Latest / Scripture Central / 3 Nephi 27–4 Nephi | Oct 21–27 | John W. Welch & Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon

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3 Nephi 27–4 Nephi | Oct 21–27 | John W. Welch & Lynne Hilton Wilson | Come Follow Me Book of Mormon · Scripture Central

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Hello, Welcome back to Scripture Central.
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I'm Lynn Hilton Wilson. And I'm Jack Welch, and we're
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very happy to have you here for five very exciting chapters
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today. It's at the very end of our
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Savior's ministry. He came back multiple times
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after his three days with them. And we get to finish that up and
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then have the wonderful period of peace followed by some tragic
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historical changes in Fourth Nephi.
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And that'll be our this week's Come Follow Me lesson.
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As you're studying, obviously you want to go through each of
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the chapters, but the first one, chapter 27, spend the most time
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on it is really the go to place for Jesus's own definition of
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what he means by his gospel. I just want to remind us that it
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was President Benson who said the type of the second coming of
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Jesus Christ is typified in the Book of Mormon.
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And so 4th Nephi is very appropriate for us to learn
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about. Third Nephi is very appropriate
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for us to learn about. But the whole pattern is what
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I'm trying to suggest. Before the millennial reign, we
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are going to be repeating these things that have been taught in
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the Book of Mormon. And then the Millennium will
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continue on as 4th Nephi did. Yes, much longer than just the
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200 years so. There's lots to look forward to
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here. Let's dive in to the text.
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Chapter 27 verse one begins that the disciples had been praying
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and as these 12 were journeying and preaching, it says that they
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were gathered together and were united in mighty prayer and
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fasting. And I wanted to ask you the
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difference between my prayers and mighty prayer.
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You know, most of my prayers are good, sincere requests to the
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Lord, are trying to hear his voice, trying to do his will.
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But mighty prayer, the times when I have really been praying
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and fasting, when a child has been on the verge of death, or,
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you know, just times when I'm just pleading for God's help,
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there is a increased power of faith that the Spirit brings,
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and I was touched by that. Praise, mighty prayer and
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fasting. That is a wonderful personal
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testimony and it's true, I know that.
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I think here too it may mean that it's mighty because they
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are all praying together when you have a united prayer of a
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ward council or a high council. Or a family.
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Family prayer. We unite our faith and prayers
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together and each one becomes stronger.
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So the mighty prayer there, I think, might have shown that
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they, as 12 disciples, had truly come together in unity and had
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unitedly wished to hear more from the Savior.
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I imagine that's what they were praying.
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For well, it says they're praying because I have a
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question and there's not just a question, but there's been
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contentions. Unfortunately, in verse 2, the
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Lord actually comes to answer their prayer, not just the
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Spirit. And he asks them, what will ye
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that I should give unto you? And then in verse 3-4 and five,
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they talk about these contentions and disputations
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that had been among them. And I'm fascinated with the way
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the Lord answered their prayer because I see him doing the same
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thing for me. He says, have you not read the
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scriptures? You know, if we need an answer
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to our prayer, it's usually right here in this text.
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The Lord expects us to know these and to use these as we're
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seeking guidance and direction in our lives.
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So verse five, say go back and look at your Scripture.
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But then he also talks about how murmuring and contentions and
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disputations have got to stop. You know he denounced it when he
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first came back in Chapter 11. And I think that the disciples
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knew that. Yeah, but he said the church
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members are having a hard time, so we got to get an answer here.
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And I think when as a family or church leaders, when we he
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recognized that there's a problem, we can either choose to
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muddle through on our own, or we can say, let's all get on the
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same page here and let's get the Lord's will on what we should
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do. And I think that's what they've
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done. And it's not just on spiritual
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matters and in family matters. I feel like we have got to.
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Our prophets has to be peacemakers.
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Our Savior asked us to be peacemakers.
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You know, we need to be a people who can mediate and harmonize
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and emphasize what we need to emphasize.
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Yeah. So what was the answer that they
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got? Well, amazingly, Jack, the
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answer is in a chiastic structure.
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Can you believe that? Of course I can.
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It usually is when an Angel speaks and the Lord speaks, it
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usually is. So let's read verse 7 and 9, and
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I've got it written on our slide here.
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In case you're watching the video in a, you can see where
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the chiastic parallels come in. Verse 7 says, therefore
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whatsoever you shall do, you shall do it in my name.
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And I'm just so grateful that there's power in the name of the
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Lord. And it's not just when we're
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willing to take upon it, but when we use it, we are
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empowered. I believe this.
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He continues on. You shall call upon the Father
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in my name that he will bless the church for my sakes.
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And then here's the second point.
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How be it my church? Save it be called by my name.
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And then he talks about in the middle, you know, if it's going
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to be Moses's church, it'll be Moses's name.
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If it's another man's church, it'll be another man's name.
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And that's not just a rhetorical trivial statement.
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Of course. If it's Moses's church, it will
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be called by his name. But it's also a consequential
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thing that if it is called by some other name, then it can't
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be the Church of Jesus Christ. And in fact, he says it's either
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the man's church or it's the devil's, which I think is a
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little scary because the devil is constantly trying to
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counterfeit our Savior and so he is making it look like his.
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How can we say that in a gentle way?
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We don't want to talk about the Church of the Devil.
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No, no, no. Although Nef, I did say
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ultimately there are only two churches.
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But I personally believe that there are some phenomenal
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Christians. My neighbors, I feel, are the
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most devout, prayerful, sincerely devoted worshippers of
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our Savior Jesus Christ and that they are receiving the power and
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direction of God in their lives as they strive to carry out.
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And this, this has happened to me throughout my whole life.
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I've been in contact with wonderful, wonderful, sincere
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people and some of them are not all Christians, but most of them
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are. So I know that God is using
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people in all walks of life to carry out goodness and peace in
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the earth. So how do we say watch out the
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devil might be leading you astray gently.
