.

There is a price to be paid. We said this last Tuesday night as we came to the conclusion of our address for that night that if we expect revival, we must expect that there will be a cost and the cost has to be met personally and individually.

Human Responsibility and Divine Sovereignty in Revival

We commenced this series of addresses by saying there are always two elements in revival. Human availability is one and divine sovereignty is the other. And while this is true, and while we know that revivals are pulled out and not planned out, that God alone can send revival while we understand this, yet there are certain conditions that He has laid down which make it quite clear that although there is a divine sovereignty about revival, there are also human conditions that have to be fulfilled.

And I know this, that throughout the word of God it is evident that fire never falls upon an empty altar. When the altar is filled, then the fire falls. And when the altar of consecration and dedication has received our sacrifice, then and then only will the fire of God fall from heaven.

Fire does not fall upon an empty altar. We recall the word of Jehovah to Solomon the king, If my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

If my people, then will I hear. The condition is so clear. If my people are prepared to humble themselves, then I am prepared to bless them and to pour out of my Spirit upon them. Divine deliverance was always dependent on their consecration to God.

If they were prepared to cast out every idol, if they were willing to break down every foe and to sanctify themselves as unto the Lord, God was prepared to meet with them. This was the word of the Lord through Samuel, you remember.

If ye do return unto the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods from among you and prepare your hearts unto the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.

There are no half measures here at all. No possibility of an easy compromise, but a declaration on the part of God to his servants, the prophets, so clear, so plain, so positive and so searching that no one could possibly mistake what God was driving at through the lips of these men of God.

Giving, Tithes, and the Cost of Consecration

And I think that this principle of sacrifice unto God and of fulfilling conditions laid down by God, this principle has repercussions that are very far-reaching. For instance, in the days of Malachi the prophet, you recall how God said to his people, Return unto me and I will return unto you.

But they said in justifying themselves, Wherein shall we return? As much as to say, Why do you accuse us of being backslidden? Then this answer of God is tremendously revealing. Will a man rob God? Yet he robbed me.

But he say, Wherein have we robbed thee? And Jehovah replies, In tithes and offerings. Then comes the command of the Lord, Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house.

And prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. So the practice of giving to God is involved in the price we pay for revival.

This is perfectly clear. Tithes. Oh, that savors too much of the law, brother. They gave tithes under the law, but we are under grace now. That's great. But if you are under grace, surely you should give more and not less than they gave under law.

I think this is perfectly fair, isn't it? And perfectly logical. If under the law they gave a tenth of their income, under grace, it causes the unmerited favor of God to us. We should not be giving less, but giving more.

This is how I see it, and I trust you see it in the same way. When you've paid your tithes, you've given nothing. It belongs to God anyway. It's your offerings over and above this that are important, where you are concerned.

And so you see, this principle, as I said, is very, very far-reaching. I heard recently of a businessman who was converted, and he wanted to be baptized by immersion. But his conversion was so real that he took his pocketbook with him.

He wanted that immersed too, because he said that he wanted everybody to understand that his bank account belonged to the Lord, and not only his soul. Are you ready for this? Very practical. Very searching, certainly.

But there is a principle involved here. There is no area of the Christian's life that is exempt from this principle, especially if we are thinking in terms of God's outpoured Spirit in revival. If we do have the expectation of revival, then remember that the principle of the cross enters into every single area of our lives without any possible exception at all.

Union With Christ and the Personal Cost of the Cross

For it is abundantly proved in the Word of God and in experience that no man amounts to very much in the service of God until and unless he has identified himself and died with Christ, signed, if you like, his own death warrant, and is able to say with the Apostle Paul that he is crucified with Christ, nevertheless he lives, yet not he, but Christ lives in him.

It is an important principle to understand. We come to the cross for salvation. It costs us nothing. But the Spirit of God applies his cross to us. That costs us everything. And this must enter very deeply and far-reachingly into our personal lives as believers.

