Text:I Samuel 15
Today is a wonderful day and exciting to be sharing in an act of obedience for three followers of Christ. Three people in our church want to be obedient and follow Christ in baptism. This is always exciting and we are thrilled to be a part of the spiritual journeys of others.
Obedience is always a celebration.
I our passage for today we see the example of disobedience. Saul had many issues but here we see that he did not obey the voice of the Lord. For many reasons, some we know and some we do not, Saul spared the life of King Amalek and apparently others as well. Saul also took spoils of the war which was in direct disobedience to the Lord. He then tries to blame others and we see many issues of the flesh that you and I deal with every day. It is so easy to disobey at times and then when we are caught red handed, we usually blame others instead of taking responsibility for our own actions. The blame game has been played literally since the beginning of time.
Samuel tells Saul that the Lord does to desire sacrifice but obedience. You and I have full forgiveness of sin and we are made righteous through the blood of Christ. Too many times we use the grace of God as a free pass to sin instead of allowing this grace to compel us to love and serve the Lord more purely. We must remember that God Almighty desires obedience first and foremost.
Baptism is such a step of obedience. The Bible gives us many clear examples and even flat out says that it does not wash away the filth of the flesh. Baptism is a procure of what Christ has done for the believer. We have forgiveness of sin through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. Nothing more and nothing less. Baptism is the first step of obedience for the believer and it signifies the choice of His child to identify in the suffering and life of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We should always celebrate obedience and pray for those who take such a step. Satan and the flesh desires to distract and hold back the children of God. However, greater is Christ in us than anyone or anything in this old world. May obedience be a challenge for us all this week to live victoriously in the Spirit.