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I think that for me it's how do we know it's the spirit?
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I think we have to identify the spirit and then we can identify
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the adversary. How about you?
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What do you find? What I was thinking here was
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that it's not bad to be following a good man.
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And if you want to follow a, a, a man, a philosopher, a leader,
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a peacemaker, that's OK. And that's going to be
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beneficial. But it will only really be
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operative here within what we might call the mortal sphere.
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And if we want to be doing things that will be valid and
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binding and actually related to our Heavenly Father and Jesus
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Christ eternally, you know, most philosophies don't even make a
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claim to have power that goes beyond the mortal.
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Eternal ramifications, yeah. So it it may again just be a
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statement of fact. Of course, if it's only a Church
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of mortal people, well, that's as far as its power should be
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expected to go. And that's not bad.
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But it's not everything. And what Joseph and I think what
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the Lord wants for us all was is the fullness of the gospel.
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And we have to be then ready to receive more and realize that we
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don't have it all yet either. Maybe that helps as.
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Well, I think it's interesting as the Savior speaks about the
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name of the church, he then builds a bridge to the gospel
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and he introduces it by saying in verse 10, the church is built
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upon my gospel. It's not enough just to have the
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name of Christ, you have to have the name of Christ and the
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gospel of Christ. So now he's going to go and talk
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about the gospel as a different entity than the church.
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And he continues on. He says, But if it be not built
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upon my gospel, and it's built upon the works of men, or upon
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the works of the devil, very I say unto you, They have their
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joy in their works for a season, which is just what you said.
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It's what we're talking about exactly.
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And then the end cometh. So verse 11 is exactly what you
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said. And your picture of the bridge
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reminds me of Elder Stevenson's recent talk.
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So are you suggesting that the name and the gospel might be the
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two twin towers here? That's what I was doing on this
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one, yeah. Although I really need three
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because he talks about the name, the gospel, and the doctrine.
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We can play with that just a little.
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Maybe the name and the doctrine are the two towers and the way
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of the gospel is the road that goes between the two towers that
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takes you from one side to the other because one of the towers
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if you don't have the the way or the road.
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And I think that's what we find when Jesus says, well, So what
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is my gospel? That's verse 13.
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He's already a couple times referred to my gospel and
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although they don't ask, would you explain that a little more,
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He rightly anticipates that we will all wonder what is meant by
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my gospel. Back in 30 by 11 on the first
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day, Jesus in speaking to these same 12 disciples, gave a
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definition of his doctrine. In the doctrine was basically
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faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost and
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enduring to the end. And now he wants to say there's
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there's more because the doctrine is what you might say
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the the basic ordinances, but the gospel gives the reasons for
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and the whole process of returning to God and being then
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judged accordingly. And that's the way this the
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gospel is defined in this chapter 27, there are 10 verses
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from verse 13 to 22. And I think these 10 verses,
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they they should be cited even more often than they are more
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explicitly. We speak of these elements in
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the gospel often, but I think to turn to this statement by Jesus
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and use it as a kind of an article of faith to to say we're
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not just creating this as a summary, but this is Jesus's own
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view of what his gospel, his good news, is really all about.
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When we have it defined by Paul and by Peter, I feel I'm so
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grateful for Luke's account in Acts where we have it defined a
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little bit. But here it's in first person.
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Verse 13. Behold, I have given unto you my
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gospel, and this is the gospel. And then he outlines it right?
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And #1 his gospel, it goes back to the pre mortal life.
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I came and did the Father's will.
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He had a mission. Jesus knew that, and that was
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his primary purpose in life, and he knew that it would culminate
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even on the cross. His second point is that he was
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lifted up so that we could also be lifted up in the
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resurrection. And isn't that tragic?
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He's lifted up to torture and death and suffering, and we're
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lifted up to joy and healing because of his.
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That is so beautiful. Yeah.
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And Jack, I'm touched by the fact that he says himself, the
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father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross, you
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know, that my whole mission was for this death so that I could
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be resurrected. I it's, it's it's it's important
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to remember that his atoning sacrifice was the entire Passion
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Yosemite all the way through Golgotha till the resurrection.
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That's right. And there are there are a couple
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books and chapters in books that really describe this very well.
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This might be a great point to just mention these because all
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of you out there listening to this, we hope that you will.
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For example, in this book on 3rd Nephi, there's a a chapter which
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is wonderful, Chapter 12 by Andy Skinner and it's called Jesus's
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Gospel defining discourse in 3rd Nephi 2713 to 21, these very
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verses and he calls it the doctrinal apex of his new world
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visit. So this is really the climax,
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the culmination of all that he's wanting to say.
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And this book is available at scripturecentral.org on our
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Archive tab, so you can read it for free.
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And he goes through step by step the things we're going to talk
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about now. There's also a chapter in a book
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called Approaching Zion, which is brand new in terms of being
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available on the archive at Book of Mormon Central.
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But it's not brand new because it's by Hugh Nibley, written a
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long time ago, so it's been percolated throughout other
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texts as well. But this is an excellent
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resource. And it's chapter 18 and it's
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called the meaning of the Atonement.
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And of course, the gospel means good news.
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And Brother Nibley starts by saying this is the real good
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news. But he goes on, These are
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really, really worth a lot of time.
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And, and again, they're on the website free.
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And we hope that people will take great advantage of them.
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But let's continue and just go down through what Jesus
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outlines. These chapters go in great depth
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and go into as a topic like Ted Collister's book on the infinite
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atonement. There's so much to be said about
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these things, but isn't it wonderful that Jesus can boil it
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all down to these few words that can be understood by everyone?
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10 verses. Let's continue the the second
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point is that the reason that we are to be resurrected is what so
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that we can stand before God to be judged and whether our works
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are good or evil. So that the whole purpose, I
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mean, obviously resurrection will ultimately end in
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glorification and eternal life, but the first stop will be
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judgment and we will be judged on whether we have repented and
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are baptized and have been filled with the Holy Ghost and
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have endured to the end. Now that's the doctrine.
