And he spake this parable
unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous,
and despised others:
Two men went up into the temple to pray;
the one a Pharisee,
and the other a publican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,
God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are,
extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week,
I give tithes of all that I possess.
And the publican, standing afar off,
would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,
but smote upon his breast, saying,
God be merciful to me a sinner.
I tell you,
this man went down to his house justified rather than the other:
for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased;
and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Luke 18:9-14
That passage reminds me of the importance of the fear of God,
The reverence we should all have
not to think we have it all figured out,
not to think of ourselves better than others,
not to consider anything within our strength or power
or doing in any act in our human strength can save us
Pride was in the sacrifices the Pharisee was referring to
He was trusting in his own strength
He was proud and boastful before God
While the Pharisee was doing the right things,
it was negated because he was trusting in those things
He was trusting in himself
that he had done as sacrifices to earn points with God
and, in effect, he thought he was really great
Obedience is better than sacrifice
Humility before the Lord
is better than giving up something
or doing things
we think of as important,
much better than sacrifice
To what purpose is the multitude
of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord:
I am full of the burnt offerings of rams,
and the fat of fed beasts;
and I delight not in the blood of bullocks,
or of lambs, or of he goats. Isaiah 1:11
The sacrifices that we do are not important to the Lord,
They help us to be disciplined
They help us to focus
But as an act to the Lord, they are not at the same level as obedience
Even the priests,
when they did the sacrifices,
they were admonished to follow the rituals precisely:
And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy,
and between unclean and clean Leviticus 10:10
There were very specific details they were to follow
If you read Leviticus 8-10, you will see very specified instructions
of how to sprinkle the blood and other specificities of the offerings
each one was a mandate from the Lord
and had they missed any one directive,
they would have been doing things their own way
and not honoring the Lord God Almighty
You will see in each instance here
that the following people were humble before the Lord,
putting obedience to the Lord above their own ideas:
Naaman, the captain of the guard,
was cleansed of leprosy by Obedience (2 Kings 5:8-14)
The widow’s vats were filled with oil because of Obedience (2 King 4:4)
Noah’s life and the life of his family
was spared because of Obedience (Genesis 7:1)
Moses led Israel from Egypt and parted the Red Sea
because of Obedience (Exodus 14:21)
Joseph saved his entire family due to his Obedience (Genesis 42:6)
Esther saved the Jews’ destruction because of Obedience (Esther 4:14)
Rahab was spared due to Obedience (Joshua 6:25)
For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves:
it is the gift of God:
Not of works,
lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
God is not pleased with boasting
It is like a slap in the face to Him,
that the person is completing the act
and not accepting God’s word
We do our good works unto Him, for Him
through the Holy Spirit as acts of humility,
obedience that is pleasing in His sight
because we are then synchronized with His Holy Spirit
operating in His strength and wisdom,
allowing Jesus to direct our lives
Scriptural References:
And it was so, when Elisha the man of God
had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes,
that he sent to the king, saying,
Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes?
let him come now to me,
and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel.
So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot,
and stood at the door of the house of Elisha.
And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying,
Go and wash in Jordan seven times,
and thy flesh shall come again to thee,
and thou shalt be clean.
But Naaman was wroth,
and went away, and said,
Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me,
and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God,
and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
Are not Abana and Pharpar,
rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?
may I not wash in them, and be clean?
So he turned and went away in a rage.
And his servants came near,
and spake unto him, and said,
My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing,
wouldest thou not have done it?
how much rather then, when he saith to thee,
Wash, and be clean?
Then went he down,
and dipped himself seven times in Jordan,
according to the saying of the man of God:
and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child,
and he was clean. 2 Kings 5:8-14