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3 Nephi 12-16 | Book of Mormon Insights: Revisited · Scripture Central

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We're just so excited to talk about the time that Jesus spent
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with the Nephites and the Lamanites in the New world, and
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we're going to give a perspective here that might be
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helpful as you read these chapters.
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And this is a covenantal perspective.
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No surprise. We've been talking about
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covenants a lot. And actually, so has God.
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The Scriptures are very much focused on His covenants with us
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and the covenants He's offered us so that we can return back to
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His presence. And let's just spend, just as a
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review, a reminder of the two major covenants from the ancient
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times, from the time of the Bible.
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It's two covenantal mountains. We have the Abrahamic covenant,
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and symbolically we might say that that comes from Mount
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Moriah. And then we have the Sinai
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covenant with Moses and the Israelites after God had saved
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them from Egyptian bondage. So the covenant path in some
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ways crosses right between these two mountains, and it is Jesus
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that binds us all together. And as we've talked about just
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briefly, the Abrahamic covenant is all about God's promises to
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us. The Mosaic covenant is what God
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invited us to promise to him. So it's our promises to God.
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And this is summarized by the 10 commandments which explain or
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offer a pathway for us to show our loving loyalty back to God.
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When God offered this covenant, he basically said, here's how I
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would like for you to show me your love and loyalty so that
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you can prosper in the land. OK, so that's just the overview.
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Let's make this even more exciting.
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Let's think about the time of Jesus.
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He gives the Sermon on the Mount.
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And what I love about the gospel writers and the scripture
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writers is that they have so many interesting ways to teach
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us. And often they're packing
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learning opportunities into the scriptures that they don't tell
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us about, but we can sometimes see with a little additional
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insight and study. And let's map this out.
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If you think about the first five chapters of the Gospel of
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Matthew, let's just map these out real quick.
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Turns out is that there is a strong suggestion that the
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writer of Matthew modeled at a high level each of his first
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five chapters on the 1st 5 books of Moses, which is also known as
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the Torah. And in a minute you're going to
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see how it connects to covenants.
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And then we'll tie it into why Jesus is sharing an updated
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version of the Sermon on the Mount for the people in the New
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World. So let's take a look at this.
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Matthew one has a bunch of genealogy.
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In some ways it's a bit like Genesis.
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There's just a lot of genealogy. And in some ways, it's kind of
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the introduction to the grand story where you introduce all
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the characters in in the story. Matthew 2 is a bit like Exodus.
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And it's interesting. In Matthew 2 Jesus both goes
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into Egypt and returns and a little bit like how the Pharaoh
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had threatened the life of the Israelites, so was the life of
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Jesus threatened. Matthew 3 Jesus gets baptized.
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Priesthood ordinances is related to the book of Leviticus which
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is the instructional manual for the priest for how to run all
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the priesthood ordinances. Matthew 4 is where Jesus spends
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40 days wandering in the wilderness.
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And what do the Israelites do in the book of Numbers?
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But they actually wander for 40 years in the wilderness seeking
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God. And finally, right before they
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enter the Holy Land, Moses summarizes the entire Mosaic
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covenant again before they go in the Holy Land.
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And the entire book of Deuteronomy is this covenant.
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In fact, Deuteronomy is a fancy word that literally means second
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law or second telling or teaching of the law.
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So essentially Moses gets on a mountain and delivers the law to
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the Israelites before they enter into the Holy Land.
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Well, let's think about this Matthew 12345.
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What happens in Matthew 5? Jesus gets on a mountain as the
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new Moses and delivers an update to this covenant.
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He basically updates Deuteronomy, updates the
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stipulations, updates what we should be promising to God,
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updates how we show our fifth ones to God.
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And so the Sermon on the Mount is the update to the covenant.
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And so sure, if you were a Jew living in the time of Nephi, the
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way you'd show your loving loyalty to God in the covenant
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is by keeping the 10 commandments in the time of
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Jesus. Jesus said, Moses said, here's
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the stipulations for how to show loyalty to God.