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So the doctrine gives us what the final exam questions will be
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in a way, and we're going to be asked, were we faithful?
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Did you repent of everything you should have?
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Yeah, I love the way verse 16 says that whoso repenteth and is
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baptized in my name shall be filled.
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And I always add on that filled in my mind the same thing he
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said back in chapter 14, filled with the Holy Ghost.
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And and don't slide too quickly over the word endure, because
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that, of course, is the long range.
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All of our life we endure where we endure when we are durable
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and something that is durable is actually firm and steadfast and
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immovable. Those kind of words.
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And if we are all of these things, especially if we endure,
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Jesus says that the gospel will then guarantee that we will be
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held guiltless. In verse 16, the idea of being
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not guilty, of course that's in a sense a judicial verdict that
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we're being held or exonerated and not being guilty.
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But it's more than just that. Especially in light of the fact
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that we have to receive the Atonement.
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Guiltless is that the Savior will cleanse us.
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And that's what the Scriptures on other occasions will refer to
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as being justified. And this is the part of the
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gospel of Jesus that we can refer to as justification.
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Now, Brother Skinner makes this point very clearly, that there's
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more than just being justified. And what's the other step that's
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coming next? If we are found justified, and
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if #3 we are pure, we have no uncleanness about us, and our
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garments have been washed in the blood of Christ, then we are
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sanctified, and being sanctified will bring us into a very high,
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exalted, holy state. And it says in verse 20 that we
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will be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost,
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which is so different than other people's understanding of our
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baptism and our confirmation. Joseph Smith restored through
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the Spirit of God this very message that it is the Spirit
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that is the cleansing agent of our Savior's atonement.
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And verse 20 says it right here. The the Holy Ghost is ultimately
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the purifier. How many functions does the Holy
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Ghost have? Oh, I've counted them up.
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There's a lot. I remember a training session
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that Elder Merrill Bateman gave to faculty members at BYU and he
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he just said, well, let's put as many of them up on the board.
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And it was in a large room with whiteboards on three sides.
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We filled all sides of those whiteboards with different roles
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and functions of the Holy Ghost. And that was before we had a
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cell phone. And so I don't have a picture of
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it, but I wish I did. And the point is obviously that
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the Holy Ghost has many, many functions.
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And giving us a testimony, helping us to know the right way
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to go, Having love in our hearts, all the blessings of the
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Spirit. The Holy Spirit of promise to
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seal our ordinances. And week.
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The list, like I said, goes on and on.
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But ultimately, it will be to sanctify, to make us holy.
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Like we talked about last week, yeah.
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So the final thing that Jesus mentions in verse 21 regarding
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my gospel is that we aren't left alone to try to figure this out
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as independent operators, He said I will give you my church
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and my church will do these things.
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These are the things that you must do in my church.
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And if you do these things, you will then have all of these
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blessings, and they are the things Jesus said.
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That I have done. That's why I love this image of
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a bridge. They really are integrated.
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The name of Christ, the church, the gospel, the doctrine, it has
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to work in harmony in order to have the same successful
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blessings of our Savior has intended for us.
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Wonderful. So isn't that a definitive,
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inspired, authoritative definition of the gospel?
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And we began this little discussion by saying that, well,
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these 12 disciples, they had a question and that even started
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arguing about it. Or at least this Saints did.
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Or somebody was, yeah. Yeah, and they needed to have an
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answer. And Jesus says, we'll hear this
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is my gospel. And they went to the Lord for
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their answer. And he gave it.
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So for all of these reasons, I think we should note that Third
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Nephi Chapter 11 is the most frequently cited chapter in 3rd
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Nephi in General Conference, and 3rd Nephi 27 is only a slight
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difference below that. And so it is the second most
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important. And I think it's because we
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refer to all of these points so often and they will be cited by
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one verse or another. But to see the whole package
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together, you might call it, and going from the premortal world
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to the judgment after this world, that is the gospel, the
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eternal gospel. And in 27 he keeps talking about
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the judgment. I love this.
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I don't know if this if the 12 had already understood this or
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not, but he says no, ye not. So I think maybe they didn't
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know it. I don't know that ye shall judge
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this people according to the judgments which I shall give
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unto you, which shall be just. Therefore what manner of men
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ought ye to be? Verily, verily, I say unto you,
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even as many uses the sacred name, I am.
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And of course that's a change from the New Testament.
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Before he said the Father was perfect, but I'm not perfect
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yet. And of course, here now he's
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saying if you're going to be a judge, I need you to be as I am.
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And a judge in Israel, of course, bishops are charged with
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that responsibility. And this verse is really the
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basic training session. This is the instruction for how
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you should judge and how you should be a Bishop.
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We also are invited to judge within whatever stewardship we
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have. And we're not just invited, we
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have an obligation to do what Jesus would do under those
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circumstances. And that's what he's saying
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here. In fact, that goes back to the
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purpose of life. Even from the Garden of Eden,
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they are given the opportunity to come to Earth, that they may
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distinguish for themselves between good and evil.
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In my mind, that means I need you to choose.
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I need you to make a judgement between right and.
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Wrong, and we need all the help we can get.
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And that's why we need the Spirit.
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The good help and the Gospel and the Bishop and the scriptures
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and all the help we can get. The only other thing I want to
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mention about this chapter is he then prophecies that in 32 verse
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32 of 27 it's saw with me because of the 4th generation.
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From this generation they are LED away captive by him who even
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as he was the son of perdition. For they will sell me for silver
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and gold, and that which moth death corrupt money is such a
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problem. The desire for riches, the
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desire for wealth, the desire to have the things of the world is
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not as important as the desire to have things of God.
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Yeah, this is just tragic. That is what the Lord says the
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problem was. And of course, he has mentioned
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that back in what we call this sermon at the Temple of the
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Sermon on the Mount. Lay up your treasures in heaven,
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and lay them not where moth can corrupt, and so on.