So the principle, I think, is established quite clearly in experience and in the Word of God, that there are conditions to be fulfilled. There is a price to be paid for revival. It is not easy. It is a costly business.

Elijah, Ahab, and the Crisis on Mount Carmel

Now, I think it is a good thing to see a principle in action, to see it demonstrated. And this we have in 1 Kings 18, and commencing at verse 21. The first book of Kings 18, verse 21. This is our starting point in a remarkable record.

It is a record that demonstrates this very principle and shows us something of what is involved in the price for revival. Perhaps we had better set the story in its true perspective. This occurred that we are going to deal with tonight in the reign of Ahab, King Ahab.

And he was probably the most sinister king that Israel ever had. For the 22 years of his reign, the record shows that he did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. That is 1 Kings 16.

It is also to be noted that Zimri, his predecessor, had exactly the same record, so that Ahab was really following a bad example. But he went further. He took as his wife a woman from a heathen country.

And if you have known anything at all about the Old Testament, you will know that the name Jezebel is certainly something that evokes a picture of evil. This was Ahab's wife, his queen, Jezebel. It was she who introduced the worship of Baal in Israel.

And so it is understandable that because Ahab and Queen Jezebel established this terrible worship in Israel, that the indictment is recorded against them. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

That is 1 Kings 16 .33. There were elements in the worship of Baal too beastly to enumerate here. And this was the kind of thing that Israel were observing in their worship and in their loyalty. I think it is true to say, too, that in the vast majority of cases, the nation was swayed in this way and delighted to have it so.

A very small minority indeed refused to worship Baal and still looked to Jehovah. You remember, too, that the prophets of the Lord had been slain. And spirituality was at a very, very low ebb indeed. Things could not have been worse.

The situation seemed altogether hopeless. And so far as Israel was concerned, one would think you might as well write them off. There was no hope of revival or recovery for them. It was just then that Elijah the Tishbite, the man from the hills, began his ministry.

And through this one man's unshakable faith, revival came to the nation even at such a time as this. Because one man believed God and trusted in Him and had courage and faith toward God that things could be different.

First of all, he prophesied that no rain would fall upon the land except at the word of Jehovah through his lips. And this, of course, was a judgment upon the nation. And then for three and a half years, he seemed to disappear out of sight.

No one seemed to know where he was. But now, the hour has come. And he stands on Carmel Heights challenging the prophets of Baal. And he determined that he would summon the nation and confront them with what they had to do in order to be brought back into fellowship with the living God and to know the blessing of God upon their lives as a people and as individuals.

And in the unfolding story which I want to look at tonight just briefly, there are lessons about the price of revival which I think we ought to learn. And the first is this, that loyalty has to be tested.

Loyalty Must Be Tested

Verse 21 reads,. And Elijah came unto all the people and said, How long, haughty between two opinions, if the Lord be God, follow him, but if Baal, follow him? And the people answered him not a word. How long, haughty?

The word haught means to hop from one foot to another. Uncertain, changeful, vacillating, compromising, uncommitted. How long are you going to do this, he said? Now, make up your minds. Serve Jehovah if you are going to believe in him and follow him.

Serve Baal and follow him if he is the one you are going to believe in. And the issue is quite clear cut. And I am sure of this, that part of the price we have to pay for revival is an uncompromising loyalty to Jesus Christ where nothing is allowed to interfere and nothing cuts across the purpose and the will of God in relation to this matter of our faith toward God.

I suppose in their case, the choice to be made was between Baal and Jehovah. But in today's situation, the choice may be between the world and God. And many, I am afraid, are failing at this point, breaking down under this test of loyalty.

They want the world and they want God, but you cannot serve God and man. You cannot have both. If you like, it takes empty hands to hold the full price. The choice has to be made. I remember once in Melbourne in Australia, visiting a home.

It was the most beautiful house I have ever been in. So well established and so well furnished. They had a lovely rose garden, I remember. The man of the house took me out into this rose garden and it was really marvelous.