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I now sing unto you, do these things.
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And so this is what modern revelations about.
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Well, in the time of Jesus, it would have been modern
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revelation is that God will update the stipulations for
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showing loyalty in order that we might have full access to the
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promises he offers us. With this perspective, I want
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you to think about how what Jesus does for the Nephites now
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is something similar. He comes and says you have been
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living these stipulations, these commandments.
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Good job. Well, in some cases you weren't.
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But let me give you an update for how to show love and loyalty
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to God in the covenant and in our day.
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We have modern day prophets and they reveal to us the will of
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God. And every now and then there are
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updates on the expectations that God provides for us for how we
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live faithfully to Him. Now, what's interesting is
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there's a summary statement that shows up both in the Sermon on
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the Mount in the New Testament as well as here in 3rd Nephi.
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It's very significant and sometimes we misunderstand it a
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bit as members of the church. I know that I'm a perfectionist
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and I have struggled with this phrase in the past.
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It shows up at the very end of the 1st chapter of the Sermon on
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the Mount both in Matthew 5 and in 3rd Nephi 12 is here in verse
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48 after laying out many of the stipulate updated stipulations
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of like how to be faithful to God, Jesus says I would that ye
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should be perfect even as I or your father who is in heaven is
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perfect. But let's unpack this just a
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bit. There's some interesting things
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going on. This phrase perfect, as I
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mentioned, has caused consternation and worry for
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people because we feel this need, like I got to make myself
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perfect. And actually it's interesting.
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There's only one person that can truly make you perfect and
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that's Jesus. All that Jesus asks is for our
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loving loyalty. And let's actually use a
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marriage metaphor. I'm sure my wife would love to
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be married to a perfect man. I'm not quite there yet.
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If, however, she has a loyal husband, that's actually
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sufficient. I may make mistakes, but I'm
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loyal. I'm completely committed to my
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wife. We are in a covenantal
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relationship, and I am loyal to that.
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I may not be perfect, but I'm loyal.
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Similarly, she's loyal to me, and that's what God offers us.
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He has always been loyal to His people, always, always, always.
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And He wants our loyalty back. So it turns out that in a
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covenantal context, the word perfect actually can mean
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loyalty or faithfulness. And I find that very helpful
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because I cannot be perfect and I shouldn't try to be perfect
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because then I'm denying Jesus. Only Jesus can truly make me
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perfect in the sense that I have no sin.
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Only Jesus can do that. I have to reach out to receive
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that from him. But that's through my loyalty
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and my faithfulness. And as a reminder, sacrament
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every week is an opportunity for us to declare our loyalty and
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our faithfulness to God. And so we actually are showing
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covenantal perfection by partaking of sacrament every
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week. God does not make the gospel
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super hard. Now life is hard, but he tries
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to keep it simple. Just love me, he says, and love
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your neighbor. So we read this again with that
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new context. The word perfect in a covenantal
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context means faithful or loyal. It says I would that you should
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be loyal or faithful in the covenant even as I or your
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Father who is in heaven has been loyal and faithful to his
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covenant. So this one phrase is all about
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the two mountain covenants. God has always been loyal to us.
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All he wants from us is to be loyal to him.
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And he's now with the Sermon on the Mount, given some updated
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instructions for how to show our faithfulness.
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And just out of interest, when you compare the Sermon on the
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Mount to what we find in the Book of Mormon, there's
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sometimes some small but very significant differences.
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And what I'll point out right here in verse 48 is when Jesus
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is with the Nephites, he says I would that you should be perfect
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even as I or your Father who is in heaven is perfect.
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Back in the old world when Jesus did the Sermon on the Mount, he
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did not include himself, which is a little curious.
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We know that Jesus was sinless. He was for all intents and
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purposes perfect. But if we think about it from a
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covenantal context, Jesus had not yet fulfilled all the
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obligations the Father had. It wasn't that Jesus was
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unfaithful. He had not yet completed the
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fullness of what God had asked him to do, and so on the Sermon
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of the Mount in the Old World, Jesus did not include himself in
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that perfection. Even though Jesus was fully
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righteous, he had not yet fully completed the will of the
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Father. So now when he comes to the
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Nephites, Jesus has fully drunk of the bitter cup, has fully
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fulfilled the will of the Father, and with that full
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completion, he now includes himself in this phrase.