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And then in verse 33, he also finishes with an allusion back
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to the way he finished the sermon at the temple in here in
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3514. Enter ye in at the straight
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gate, or straight as the gate, and narrow is the way that leads
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to life, and few there be that find it.
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He's quoting himself there, of course.
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He's also giving a second witness of his voice again.
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And this word straight here is not a straight line.
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It means challenging, difficult, narrow, and I we have to see the
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temple illusions here as well. And he adds 1 little detail at
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the end here that says the wide way the Broadway ends with
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death. In other words, it doesn't
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continue beyond this life, and many there are that travel
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therein until the night cometh, wherein no man can work longer.
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But Jesus doesn't stop there. Chapter 28 goes on and oh.
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This is fabulous. And then he has other words to
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speak, and he speaks to his disciples.
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It says 1 by 1. Well, I'm fascinated with the
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fact that he asks them starting off with what do you desire?
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You know, what do you want? And he mentions this word desire
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over and over again. It's, you know, 6789 times times
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starting in verse 1 of chapter 28.
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What is it that ye desire of me now?
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He asked them that at the beginning when they had that
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question, what question is yours?
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But he's been talking to them now for a while.
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Most of them said, we desire that after we have lived unto
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the age of a man that our ministry wherein thou has called
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us may have an end, that we may speedily come unto thee in thy
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Kingdom. But as we know, our hearts
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desires often lead to our actions.
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And that to me is the beauty of the plan of salvation.
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The Lord will allow us to be where we want to be, where we
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really feel the most at home and our desires lead to our actions.
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And that's why these wonderful members of the 12 chose this.
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Well, and this is a righteous desire that we we'd love to be
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in your presence and let we'll work here.
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But there are three You know who hung back?
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The three that who who say, you know, we'd like to stay a little
26:33
longer. They're reticent to say it.
26:35
I wonder if they don't obviously understand that when we go to
26:40
the other side, we continue to work on the other side.
26:44
Yeah, yeah, of course. And anyway, they are given a
26:49
translated state to let us know that life does continue after
26:54
death. And I think that there are many
26:57
souls that linger more closely and more eagerly to this side of
27:01
the veil, wanting to help, to see that the work goes forward,
27:06
wanting to complete some things that they didn't quite finish
27:09
with whatever it was they were doing with their family or their
27:12
life. But these 3 Nephites have become
27:16
really quite a, a symbol of the for us, they were a reality, but
27:22
they're a symbol for us of this next stage that there's, there
27:27
is an interim between death and the final judgement and they
27:33
continue to work in that mode. Well, and I'm also fascinated
27:35
that they are not the first ones.
27:37
Obviously, the Lord says my beloved John requested the same
27:40
thing. I think when the early pioneers
27:43
were coming across the plains, there are many stories of some
27:47
strange being that they'd never seen.
27:49
A person that had never walked down the street before comes
27:52
knocks on the door, does something amazing and vanishes.
27:56
And they say it must have been one of the three Nephites.
27:58
And won't it be wonderful, when all things are revealed, that
28:03
they'll be able to get a little credit for what they've done and
28:06
we'll be able to say thanks. And their ability to to move and
28:13
to be in certain places is inspiring because they can come
28:19
wherever they might need be needed.
28:21
Well, I'm touched that the Savior even tells them go down
28:23
to verse 7 in chapter 28. It says more blessed are these
28:27
three. You know, the others are you did
28:29
a wonderful thing. You asked for something
28:31
terrific, but these this ability to serve and work and I don't
28:36
know if they knew what they were getting in for.
28:38
You know, they don't have physical pain, we're told, but
28:41
the emotional pain of watching people choose that leave the
28:46
Savior's teaching over and over and over for centuries and
28:50
centuries. And maybe the disappointment of
28:53
being anonymous and also, like you say, trying and not seeing
28:59
it work, but being frustrated by having an awareness of what
29:06
needs to be done and not quite being able to bring it about.
29:08
You know, that's really quite inspiring to to help us become
29:12
more aware of these kinds of things, that the Lord has
29:16
provided many resources for us, many powers, and we need all we
29:23
can get. I also believe that when we do
29:25
anonymous works and we don't receive any credits and we are
29:29
not acknowledged, we can just chalk it up for a blessing in
29:33
heaven. And even if you don't feel
29:35
appreciated in this life, our Savior sees all and appreciates
29:40
everything. I I believe that wholeheartedly.
29:44
What what great role models they are for all of us in that.
29:48
So what comes next? Well, they never taste of death.
29:51
They were told that they have no physical pain.
29:53
However, it's interesting because people didn't believe
29:58
that and, and so Mormon says they tried to bury him, they
30:01
tried to throw him in pits, they put him in fires, you know, they
30:04
wouldn't. They put him in with wild
30:06
animals twice and they never were killed, you know, So he
30:10
gives a little history there in in this chapter 28 verses 19 to
30:15
22 of these challenges. But interestingly, he doesn't
30:18
know exactly what have a physical state they're in.
30:20
And you know, Joseph Smith revealed a lot about
30:22
transfiguration and translation and the differences between
30:27
these things. But I'm also touched that
30:29
Mormon, as he's writing about this, develops questions.
30:33
Questions are good when we take them to the Lord and learn to
30:37
hear his answers. And then the Lord tells him, no,
30:40
there was a change made in their bodies.
30:42
And why would Mormon of all people want to ask that
30:45
question? Mormon is well aware by the time
30:47
he gets to the editing of the end of Third Nephi and 4th
30:51
Nephi. His people are on the verge,
30:53
brink of destruction, Yeah. Yeah, he knows that the end is
30:57
near. And maybe he is then inspired to
31:00
say, well, are these three Nephites going to stay around
31:03
beyond our people? And what's he told?
31:06
They will continue to have an additional message.
31:08
Yeah, let me read verse 27 here for you.