I said, you must be a very, very happy man. And I'll never forget how he put his hands on my shoulders, looked into my eyes and said, I'm about the most miserable man in Melbourne. I've got everything, you see.

And I've got nothing. Well, it was a shock to me to hear him say this. Then he told me how, when they got married, his wife determined that instead of going all out into the service of God, he ought to make some money first of all and establish himself in business and so on.

And he said, I made the sad mistake of listening to her. And the result is that I've got everything that this world could give me, or everything that I need, but I lack the one essential thing. My peace with God, you see.

My sense of the reality of God in my life that once I enjoy. Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. How long haunt ye between two opinions, the world or God, self or the Saviour, the flesh or the spirit, the material things of life or the spiritual values.

This is the loyalty that has to be tested eventually. And you know, if as the prophet says, if the Lord be God, follow him, it involves loyalty in many senses. Loyalty in worship. Here the test is to know that you are really worshipping the Father in spirit and in truth.

That your worship is on a personal basis. That it's not simply loyalty to a church, to a denomination, to a movement, to a group of people, but that you have established without any shadow of doubt, a personal relationship with God which makes it evident that you are worshipping him.

That your loyalty is to him and not to anyone else. How often friends can hinder us here. How often we have to pray that we might be saved from our friends. Loyalty in worship. It implies also loyalty in conduct.

If the Lord be God, follow him. Brought to the place where our actions and our motives and our reactions are under this test. Lord, what will thou have me to do? A thou and me relationship. Not thou and half a dozen other people and me.

Thou and me. When Saul of Tarsus cried out as he did in these words, it was surely a consciousness of conquest that made him ask the question. He was unhorsed. He was defeated. He was conquered. And he understood this.

Lord, what will thou have me to do? It was also a declaration of his personal devotion. Henceforth, thou and me, Lord. And no one else to interfere. Is this true of us tonight? Are we able to pass this test of loyalty?

When everything is brought to this point, what would the Lord have me to do? And we seek his face for guidance, for understanding, for comprehension of his will. And we are willing to do what he wants us to do.

It involves loyalty in service. In response to the question, how long a halty? Are we able to say, as Joshua did, as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I have made up my mind. I have pledged my loyalty.

I know what I am doing. I know where I am going. I know that I belong to him and he belongs to me. Whose I am and whom I serve. This is the test. You know, there is a further test of loyalty in this chapter, which is demonstrated in verses 30 to 32.

Part of which reads,. And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him. And he repaired the altar that was broken down. Elijah takes twelve stones, one for each tribe.

And with them he built an altar in the name of the Lord. With the stones he built an altar in the name of Jehovah. This act was a demonstration of a restored relationship on the part of the people. And he did this as a sign and a testimony against them.

It involved the whole nation in this symbolic action. And here the faith of Elijah in the ultimate triumph of God comes shining through. He has challenged the 450 prophets of Baal. And I am sure you know about this story.

Now it is time to prepare the way for God to manifest himself to the people. So the altar is ready to receive the sacrifice. Stone upon stone it is built, prepared. When it is ready, then he knows the next step which has to be taken.

Self-Sacrifice and Full Consecration

And this, of course, leads us to the second lesson that is taught us here about revival. What is it? In the price of revival, self-sacrifice is unstinted. Verse thirty-three. And he put the wood in order and cut the bullock in pieces and laid him on the wood.

The sacrifice was cut in pieces. For this was to be a whole burnt offering unto the Lord. A holocaust. A feast of celebration. An expression of consecration. And it symbolizes for us the absolute, complete and unqualified consecration of ourselves to God.

What Paul talks about when he writes to the Romans in chapter twelve, verses one and two, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service or your logical worship.

And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. This is it in the New Testament. Think of the appeal that is made here.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, not by the power of God, not by the holiness of God or the righteousness of God, but by the mercies of God. God loves us into living for Him. For before God ever causes us to come under the place of command, before ever God issues any demand upon us at all, He first sees to it that we are recipients of some special mercy.

