No Substitutes for Obedience

King Saul never stopped being religious. He swore oaths in God's name, built an altar, fought the LORD's battles, and kept back the best of the spoil to sacrifice. And God rejected him anyway. In the finale of our Rise and Rejection series through 1 Samuel, we arrive at the words that expose every one of us: "to obey is better than sacrifice" (15:22). Across these two chapters Saul hands God three substitutes for real obedience, and God refuses all three, pointing us to the one King who held nothing back.