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Be therefore fully faithful, fully loyal, even as I or your
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Father who is in heaven is perfect.
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So our invitation to you. There's many ways of reading
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this beautiful sermon that Jesus offers is to consider the
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covenant of context and to listen for what is God asking
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for us today so that we can be more faithful and more loyal.
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And in a minimum, what I hope is you don't spend the years that I
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did feeling really anxious that I wasn't yet perfect and realize
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God doesn't need perfect people because his Son will help make
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that happen. He needs a faithful people, and
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actually, I think all of us can be faithful.
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Do we fall from time to time? Sure.
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But if our hearts are with God, our faithfulness and loyalty
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will bind us to a faithful God who will bring us perfection
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through His Son, Jesus Christ. Let's dive into the beginning of
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chapter 12. So Taylor already introduced
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this idea of be therefore perfect.
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Here's the reality. Here's me.
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There's perfection. This is a really big gap, and
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it's not, it's not a word that I'm comparing myself to.
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It's God and Christ. It's beings that they're people.
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So there's this big gap between who I am and who they intend for
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us to become like them. If we turn back to the beginning
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of chapter 12, it's fascinating to me that in both the Sermon on
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the Mount and the Sermon of the Temple, he begins with this long
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series of things that we call the Beatitudes, and they're
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simple statements. Blessed are the blank, for they
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shall blank. I have to be honest with you,
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when I was a kid, every time somebody would ever start into
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reading the Beatitudes or teaching the Beatitudes, I had a
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tendency to kind of zone out. I saw them as disjointed.
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Hate to say it, but I saw them as boring.
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It just felt like somebody up there saying blah, blah, blah,
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blah, blah, blah to me. Here's why.
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Because in my mind, I saw these different groups.
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There's this group that's hungry and thirsty.
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There's this group that's really meek and just sits around very
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humble. And there's this group that is
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poor in spirit. There's this group that's
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persecuted. And I didn't want to be a part
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of that group. And I always used to wonder, I
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wonder which group I'm in and, and how much I'm in any of those
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groups. And so to me, it was disjointed.
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It didn't make a ton of sense. Consequently, it was born as I
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experienced more life, as I had more teachers share insights,
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things started to come together to the point where now this is
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one of my favorite sections of Scripture period, anywhere.
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It is to me the finest lesson there ever was on repentance, on
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what it really means to repent. And I've had a lot of lessons on
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repentance. I've taught a lot of lessons on
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repentance, but none of them can compare to Jesus's lesson on
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what it really means to turn to change the way we think, the way
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we see, the way we breathe the air.
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To use President Nelson's great talk on repentance, it's to
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totally change the way we're approaching life.
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Well, that's what the Beatitudes have become for me is a pathway
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that leads to perfection. To me, what we're about to do
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has become one of many ways that you can look at the covenant
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path. The beatitudes to me are a
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symbolic representation of the very covenant path that we're
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we're treading on. It's a blueprint for how to
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become more Christ like, a true follower or a better follower of
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Christ, more faithful, more loyal to Christ.
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And that covenant, Well, he gives us the engine, the vehicle
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whereby we can do that. Have you ever sat in church and
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had somebody share an insightful lesson or give an inspiring
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talk, something along the lines of come unto Christ and be
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perfected in him, or seek for all these wonderful attributes
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of God and you're sitting there saying, yes, yes I will, yes,
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that's what I want. But then somewhere in the back
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of your head there's this nagging question, how, how do I
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come unto Christ to be perfected in him?
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To me, the Beatitudes, this covenant path representation
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answer the question, how? How do I be a true Christian?