This is always God's way. And do you know that the eighth chapter of Romans is packed with mercies? When Paul therefore says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, he is pointing them back to all those mercies in Romans chapter 8.

And having done that, surely we have a ground then in our approach to God for thanksgiving, for praise, for this holocaust, this celebration, this giving of ourselves unreservedly, unconditionally, back to God.

We have accepted Christ as our personal Saviour, it may be. We know a point in time when we close in with His offer of mercy, when He became our very own Saviour. But I ask you, my brother and my sister tonight, do we know this other work of grace?

Do we know this giving of ourselves completely and unreservedly to Him? Do we know what it is to see the altar filled? It is for this that God asks as part of the price that has to be paid if we are expecting and looking for revival in our day.

The action for which the Apostle asks, you remember, in Romans, is this. Present your body, a living sacrifice. Present, pahisteni, lay yourself beside God's altar. Don't ever try to get up onto that altar.

You will never make it. There is a law of self-preservation in human life that is tremendously strong. You will never make it. He doesn't expect it of you. All He wants is that you will go to Him, lay yourself beside His altar and say, Well, here I am, Lord, just as I am.

Take me. Do what you will with me. But bless me and make me a blessing. And when we reach this point, surely then our consecration is something which brings glory to God and blessing in our own lives and, thank God, an overflow to other people.

This is the action. And what is the argument here? He says it is your reasonable service or it is your logical worship. Worship is completely illogical unless this act of consecration has been performed.

We may draw near to God with our lips, but you take it from me, and I know you will back this home by experience, though you may do this. If you have got the single sneaking suspicion that something in your life is not yielded completely to God, then you know and I know that all the praying in the world never seems to accomplish anything.

You are drawing near to God with your lips, but your heart is far from Him, and you can never receive Him. He knows and you know. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that He present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your logical worship.

Be not conformed to this world. Don't allow yourself to be run into the mold of this world in its thinking, in its concepts, in its reasonings, but be transformed. Be ye being transformed. It is a process.

By the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God, that the will of God is good and acceptable and perfect. But you never prove this until you give yourself to Him in this way.

Reserved Rights and Unconditional Surrender

Do you know anything at all about the law of reserved rights? Well, it works this way. If you had a hundred acres and you sold ninety-nine, but kept one right in the middle for your own purposes, then according to the law of reserved rights, you have the perfect right to walk all over those ninety-nine acres into your own.

It's a tremendous thing, you know, when you can say, Well, I've given all to the Lord except this one little acre. The devil says, Yes, well, that belongs to me. That's my part. So he walks all over the rest to get to what really is his very own.

Is this how we conceive of consecration? Is this how we regard our giving of ourselves to God? Years ago in England, I remember for the first time in my life, I visited Huddersfield and I preached there in a teaching mission.

While I was there, I was told this story which I later found in one of Dr. Sangster's books. In the days when Huddersfield was only a little village, Sir John Ramsden was the big man in those days. He owned all of Huddersfield.

Except one house which belonged to a Quaker. And the Quaker was determined he wasn't going to sell. And so Sir John Ramsden came again and again. Finally, he arrived there and said, If you will sell me this house, he said, I'm willing to put a sovereign on every tile on the roof.

And the Quaker looked at him and said, Sir John, if thou wouldst stick them up on end, he said, I would not sell it to thee. And Sir John Ramsden went down the path to the gates thumping and flung the gate open and slammed it behind him.

Only to hear the Quaker say, Sir John, yes, what is it now? Huddersfield belongs to thee and to me. Isn't it a shocking thing when the devil can say that about any Christian? Lord Jesus, this man belongs to you and to me.

I've got a part there too. Is this how we regard it? Anything we hold back from the Lord, anything that He demands of us, and we retain it in our own possession, you can think of the law of reserve right if you wish.

But remember this, that until and unless we are prepared to pay the price of full surrender, then any thought of revival we may have is just an empty fantasy. It has no foundation at all. There's a price to be paid.