31:10
Then they will be among the Gentiles, and the Gentiles shall
31:14
know them not. They will also be among the
31:17
Jews, and the Jews shall know them not.
31:19
And then, skipping ahead a little bit, they shall minister
31:22
unto all the scattered tribes of Israel, and to all the nations
31:25
kindred's tongues and people, and shall bring out of them unto
31:29
Jesus many souls, that their desire may be fulfilled, and
31:33
also because of their convincing power.
31:36
So maybe when conversion is happening, and of course we want
31:42
to credit the Holy Ghost and have a testimony by the Holy
31:45
Ghost, it may be that beings like these are also influencing
31:54
and making those moments possible and seeing that it they
31:59
happen the way they should. Well, I know they came to
32:02
minister unto Mormon. He tells us that that's in verse
32:06
26. I also appreciate in verse 31
32:09
and well, let's start with 30. They are as the angels of God
32:13
and if they shall pray unto the Father in the name of Jesus,
32:15
they can show themselves unto whatsoever man is seemeth them
32:19
good. And I think here this is not a
32:20
gender or an age or race. This is anyone in the world.
32:24
I think is how we're using that word in in 19th century English
32:28
because of the great and marvelous works that were
32:31
wrought by them. Mormon likes to emphasize, of
32:34
course, the goodness of God, that he truly is good to the
32:39
bitter end, although we may not always see the the goodness.
32:46
And so as he's promising people these kinds of support and
32:50
inspiration, and he's had the same kind of experience that
32:54
he's had to live through. He he always clings to the idea
32:59
that God is good and he doesn't have perverse ideas or he's not
33:07
punishing us. He's that he's not a God of
33:11
inflicting difficulty or problems.
33:15
And Mormon has lived through enough to appreciate that.
33:23
But what Mormon also wants to know is that God is a God of
33:26
warning, that he warns people and he's going to warn them
33:31
clearly so that they don't, you know, of their own volition or
33:38
by not taking care enough to anticipate problems.
33:43
He, he, he doesn't want them to fall short in any way.
33:47
So he ends Third Nephi with these last two chapters, 29 and
33:52
30, and he begins by saying when these sayings shall come under
33:57
the Gentiles, which is the sign, when they come among the
34:00
Gentiles, all should expect the beginning of a major long
34:04
promised event, and they should not think that the Lord delays
34:07
his coming. So it's not going to be the Book
34:09
of Mormon, will not be followed instantly by the second coming,
34:14
and it will be a long enough time that eventually people say,
34:18
what is God delaying? Has He forgotten us or what?
34:23
We should not think that they should know that the Father will
34:26
absolutely keep His covenants, and that any remnant of the
34:32
House of Israel will be able to see this sign as a sign that the
34:38
sword of his justice is in his right hand.
34:41
And I love these verses where Mormon then goes on to say, Woe
34:45
unto him that spurneth the doings of the Lord, and woe unto
34:48
him that shall deny the Christs and his works.
34:51
Woe unto him that shall deny the revelations of God.
34:54
Verse 7. And woe unto him that shall say
34:57
to get gain, that there can be no more miracles.
34:59
This word woe, he's not saying cursed be he's saying woe.
35:07
You know when we pull back on the reins of a horse and say
35:10
whoa, you know, you want the horse to slow down.
35:13
And I think the woe here first of all is saying slow down South
35:20
woe if you are spurning hold yourself back.
35:25
But then there are also woes in the sense that woe is me and
35:29
there are consequences that are woes.
35:32
I think that verse 8, where Mormon then burns, is to say,
35:38
yeah, ye need not any longer hiss, nor spurn, nor make game
35:43
of the Jews or of any remnant of the House of Israel.
35:45
And verse 9, therefore ye need not suppose that ye can turn the
35:48
right hand of the Lord into the left, but that he may not
35:51
execute judgment under the fulfilling of the covenant in
35:54
which He has made. So that's, I think, a very
35:59
appropriate warning and a summation of all that we've had
36:03
in the Book of Third Nephi. And maybe Mormon is now
36:08
remembering back to where 35 began, and we should remember
36:12
that too. All of these glorious chapters
36:14
about Jesus's presence there had to 1st wade through those
36:18
chapters that we've almost forgotten now with the Gadian
36:22
robbers and the horrific kinds of wickedness and problems that
36:26
ended up in all that destruction.
36:28
It's also interesting that this is the editor's version.
36:30
This is not Christ pronouncing a woe on the people.
36:33
This is the editor saying caution.
36:36
I know those of you that are going to be reading this are
36:38
going to be in the same situation.
36:39
Do you see that money is going to canker your souls if you
36:42
don't use it for good? Yeah.
36:45
And, and Mormon is saying read the whole book.
36:49
This is why I put all of that stuff in there to begin with.
36:51
You can see the high and the low.
36:53
And finally, in one of the shortest chapters in all of the
36:55
Book of Mormon, chapter 30. And by the way, this wasn't the
37:00
way it was divided in the original 1830 edition.
37:03
But I think it's nice to end with this punctuating chapter
37:07
here. God commands Mormon to call the
37:11
Gentiles to turn from any wicked ways, and he then lists and
37:18
guess how many there are. If there were 10 commandments,
37:21
there are here 10 warnings, and they are one turn away from your
37:26
evil doings, 2 from your lyings, 3 your deceiving, 4 boredoms, 5
37:32
secret abominations, 6 murders, 7 priest crafts, 8 envying, 9
37:39
stripes, and then the 10 being the sum of them all, all your
37:44
wickedness. And we can say that together
37:47
because it's all together. And that's how Third Nephi ends
37:51
Lynn. Does he end on that down note?
37:53
No, I'm so glad there's one more phrase.