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Here are your answers. I think it all starts with verse
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one. Notice Jesus had called 12
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apostles and he turned to the multitude and he's going to say
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to them, it's interesting here in verse one and two, He's going
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to give 4 blessed statements that don't appear in the
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biblical Sermon on the Mount account in Matthew 5-6 and
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seven. The first one says, blessed are
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ye, if ye shall give heed unto the words of these 12 whom I
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have chosen from among you to minister unto you.
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The first blessed is, can you trust me enough to give heed to
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my prophets that I've chosen to minister to you in your day?
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The second one is in the bottom half or the last few lines of
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verse one where he says, blessed are ye if you shall believe in
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me and be baptized after the have seen me and know that I am.
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So to that group, that audience there the two blessings are
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blessed are you if you'll if you'll trust me enough to listen
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to my prophets and get baptized. Then in verse 2, notice what he
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says here and again more blessed are they who shall believe in
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your words because you shall testify that you've seen me and
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that you know that I am. Yeah, blessed are they who shall
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believe in your words and come down into the depths of humility
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and be baptized. So in both cases, it's to listen
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to my words and be baptized. But for the first verse, it's
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those of you who are here in my audience that he's speaking to
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directly. And the second group is those
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who aren't here today that they're going to believe your
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testimony and get baptized anyway, which tells us that now
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you've entered into a covenant relationship with Christ, you're
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on a covenant path. Now for me, the way I read this,
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the rest of these beatitudes are how to progress along that
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covenant path, how to truly come unto Christ and become more like
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him, how to really repent, Step one of any repentance process or
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any blueprint that leads to perfection.
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Look at verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit
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who come unto me, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
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Taylor mentioned that there are some subtle differences between
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the Third Nephi and the Matthew 5-6 and seven accounts.
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This verse has one of them. You could circle the forwards
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who come unto Me. That's not in the Matthew 5
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account. Not once in the Sermon on the
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Mountain does Jesus ever invite the people to come unto Him.
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Now He will later on in Matthew 11, but not in Matthew 5-6 and
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seven. He never says come unto Me.
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You're going to find the phrase come unto me 6 times in the
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third Nephi account. So just pay attention to those
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as you go through because you don't find those in the in the
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biblical side. Now let's talk about the group
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or this attribute that we're trying to employ into our life.
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Blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me.
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So instead of looking at this as these different groups of
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people, let's look at it as steps that I have to take to
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become more like Christ. Without overly turning it into a
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formulaic you, you have to do it exactly this way.
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Let's just take it for what it's worth.
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Step one to consider is blessed are the poor in spirit.
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If we were to ask most people what does that phrase mean, I
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think that the common answer to that question would be, well,
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that just means to be humble. There's no question that
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humility is part of this step, but I think it goes further than
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that. I think you can learn some
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things by taking the opposite of this word.
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What would it mean if I were rich in spirit?
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If I had an abundance of spirit and outpouring and overflowing
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of spirit? It would mean I wasn't lacking
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very much. Blessed are those who recognize
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that they're not who they need to be.
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Brothers and sisters, the humility required in the
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repentance process to recognize, wait a minute, this is who I am,
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This is where I am. There's my goal.
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It's Jesus Christ. That's who I need to become like
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that recognition is is a vital first step.
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I'll never go to the doctor if I don't recognize that I'm sick.
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I'll never sit down to a meal if I don't recognize that I'm
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hungry. I'll never go get a drink of
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water if I don't recognize that I'm thirsty.
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So step one, recognize I'm lacking, I have a gap, I'm poor
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in spirit, I haven't arrived. Step 2, after we've entered into
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this covenant path, trusting the prophets, getting baptized, look
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at verse 4 again. Blessed are all they that mourn
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for they shall be comforted. We live in a world that is
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filled with people who are mourning and yet we don't see
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mass comforting going on. So the question is, why not?
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If it's Step 2, that means in order to have this promise of be
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comforted, we have to have that mourning be for the right
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reason. We're not mourning the way the
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Nephites did in the ending of the Book of Mormon where they're
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they're sad because they can't find pleasure and lasting
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happiness and joy in their sin. They were mourning to be sure
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to, to be certain, but it was, for it was built on the wrong
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foundation. This kind of mourning comes when
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you recognize I am not who I need to be.