We said at the very beginning that this was sold. Tonight we would confirm it with all our hearts. The cost is great. The price has to be paid. What did Jesus say? For whosoever will save his life shall lose it.

And whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. So the giving of ourselves to God without qualification, without condition at all, this is involved in the price of revival. And we do make conditions, you know.

Lord, if you only do that for me, well, I'll do this for you. And we get down to a sort of a bargain counter relationship. I heard a woman in Rotary once say this, and I thought she was a very spiritual person.

I heard her say with my own ears, and I could hardly believe it. She said, I've told the Lord if He doesn't come through on this, I'm finished. I said, what do you mean, woman? Well, I've just told Him, she said.

He's got to answer this prayer or I'm through. I said, listen to me. If Jesus Christ never blessed you again from now to eternity, He has blessed you so mightily, so wonderfully, that throughout all eternity you could praise and glorify and magnify His name.

But I said, you come down to a Jacob relationship, and you want to bargain with Him. We do this sometimes unconsciously. But remember, if the consecration is to be acceptable to God, it must be absolutely unconditional and without any reservation at all.

For all that we are and have and own and hope to be belongs to Him. We say it. We sing it. We pray it. But do we really believe it? And has it happened in our lives? This is part of the test, surely, that comes.

Part of the price that has to be paid. You remember how Paul spoke about the grace of God he had seen displayed among the churches in Macedonia? And he says, and this they did, talking about the liberality of their giving, out of their great poverty, and this they did, not as we had expected, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God.

They not only gave of their substance, they gave of themselves. They gave completely over to Him. I heard some months ago about a young woman who was approached by a minister who was collecting for a missionary cause.

And she said, oh, I suppose, she said, do you want my donation again, going into a handbag and taking out some coins? He said, yes, I'd be very glad to receive your contribution, but it's you I want, isn't it?

You. I want you for Sunday school. And oh, what a fuss was made over that. Well, she was concerned. She would have given and given and given of her substance, but to give of herself, ah, that's different.

I ask you tonight in all humility, in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, conscious of all that He has done for us, have you really, truly given yourself unreservedly over to Him? This is the price of revival.

Sincerity Must Be Demonstrated

And I think it is demonstrated in the story which is unfolding in this chapter. Self-sacrifice is unstinted. And the third lesson concerning the price of revival that is present in this story is that here sincerity is demonstrated.

Verses 34 and 35. You know how a deep ditch was dug around the altar? And how Elijah instructed that four barrels of water should be brought? And the water was poured upon the sacrifice until it overflowed?

Verse 34,. And he said, Do it a second time. And they did it a second time. And he said, Do it a third time. And they did it a third time. Verse 35,. And the water ran round about the altar and filled the trench also with water.

What is Elijah doing here? The challenge agreed upon between Elijah and the prophets of Baal was this. The God who answers by fire, let Him be God. And now Elijah sets out to demonstrate the sincerity of his own expectation by soaking the sacrifice with barrels of water.

As much as to say, something more than the ordinary is going to ignite this. Not human, not natural, but something that is really divine. For God alone can kindle this fire. And through this action, Elijah's sincerity is placed beyond all shadow of doubt.

It is evident that in the Bible, God places a premium on sincerity. Even in the days of Joshua, in the beginnings of Israel's history, it is underlined. Joshua challenges the assembled host with these words, Thou therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth.

If you do this, then you will put away the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood and in Egypt, and serve He, the Lord. It reappears in the New Testament, in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians.

For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you all.

In godly sincerity. How much insincerity there is among Christians in our day. How insincere people can be even in their evaluation of other people and of things that happen and of their own spiritual experience, so called.

I think I mentioned when we were over in Gordon's house that I once visited Gloucester Cathedral. I had another occasion in Gloucester when I was holding a mission. I can recall that we had prayed very earnestly that God would bring in the unsaved people, the unconverted people.

