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”Stand Forever” Ep. 8 | Death | Elder Lawrence E. Corbridge · Scripture Central

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  Those may be the most chilling words in all of Scripture.
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  The worst of all human conditions in this life is not
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  poverty, sickness, loneliness, abuse, war, or cruelty, as awful
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  as those conditions are. To be cut off from the presence
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  of God is both the worst and most common of all human
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  conditions, and there is no way out on our own.
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  Spiritual death is always just a misstep away, and ere He is
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  aware, He is left unto himself. We have all made mistakes.
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  We all sin, we all fall short, and on our own we can do nothing
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  to remedy that awful condition. Without God, death prevails.
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  Hello and welcome back. I am Larry Corbridge and this is
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  episode 8 of the Stand Forever series.
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  In the last two episodes we considered chaos and darkness
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  AS2 dimensions of the natural state of things which exist
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  without God, without God's greatest gifts, His Son, His
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  Spirit, and His life. Today we consider the third
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  dimension of the natural state of things, death.
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  Life as we know it begins with God, and without God death
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  prevails. Whether we believe it or not,
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  whether we acknowledge Him or not, we live and breathe by the
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  grace of God. With each beat of our heart God
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  put into man His Spirit, which is the breath of life, He said.
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  And I, the Lord God, form man from the dust of the ground, and
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  breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
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  And man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth,
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  the first man also. Nevertheless, all things were
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  before created, but spiritually were they created and my and
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  made according to My Word, and out of the ground, made I the
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  Lord God to grow every tree naturally that is pleasant to
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  the side of man, and man could behold it, and it became also a
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  living soul. Yeah, even all things which I
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  prepared for the use of man. Paul, when he revealed the
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  unknown God on Mars Hill, said, This God that made the world and
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  all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth,
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  dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is
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  worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything,
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  saying He giveth to all life and breath and all things.
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  For in Him we live and move and have our being, as certain also
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  of our own poets have said, for we are also His offspring.
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  King Benjamin similarly spoke of Him who has created you from the
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  beginning and is preserving you from day-to-day by lending you
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  breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your
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  own will and the even supporting you from one moment to another.
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  Much the same can be said about spiritual life.
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  Speaking of Christ, John said all things were made by him and
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  without Him was not anything made that was made.
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  In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
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  Of all the problems we encounter in this life, there is one that
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  towers above them all and is least understood.
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  The worst of all human conditions in this life is not
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  poverty, sickness, loneliness, abuse, war, or cruelty in all of
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  its diabolical variations, as awful as those conditions are.
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  Rather, the worst of all human conditions is also the most
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  common. It is to die, that is, it is to
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  die spiritually. It is to be separated from the
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  presence of God, and in this life His presence is His spirit
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  or power. The plan of salvation is
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  premised on very harsh realities whenever we sin, where, whether
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  we, whether grave or small, we become impure, and no unclean
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  thing can dwell in the presence of God.
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  God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance.
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  In this condition. We can neither dwell in His
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  presence after this life nor can have His presence or power
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  dwelling with us in this life. As with Adam and Eve, our eyes
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  are open because of our transgressions and because of
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  our experience. We learn something about choices
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  to some extent. We gain the knowledge of good
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  and evil. That is a positive thing, but it
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  comes at a very high price, the experience by which we are
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  educated. We are also condemned, both
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  blessed and cursed, because we have transgressed the
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  commandments of God in the process, and we fall unworthy to
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  remain in God's presence and are cast out.
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  Like Adam and Eve, we suffer spiritual death.
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  By the time we are educated, we are also lost.
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  The price of our tuition is far more than what we can pay.
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  By the time we learn to choose well, by the time we begin to
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  figure things out, it is too late.
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  We experience darkness, confusion, misery, pain, and
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  turmoil associated with our mistakes and sins.
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  And we want out. We want light, clarity, joy,
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  peace, confidence. We want sweetness, pleasure,
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  love, and truth. We want rest.
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  We want what we can never have through our merits and works
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  alone, no matter how well we choose ever after.