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I fell short yet again, and I feel bad about it.
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The promises, they shall be comforted.
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But you'll notice here that he doesn't give you timing.
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For some people, the comforting comes instantaneously.
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For others it comes after a short period of testing.
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And for some of you, it comes after years and years of
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faithful enduring through darkness, through struggles,
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through feelings of of abandonment, and through through
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terrible trials and tribulations.
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But the promise is sure that they will be comforted.
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Which now leads us to step three.
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I've recognized a gap. I feel bad about it.
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What's the outcome? Verse 5 Blessed are the meek,
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for they shall inherit the earth.
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Meekness, a willingness to submit to all things, which the
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the Father seeth fit to inflict upon the child.
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To me meekness is best embodied in the Savior's statement in
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Gethsemane. When He says, not my will, but
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thine be done. That to me is meekness.
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The promise here is they shall inherit the earth.
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So notice the progression. I have a gap.
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I'm not who I need to be. I'm lacking.
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I feel bad about that gap. I'm now willing to do what God
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wants me to do in that covenant path.
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I've I've tried what I want to do and it's not working for me.
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So I'm going to increasingly try to do what he wants me to do,
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which then leads me to step four.
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And you'll notice it won't do me much good to sit down on the
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covenant path meekly and say, God I'm, I'm done doing my own
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will. I'm now going to do Thy will.
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Tell me what to do. And I'll sit here until you tell
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me exactly what to do. There's no progression in that.
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You'll notice what the 4th step is.
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Blessed are all they who do hunger and thirst after
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righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.
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So if you hunger and thirst, the implication is that it drives
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you to action. You've recognized your gap.
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You feel bad about it. You're willing to do what God
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wants you to do. But then you have to find out
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what God wants you to do. You search it.
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You seek for it. You try to feel that hunger and
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that thirst, that need. You're actively pursuing God's
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will and the promises you will be filled.
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Once again, I have to point out, God makes no promises regarding
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the timing on any of these blessings.
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Timing is reserved for Him and His purposes.
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He knows what He's doing, and one of the greatest ways we can
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put our trust in Him is to also trust His timing in all of this
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process. But it doesn't change the fact
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that we do our part. Notice verse 7.
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Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
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That's interesting. We've been doing so well.
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We've been turning in and looking at our soul saying, Yep,
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I'm lacking some things. I feel bad about it.
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I'm willing to do what God wants me to do, and I'm going and
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seeking his will. And then he says, oh, if you're
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going to progress, if you're really going to become more like
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me, if you're going to move forward on the covenant path,
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you have to be merciful. One of God's greatest attributes
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that the Scriptures proclaim is his willingness to forgive and
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his willingness to extend mercy, especially where it's not
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deserved. Fascinating to me that this is
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put in here, Step 5, to say you are not going to become more
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like me unless you can extend that mercy to other people.
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It's almost as if to say if somebody has offended you and
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hurt you deeply, that if you're unwilling to forgive them, in
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essence, what we might be saying to God is no Lord.
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That person's vadnais is greater than thy goodness.
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The infinite atonement isn't as big as that person's vadnais is
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basically, basically what we're saying when we're unwilling to
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forgive someone and extend mercy.
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Just as a side note here, think for a moment who is possibly the
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hardest person of all 7 point however many billion people
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there are living on this planet. Who is the hardest person for
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most of us to extend mercy to? If you're like me, it's the
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person staring at you in the mirror.
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Blessed are the Merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
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Brothers and sisters, I don't think this this part of the
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process is intended to only be outward reflecting.
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I think it's also intended to be inward reflecting for you to be
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able to look in the mirror and say, yes, you are lacking, you
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did mess up. You are not where you need to
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be. You are not who you need to be
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yet, and you're not glorying in that.
26:28
You feel bad about it genuinely, keenly and deeply in your soul.