But it was a cathedral city, and you know, it is a job to find sinners anyway. Everybody seemed to be so religious. And I came to about the last night of the mission, and there had been a few souls saved, but I said, Oh Lord, you know, praying quietly to the Lord, I do want to see someone saved here tonight.

And there came a man into the meeting who evidently, to me anyway, looked as if he needed saving. And I made my appeal, and he came down the aisle and with his head bowed, you know, and his shoulders stooped right down to where I stood.

And I was there waiting for him with my Bible under my arm. And I said, Oh, I said, I am so glad to see you, my friend. You want to give your life to Jesus Christ? Yes, sir, he said, that's right. I said, Are you sure now?

You do want to get saved. You do want to give your life over to Jesus. Yes, that's right. He said, I came here tonight, he said, with this idea in mind. I came to be converted and to see if I could get a pair of shoes size 9's in the same breath.

It was so disappointing. And I was all worked up thinking I was going to lead the soul to Christ. He wasn't really the least bit interested in anything but his pair of shoes. Ah, but to get back to the point.

How much insincerity there can be even in church life. But you know, when God begins to deal with people in preparation for revival, this is one of the things that appears. Again and again, God gets to grips with the inmost part of the life of the believer.

And many of these things which are glossed over, which are merely a veneer of spirituality, suddenly becomes exposed for what it is. People see beneath the surface in their own lives. And conviction begins to burn.

And then instead of saying, Save the people, Lord, they begin saying, Oh, God, save me from myself and from the things within that hinder my Christian walk and the lives of other people. Sincere. You remember how Paul prayed for the Philippians?

That they may approve things that are excellent. That they may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ. Some translate this word sincere, tested by sunlight, transparent. It was the insincerity and duplicity of Ananias and Sapphira in the early church that tempted the Spirit of God, so some believe, to leave the church.

Because in the full flesh of enthusiasm and revival fervor, here they were found trying to deceive the Spirit of God and to tempt the Holy Spirit and lying against the Spirit of truth. What a terrible thing it was and what a tremendous demonstration of the judgment of God ensued.

So you see, on the day the fire was to fall, Elijah made absolutely certain and sure that his sincerity was put beyond all shadow of doubt. And so must it be with us. God help us to be sincere with Him.

Sincere in our prayers. Sincere in our seeking. Sincere in our consecration. Not to play at religion, but to be sincere before God that the only thing we want is Himself. We are prepared to give ourselves, spirit, soul and body, sincerely to Him.

I tell you, my friends, this is one of the great prices that we have to pay for revival. When God begins to deal in this way in the areas of our lives, it isn't pleasant. It is very difficult indeed. I can recall a time in my life when I prayed and asked God, Show me myself, Lord, as You see me.

And make me indeed a sincere servant of Christ. And God so exposed my inner life to me, although I had been a Christian all those years, and filled with the Spirit all that time, revealed to me the things that He could see.

I am ashamed to confess that I came to the point of suicide. I felt I couldn't stand it anymore. And then God graciously came in and relieved me and delivered me and gave me a new outlook. It's not an easy thing.

In fact, unless you are prepared to mean business with God, well, forget about it. But how important this is, that we become sincere in all that we do and are and have before God. Not before people, but before Him.

Obedience as the Evidence of Surrender

A fourth lesson is taught relating to the price of revival, and it is this, that obedience is manifested. Verse 36,. And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known this day that Thou art God in Israel and that I am Thy servant and that I have done all these things according to Thy word.

Obedience is manifested. There is a commendable order in this prayer approach that I am sure you will notice. First, the preeminence of Jehovah. Let it be known that Thou art God in Israel. Second, the significance of the servant and that I am Thy servant.

Third, the obedience of the prophet. I have done all these things according to Thy word. It does us good to recall the words of Samuel. Familiar words, aren't they? Hath the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. What a tremendous thing this is. In the light of this, surely then, delayed obedience is personal disloyalty. However great the sacrifice we make in other areas of service, it never atones for little obedience in the thing which God requires.