37:59
He's referring to the Savior, of course, And he says, come unto
38:02
me and be baptized in my name, that you may receive a remission
38:05
of your sins and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
38:08
And it's not just receive the Holy Ghost, He wants you to be
38:11
filled with it. He wants the gifts of the
38:13
Spirit. He wants the witnesses, He wants
38:14
the testimony. But we can only do that when we
38:17
always remember Him and are constantly repenting.
38:20
And when we join with the body of the Saints, and he concludes
38:26
that ye may be numbered with my people.
38:29
So it's not a private invitation.
38:32
It's it's also a public. And his people are the House of
38:35
Israel, those who will come unto Christ.
38:38
And if you remember, he's basically there giving us the
38:42
doctrine. Remember the difference between
38:44
the doctrine and the gospel. And here we're going to end
38:48
because that's where it all begins.
38:51
But the Gospel gives us the explanation of the bigger
38:55
picture of eternal life and where we've come from and where
38:58
we're going. So we finished that beautiful
39:05
book of Third Nephi to join 4th Nephi, which we have is one very
39:12
long chapter and we have some wonderful things that they did
39:17
right. And then the end of the chapter
39:21
is the awful things that they did wrong and.
39:25
Let's focus on the things they did right.
39:27
Yeah, let's start with the very beginning, 4th Nephi chapter
39:29
one, verse one. Many.
39:32
It says not just a few, not just this 2500 that were there at the
39:36
temple that first day, but many did truly repent of their sins
39:40
and were baptized in the name of Jesus.
39:42
And then, of course, we learned that they received the Holy
39:44
Ghost. So this is picking up exactly
39:46
where Third Nephi had ended. In in 34 AD, it says we were at
39:51
the end of the year, we're still there and these wonderful
39:54
converted Saints have now gone a disciples and others have gone
39:59
around and and taught those were still among the living and
40:04
everyone is coming into Christ. And the leader is Nephi.
40:07
So it's called the next chapter of the book of Nephi, which we
40:11
#4 because of our editing and putting it together.
40:15
But who has written this as you've indicated?
40:18
It's Mormon's edging. It's Mormon, yeah.
40:20
So Mormon is telling us in very short order what happened in
40:26
those four generations that Jesus had already prophesied
40:30
about. So I've made a little timeline
40:32
here on my chart, and it says a couple years later.
40:34
It's now 36 years after the sign of a savior's birth was given.
40:38
The people were all converted, so there was enough of them
40:43
scattered around the land that it took a couple of years or
40:46
perhaps a year and a half, you know, I don't know, between 34
40:48
and 36. Well, they weren't all there.
40:50
They weren't all there is the whole point.
40:52
And yet the gospel can be spread.
40:53
And I see this as a type also of the Millennium.
40:55
You know, many will be saved who don't understand the fullness of
40:59
the gospel. There's no contentions, we're
41:01
told in verse 2, nor disputations among them.
41:05
And every man to deal justly one with another.
41:08
And they had all things in common.
41:10
To me this is another way of saying they were living the law
41:13
of consecration. There were no poor among them,
41:18
and that begins and lasts for a full generation or two where
41:24
they're able to not have rich or poor.
41:27
But everyone works, everyone does everything they can, and
41:30
they are able to consecrate it to the good of the whole.
41:35
I used to think the law of consecration was about giving to
41:37
the poor. And I realized we can all give
41:40
something and it's, it's so much more than our money.
41:44
It's it's our heart, our mind, our hands.
41:46
Everything is focused on building the Kingdom of God.
41:49
I think you're right. The consecration is more than
41:51
fast offerings. And.
41:54
And so when we consecrated, we're giving to the Lord and to
41:58
his work. And they were all able to
42:01
consecrate everything. And then the community, the
42:04
church, the leaders, they probably needed to build some
42:08
new temples. Yeah.
42:10
And houses and churches and schools and.
42:13
So there was lots of work to be done and everyone pulled
42:16
together. And it's interesting as Mormon
42:18
edits this, you know, he he jumps like a leapfrog through
42:21
some of these years. You know, he says, OK, 38 and
42:24
then he jumps all the way up to 59.
42:26
And but in verse seven, he says the Lord did prosper them
42:29
exceedingly in the land and talks about building the cities
42:32
again. So Zahra Hemla is rebuilt, among
42:34
many others. And once they have the cities
42:37
built. They start multiplying
42:38
exceedingly, it says. So the infinite, the structure
42:41
is there. I think that it's important to
42:44
realize that what happens next in creating these 4 generations
42:52
of peace and happiness is. In verse 10, it came to pass
42:57
that the people of Nephi did wax strong and did multiply
43:01
exceedingly fast and became exceedingly fair and delightsome
43:05
and. Verse 11 and they were married
43:07
and given in marriage. I suppose being married refers
43:11
to the men who are married being given in marriage.
43:17
Usually the women were given in marriage, usually by their
43:21
father who would then be a part of and the extended family would
43:26
then be unified by the prenuptial agreement between the
43:29
fathers. So it's, I think it's not just
43:33
the that marriages happen between a husband and wife, but
43:39
it's family units that are also now being brought together with
43:42
in laws and everyone having family in common as well.
43:46
And they were blessed then according to the multitude of
43:50
promises which the Lord had made unto them.
43:53
Remember back in 3517, we said that Jesus may well have been
43:57
talking about marriage when he blesses the children and blesses
44:01
the parents. And I think here we get an
44:05
indication that Mormon and these people were aware of a multitude
44:11
of promises that were given in connection with what we might
44:15
call a sealed marriage. And there are blessings in the
44:21
sealing ordinance that are numerous.
44:26
And all these blessings and promises are are given to these
44:34
people, not individually, but as a sealed couple.
44:38
You know, that's the way I had defined given in marriage is
44:42
that they were given these blessings.
44:44
So I'm sure there are we'll find out in the next life how their
44:47
marriages were arranged. But I I definitely believe if
44:51
Christ had a people of Zion, they understood the importance
44:56
of ceilings and working together as a unit.
44:59
And the wording in the the ordinance is that these
45:02
blessings are sealed upon you. It's not just they are given.