26:31
You want to be better. And you turned to the Lord and
26:34
said, I, I want to do thy will. That's where my heart is.
26:38
The Spirit is willing, but my flesh is weak.
26:41
I'm struggling. And then you hunger and you
26:43
thirst and you keep trying to find God's will and then you get
26:47
to this point. I can't progress until I'm
26:51
willing to drop not just other people's gaps that have
26:56
negatively affected me, but my own gaps to be able to drop them
27:00
at the feet of the Savior and say I'm done, I'm done carrying
27:04
that. It's too heavy, I can't
27:06
progress. Please take it for me.
27:09
And that's His promise to extend mercy, which now lets us move to
27:13
this next step. Blessed are the pure in heart
27:19
notice he's he's getting us down to the the motivation.
27:23
What what are your motives for for moving on this covenant path
27:26
progression? Why are you doing this?
27:28
Is it to be seen of men? Is it to get glory gain?
27:31
Is it to build a following? What are you trying to do?
27:33
Or is it because you love me and you want to become more like me
27:38
and you want to become an extension of heaven, spreading
27:41
the light and the goodness on the earth and the promise there
27:45
is Those people in verse 8 shall see God.
27:50
Pretty good promise. Now verse 9, blessed are the
27:52
peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.
27:57
It's one thing to have gone through this part of the process
28:01
and define peace yourself, but if you really want to be more
28:05
like Jesus, you become a peacemaker.
28:07
You now spread the goodness and the light and the revelations
28:11
that you've found along that covenant path with other people,
28:16
that it's not a selfish thing. You're trying to bring people to
28:19
discover that same level of happiness and peace and joy that
28:23
you've found, which now brings us to this eighth step.
28:27
Blessed are all those who are persecuted for my name's sake,
28:32
for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
28:35
Nobody wants to be persecuted, but you'll notice in a fallen
28:39
world when you when you're doing this kind of thing, it will draw
28:44
attention and you will find persecution.
28:47
And ironically, sometimes the persecution comes from loved
28:50
ones who are closest to you. Sometimes it comes from people
28:54
who should treat you better. And ironically, at a deeper
28:58
level, sometimes the persecution comes once again from that
29:02
person in the mirror who expects perfectionism, not a process
29:07
that leads to perfection. You'll notice 8 steps we went
29:13
from where we are to where we're we're we're almost there.
29:16
You just do this once and you're good, right?
29:19
There's this little this little factor right here, this this
29:23
greater gap. Brothers and sisters, this is
29:26
not a one time event, discipleship, the covenant path.
29:31
It's not an event. It's a long, grueling, at times
29:39
beautiful and marvelous and and wonderful, and at other times
29:43
extremely difficult and hard and lonely process.
29:49
And there are some who are on the covenant path, pressing
29:52
forward, going through dark periods of testing and trials,
29:57
who feel like they can't go on. It's too hard.
30:01
There's too much being asked there.
30:03
It's, it's, it's too heavy. Brothers and sisters, we all
30:08
have people in our lives who are in those kinds of struggles
30:14
right now. Part of our role is to be a
30:16
peacemaker to not to not condemn them or judge them for their
30:20
struggles or their their trials of faith, whatever they may be,
30:25
but to love and to encourage and to support and to be with them
30:30
until God sees fit in his timing to to shine the light once again
30:36
into their life and to illuminate their path forward as
30:40
they continually struggle forward.
30:41
You ready for this? What was the promised blessing
30:44
for those who were persecuted for his namesake?
30:47
It says for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
30:51
That's interesting. Theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
30:54
That rings a bell. You've heard that before.
30:57
Look back at verse 3. Blessed are the poor in spirit
31:00
who come unto me, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
31:05
I wonder if it's possible that Christ connected this 1st and
31:12
this 8th step outcome in such a way to say this isn't a one time
31:19
event. This is actually a very long
31:23
repeating process. You do it again and again and
31:27
again. And just when you get here,
31:29
persecution makes you aware of other gaps that you have, other
31:34
things that need to be worked on that you can then feel bad about
31:38
appropriately turning to the Lord to be comforted, turning to
31:41
His will, seeking to find and know His will.