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  The best of all human conditions is not wealth, fame, prestige,
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  good health, the honors of men, or security is wonderful as some
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  of those things are. The best of all human conditions
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  in this life is life. It is to be born again, endowed
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  with heavenly power, to receive the Holy Ghost, which is life
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  and the source of knowledge, revelation, strength, clarity,
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  Lovejoy, peace, hope, confidence, faith, and almost
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  every other good thing. King Benjamin said that the
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  Spirit of the Lord is how we are blessed, prospered, and
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  preserved. Our absolute dependence on God
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  for life, as well as every other good thing is true spiritually
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  as well as physically. Life is precarious and fragile
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  in in both realms. We live in a universe which is
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  hostile to life. That that we live at all is
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  beyond human explanation. Even on Earth, in a solar
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  system, and in a corner of our Galaxy that is incomprehensibly
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  fine-tuned to sustained life, we are still extremely vulnerable
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  to death. Death is always just a heartbeat
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  away. Our world is also hostile to
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  spiritual life. That we live at all in the
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  spiritual sense is also beyond human explanation.
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  Even on earth, with a few pockets of safety compatible
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  with the Spirit of God, we are extremely vulnerable to
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  spiritual death. Spiritual death is always just
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  just a misstep away. We all die spiritually and
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  standing alone. Our only and inevitable
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  conclusion is ever increasing chaos, darkness, and
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  irredeemable death. That universal condition is what
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  King Benjamin called, as I've said before, our awful
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  situation. It is awful because spiritual
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  death to be cut off from the presence of God is both both the
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  worst and most common of all human conditions.
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  And there is no way out on our own in our day.
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  The Lord says, whenever we undertake to cover our sins, or
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  to gratify our pride or vain ambition, or to exercise control
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  or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of man
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  in any degree of unrighteousness, the heavens
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  withdraw themselves. The Spirit of the Lord is
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  grieved. And ere He is aware and listen
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  to these chilling words, ere he is aware, he is left unto
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  himself. Those may be the most chilling
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  words in all of Scripture. In ere he is aware, he is left
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  unto himself. Before you know it, you are left
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  alone. You don't want to be alone, cut
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  off from the presence of God. Loneliness is awful, but never
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  so awful as to be cut off from the presence of the Lord.
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  That is abject loneliness. A man who renounced his
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  membership in the church said this.
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  When the Spirit of the Lord leaves your soul, it is the most
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  empty, sad and depressing feeling a person can ever go
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  through. Another who lost his membership
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  in the church adds. I felt the immediate withdrawal
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  of what little I had left of the Spirit.
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  I will never forget the void, a woman observed.
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  I don't think I truly understood or appreciated the blessings I
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  had until they were gone. And when they were gone, there
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  was an emptiness I had never known before, the most
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  devastating consequence suffered by Adam and Eve and by all of
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  us. It's not physical death, nor the
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  suffering, disease, injury and decay that often attends it.
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  Know the worst by far is being cast out of the presence of God,
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  which is spiritual death, because no unclean thing can
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  dwell on the presence of God. They were cut off, separated
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  physically and spiritually, and as far as they knew, they were
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  lost and alone with no way back. We are punished for our own sins
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  and not for Adam's transgression.
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  And all we, as Isaiah said, all we like sheep, have gone astray.
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  We have turned everyone to his own way.
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  We have all made mistakes. We all sin.
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  We all fall short, and again, the Lord cannot look upon sin
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  with the least degree of allowance, and we are cut off
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  from the presence of the Lord. In Matthew's account of the
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  Sermon on the Mount, Christ begins by succinctly framing the
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  essential problems, saying blessed are the poor in spirit,
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  for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
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  The beginning of the process of becoming converted unto the Lord
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  is the recognition of our need for a Savior, to recognize that
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  on our own we are poor in spirit, and on our own we can do
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  nothing to remedy that awful condition.
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  Without God and His Son, without his spirit and life, chaos,
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  darkness, and death prevail. The essential problem in life is
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  separation from God our Father. Gratefully now we will turn our
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  attention to the solution of our awful situation in the next
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  several episodes. I hope you will join me then.