45:10
So I think there's something else going on with the given and
45:14
the but they are sealed and they go beyond what had existed
45:20
before Jesus had come and fulfilled the law of Moses.
45:25
That's that's the ironic priesthood level.
45:28
And so verse 12 says they did not walk anymore after the
45:31
performances and ordinances of the law of Moses, but they did
45:35
walk after the commandments which they had received from
45:37
their Lord and their God. And in addition to that, they
45:40
continue in fasting and prayer, meeting together, praying and
45:44
hearing the word of the Lord. And it's meeting together OFT
45:47
you notice, you know, I, I feel like it's so important that we
45:50
attend our meetings to be able to serve each other and to help
45:53
each other. If we're not there, we don't
45:55
know the needs of other people. And if you aren't complaining
45:58
about how often we're meeting, well, maybe you're not keeping
46:01
the commandment so, but that's that's almost as far as as
46:09
Mormon wants us to go in knowing.
46:11
So what's the formula for success as a as a community, as
46:17
as a body of Christ? Because then he jumps.
46:20
Came to pass the 70th 1st year pass away already jumping.
46:25
Yeah, yeah, quite a bit. But there's no contention among
46:28
all the people and all the land. They were mighty miracles
46:31
wrought among the disciples of Jesus.
46:34
And I believe that this is our command from our prophet.
46:37
Now remember, he asked us to prepare for the greatest
46:40
miracles the Lord has ever given the upon the face of the earth,
46:44
and that the disciples of Christ will be the ones who receive
46:48
these gifts, the Spirit, the gifts of miracles, and the gifts
46:51
of visions and healings and tongues.
46:53
I I just feel so strongly that those things are within our
46:57
grasp, or the prophet wouldn't ask us to seek for them and to
47:00
pray for them. And of course, the greatest
47:02
gifts of the Spirit are charity of faith and hope.
47:06
By the time we get to verse 14, it's already 100 years after the
47:10
Lord's birth. And this is when we're told that
47:12
the disciples of Jesus whom he had chosen had all gone to the
47:16
paradise of God, save it were the three.
47:20
So Nephi, the author of this book in its original state
47:24
before Mormon did the editing, has now gone to heaven with the
47:28
others, it says. And his son Amos begins serving
47:32
and writing. But then by verse 21, we're told
47:35
Amos dies. But between 14 and 21 there's
47:37
some beautiful verses as well. And I think one of those verses
47:41
is verse 15. Going beyond the fact that there
47:45
was no contention, we now know the reason why there was no
47:49
contention. Yes, I yeah, I think you're
47:51
right. This is important.
47:52
And it's it's not because we want to just have fun or be good
47:58
people. Or bite our tongues rather than
48:00
argue. Yeah, he says.
48:01
It's more than that. What created a a community in
48:04
which there was no contention was because of the love of God
48:08
which did dwell in the hearts of the people.
48:09
If God's love is our foundation we have we're less apartment to
48:14
argue with each other. That's why Jesus says that the
48:17
first commandment is like under the second, the second being
48:20
love your neighbor, but the first is also love the Lord thy.
48:25
God and then he says, I give you a new commandment because those
48:28
are the old law. His commandment is to love as he
48:31
loves. And I, that's what I see in
48:32
verse 1615, the love of God to dwell in them because they're
48:36
able to love each other like he did to me.
48:39
This is the new commandment. The Old Testament of course just
48:42
said love thy neighbor as thyself, and I think we
48:45
mentioned this back in the book of Mosiah when Alma the Elder
48:50
informing his church quotes from Leviticus.
48:53
Oh, right. Yes, with that commandment, but
48:57
now we know that Jesus gives the new commandment in John chapter
49:01
14 that we should love one another as I have loved you.
49:07
You don't love other people as you love yourself because.
49:10
Sometimes we don't love ourselves very well.
49:11
Or even not nearly as well as Jesus does, of course.
49:14
Yeah. And so we have that and then
49:18
going on Mormon in verse 16 also affirms that all of the those
49:26
warnings that he had given. No envyings, no stripes, no
49:29
tumults, no murders. Yeah.
49:31
No. How many are there?
49:32
No envyings, no stripes, tumults, whoredoms, lyings,
49:38
murders, or any manner of lasciviousness?
49:40
So we have 7. That's when he says, and surely
49:43
there could not be a happier people among all the people who
49:47
had ever been created by the Hand of God.
49:50
From Mormon's perspective, that is how he saw this time period
49:55
of 100 AD. And then looking beyond just the
49:58
the people within the church, verse 17 begins to say, and
50:01
there were no robbers. So we don't have any Gadiant
50:04
robbers in the land. No, no Lamanites, no Ites.
50:09
They're they're not having political divisions within the
50:13
community. They're completely unified.
50:15
And verse 18, how blessed were they?
50:19
For the Lord did bless them in all their doings.
50:22
Yeah, even they were blessed and prospered until 110 years had
50:26
passed away. And at that point the 1st
50:28
generation had passed. So the ones who had been there
50:32
in 34 AD as little infants. They may still be alive, the
50:38
littlest ones. Yeah, it's been now 76 years.
50:43
So by the time the grandchildren of those who saw and touched and
50:48
held and knew are living, it's harder to keep the rising
50:54
generation tethered to the gospel and doctrines of Christ.
51:01
And that becomes even more extremely difficult in the 2nd
51:06
century after the coming of Christ.
51:10
Now, the righteous people will remain righteous, but there
51:12
begins to be various problems. And notice that it starts with
51:18
small things. Mormon says that you should know
51:21
that, yeah, they multiplied and they spread all over.
51:25
That may be the first thing. As you read through the
51:28
second-half of 4th Nephi, you can almost check one box after
51:33
another and saying, well, that's where this unified, wonderful,
51:38
righteous utopia begins to come unraveled a little bit and
51:44
finally collapses. But step #1 is that they start
51:49
spreading out all over the face of the land.