31:46
Being willing to forgive you and others who are struggling with
31:49
these things you're working on for the right reasons.
31:53
Spreading the the peace that you found.
31:55
And the process goes on and on through time.
31:59
Bringing us back to something we talked about clear back in
32:02
Second Nephi 31, that discipleship really is going in
32:07
circles. A lot of people grow weary in
32:09
the church, feeling like they're just going in circles, doing the
32:12
same things over and over and over again.
32:14
They are, but they should be doing them at different levels
32:19
as they progress. It's a plan of progression on
32:23
the covenant path. The word path itself denotes
32:27
something that's going to take time and you're going to have to
32:30
take a lot of steps. And some of those are going to
32:32
be in the darkness. Some of those are going to be in
32:34
storm. Some of those are going to be in
32:36
a really steep Cliff area. Some of them are going to be in
32:39
a beautiful Meadow filled with wildflowers and wildlife and,
32:43
and the sky is going to feel really close and you're going to
32:45
love it. And the sun is shining and it's
32:47
warm. And other times you're going to
32:50
be climbing that path when Blizzard is raging and you're
32:54
cold, you're lost, you feel alone, you feel forsaken.
32:58
But we keep moving forward on that covenant path.
33:03
And Jesus in my mind, gave us the formula, so to speak, the
33:08
steps that we can continually follow to answer this question,
33:12
How do I come unto Christ? I think he gave it to us here.
33:16
Hey, you'll notice as he finishes the Beatitudes, he he
33:19
throws in a another addendum to this, this last step.
33:23
Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you,
33:27
and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake.
33:32
For you shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad.
33:34
For great shall be reward in heaven for so persecuted they
33:38
the prophets who were before you.
33:40
I love that promise. He's not promising you earthly
33:44
wealth. Look at the Savior himself.
33:46
Look at his disciples. Look at people like John the
33:48
Baptist. They didn't have a lot as far as
33:52
this world's money and riches and honor we're concerned.
33:56
But that's not what they were focused on.
33:58
The promise for them is what would be given to them, this
34:02
reward in heaven. Then he shifts focus into this
34:07
comparison between the old law and the new law.
34:12
You'll notice what Taylor had talked about from the Law of
34:15
Moses on Mount Sinai. Christ is going to upgrade,
34:20
update that covenant responsibility and he does it
34:24
very beautifully. Look at verse 21.
34:27
You've heard that it has been said by them of old time and it
34:31
is also written before you. You'll notice in the in the Book
34:35
of Mormon account that from here on out, everything he says to
34:39
them is it is written, it is written, it is written.
34:41
But I say unto you, So he's comparing the old to the new by
34:44
saying it's written in the law. In the biblical account, he only
34:48
ever says, you have heard, you have heard, you have heard that
34:52
it has been said by them of old. Biblical scholars guesstimate
34:58
that at the time of Jesus in the Old World, in the Holy Land,
35:03
that literacy rates are somewhere, you know, 5 to 10%
35:07
maximum among the people that Jesus is teaching.
35:11
So for them, most of them haven't read.
35:14
It isn't written before them because most of his disciples,
35:17
especially in Galilee, can't read.
35:20
So they've heard it's an oral tradition.
35:23
This is what you've heard. But in the Nephite and Lamanite
35:26
culture, they seem to be much more literate.
35:29
And so with them, it's written before you.
35:31
You've got it. You've read this.
35:33
It's just one of those little subtle changes that doesn't get
35:36
anyone into heaven. But it's fun to see this, this
35:39
contrast between the two, the two speeches.
35:42
So it's written before you. Thou shalt not kill, and
35:47
whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgement of God.
35:50
That's the Old Testament law, very outward oriented, very
35:54
observable behaviors. But now he takes it to the
35:57
heart. Look at verse 22.
35:58
But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his
36:01
brother shall be in the danger of judgement.
36:04
It's not just what you outwardly do, it's who you're inwardly
36:08
becoming. Once again, this pathway that
36:10
leads to perfection becoming more like Christ.