51:51
It says they became exceedingly rich and 24 says they were
51:56
lifted up into pride, but they stopped living in love.
51:59
Consecration. Vitz says the costly apparel is
52:01
a real issue. The pearls, the fine things of
52:04
the world. And verse 26 they are divided
52:07
into classes, so you have distinctions rich and poor.
52:11
And they're also building up different churches.
52:13
There may be distinctions between who can go to which
52:15
churches or not. There may also be political
52:19
classes where certain people have more power and voting and
52:25
or economic groups or in groups and so on.
52:29
But the classes can be a lot of different kinds of things.
52:32
I appreciate the tragedy of verse 27 when it says there were
52:36
many churches which professed to know the Christ and yet they did
52:41
denied the more parts of His gospel.
52:44
Right. So maybe they are keeping the
52:45
doctrine part but not the gospel part, which we've shown that
52:52
Mormon wants us to understand. There's an important difference
52:54
there. Then in verse 29, some denied
52:57
the Christ and actually began persecuting the true church
53:01
because of their humility, and they start to despise them
53:04
because of the miracles which were wrought among them.
53:06
That's interesting, I know. Me too.
53:08
I just thought, oh. What's there to despise about a
53:11
miracle? Well, just look, for example, of
53:14
the miracle of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.
53:16
And a lot of people in the early 19th century despised Joseph for
53:22
bringing forth another book of Scripture.
53:24
How about in our ordinary life, if we have some miracle that
53:29
happens in our our life in some way, or we say that was a
53:33
miracle that happened. And you know, we do see those
53:36
things in our life that I do. But other people who don't see
53:41
those things, maybe we need to be sensitive to the fact that
53:46
they may have to despise that because they feel inadequate or
53:54
deprived without them. And where else would that
53:58
despising come from? I think they're servants of the
54:02
devil because they are being taken away from the spirit of
54:05
Christ. That would testify to them of.
54:07
The despising may begin with less, something less dramatic
54:11
than that it, it may begin with just kind of a, a social
54:17
rejection or somehow a discounting or saying, well,
54:21
this person can't be credible if they're claiming that these are
54:25
miracles. That doesn't sound rational.
54:29
And they're, you know, so there can be a lot of things that
54:31
would play into that. I think.
54:33
A. It says in verse 30, then went
54:34
on to take the next step, which is exercise power and authority
54:38
over the disciples of Jesus who did tarry with them.
54:42
As Mormon often says, power and gain are the driving forces that
54:51
keep pushing against the building of Zion and the gospel
54:56
of Jesus Christ. And unfortunately, they, the
54:59
once again, the Lamanites, were taught to hate the children of
55:03
Nephi back in verse 39. We're back in that awful cycle,
55:07
in that circle of wickedness again.
55:08
Well, I think Glenn, we, we get the picture here and I, I don't
55:13
think we need to spend any more time on this.
55:15
I think, however, that it's, it is a very important exercise of
55:21
understanding society in its darker sense to go through.
55:28
And Mormon is just hitting one point after another without
55:32
elaborating on what they are. But we can see in our world how
55:37
many of these things are still playing out.
55:41
And so I think I don't want to get dragged down into, you know,
55:47
a lot of social criticism of politics or where this goes.
55:53
And so I, I really like the way Hugh Nibley has characterized
55:59
what's going on here. And, you know, in his book
56:03
called the Prophetic Book of Mormon.
56:05
And chapter 22 in this book is called Last Call, an apocalyptic
56:10
warning from the Book of Mormon. And he finishes in his classic
56:15
clever way where he says, So what happened to these people?
56:22
And he puts a label on each one of them.
56:25
And he says, well, first they were privatized, then
56:30
ethnicized, then nationalized, then militarized, then
56:37
terrorized, regionalized, tribalized, fragmentized,
56:45
polarized, pulverized and eventually vaporized.
56:51
Oh, that's perfect. So you can you can take what you
56:57
want from Brother Nibley on that.
56:58
The details are and like he says, the last call.
57:04
He does, though, give us a little history.
57:05
Starting in about verse 47, we learn who the next one is to
57:09
have the plates. So in this book of 4th Nephi,
57:12
we've had Nephi the son of Nephi.
57:15
Then we have Amos the son of Nephi.
57:17
Then we have Amos, the son of Amos, his authors before Mormons
57:21
editing. And now, finally, our last one
57:24
is Amos's brother Amron. And it says that he'd been
57:27
constrained by the Holy Ghost, did hide up the records which
57:31
were sacred. Yeah, even all the sacred
57:34
records. So this is the whole room full
57:36
of records for 1000 years of people's histories.
57:40
And he recognizes that things are getting bad and that these
57:43
sacred records are not safe. So he he he takes and hides
57:48
them. It says even until the 320th
57:51
year since the coming of Christ. So there's our timeline again.
57:54
Well, and that's where this 4th Nephi ends.
57:56
And Mormon, of course, has given this as a perfect transition to
58:01
the Book of Mormon, which we will do in our next lesson.
58:06
And it begins with a discussion of the record that Mormon is now
58:10
keeping and how he will be visited by this Ameron and given
58:15
custody over these plates. So come back next week and we'll
58:19
start the Book of Mormon and hear his own personal account of
58:23
his history and his efforts in his day to build the Kingdom of
58:29
Christ on the earth. But we have such a wonderful
58:32
opportunity now as disciples of Christ to come and shout hosanna
58:38
and do our part and put our shoulder to the wheel and our
58:41
hands the plow, and to persevere to prepare the way for the
58:45
Lord's second coming. And we pray that our thoughts
58:49
and our ideas will motivate you to dive into the Scriptures in a
58:55
prayerful, humble, meek attitude so that we can each be become
59:01
stronger witnesses. That these are the words of God
59:04
and what He would have us do in our lives today is our sincere
59:10
desire in the name of Jesus Christ.
59:14
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