36:13
He does the same thing in verse 2728 with the Thou shalt not
36:17
commit adultery. But I say unto you that
36:19
whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her has committed
36:22
adultery already in his heart. Again, not just the outward
36:26
behaviors, but the inward becoming, and he continues that
36:31
down through the rest of Chapter 12 with various upgrades of the
36:36
Old Testament law. And then you come to Chapter 13.
36:39
I learned this insight from Grant Anderson many years ago
36:43
when he talked about this pathway that leads to perfection
36:47
and how there are various pitfalls or places where people
36:53
will struggle and get off of the path if they're not careful.
36:57
Chapter 13, verse one is one of those pitfalls.
37:01
Verily, verily, I say that I would that ye should do alms
37:05
unto the poor, but take heed that you do not your alms before
37:09
men to be seen of them. Otherwise you have no reward of
37:13
your Father who is in heaven. In other words, if you're doing
37:16
your alms in order to be seen of them so that they give you the
37:18
glory, then you're getting your reward already.
37:21
That's a pitfall when we do good things for the wrong reason in
37:28
order to be seen as righteous, as holy, as good, rather than
37:34
just doing good things. Because we love the Lord and we
37:37
want to be loyal to Him. We want to be faithful to the
37:40
covenants that we've made and we want them to to recognize God's
37:44
goodness in their life and give him the credit.
37:46
So we get the alms giving, then we get the prayers.
37:50
How we don't pray in order to get glory for US.
37:54
Verse six, he tells you, when thou prayest enter into thy
37:57
closet, when thou hast shut thy door, pray to the Father who is
38:00
in secret. So here he's talking about this
38:03
beautiful element of secret prayer that nobody knows about
38:08
except for God. You're not trying to be seen as
38:11
righteous. Now that that doesn't mean that
38:12
we don't pray in public in church meetings and in other
38:16
public settings because we've been commanded to do that as
38:19
well. But here he's talking about the
38:23
intent of those prayers. Why are we doing it?
38:27
He then comes down to verse 16. Moreover, when you fast be not
38:31
as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure
38:35
their faces that they appear unto men to fast.
38:38
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
38:41
In other words, you're, you're seeing all these, these
38:44
Christian behaviors, giving alms, praying, fasting, and how
38:49
you do them is very important to Jesus.
38:52
The intent with which you're doing them is important to
38:55
Jesus. Let me just share a personal
38:57
experience that happened many years ago.
39:00
Our oldest son, Benjamin had just turned 8 and it was fast
39:05
Sunday. And we had told our kids, you're
39:07
not going to fast until you've been baptized.
39:09
And at that point, there's no, no requirement.
39:13
We invite you to participate with us in this fast.
39:15
And Benjamin was so excited to do it after his 8th birthday.
39:18
And after you've been baptized, that all changed that first fast
39:22
Sunday, here came this kid who was trying so hard to be to be
39:27
faithful to this to this fast with with mom and dad.
39:32
I'll never forget that Sunday morning, he came up to me
39:34
looking really, really down. And he said, Dad, I am so
39:37
hungry, I want to eat. And I said, great, you've done a
39:40
good job. You've gone many hours, you can
39:43
go ahead and eat. And he says, I don't want to
39:44
eat. I want to keep fasting.
39:45
I said, great, then keep fasting.
39:47
And he says, but I'm so hungry, I need to eat.
39:50
You can see where this is going. I sat Benjamin down and I, I
39:54
said, let me teach you something.
39:56
And I put on two socks onto my two hands, little little sock
40:01
puppets. And I said, Benjamin, this one's
40:04
your spirit. This one represents your, your
40:07
flesh, your body. What happens is the body will
40:11
say to the flesh things like I'm hungry, OK, and I'm tired.
40:17
OK, I'll put you to sleep. I'll put you to bed.
40:19
I'm thirsty. OK, I'll get you a drink.
40:23
Before long, what happens is the flesh starts to rule over the
40:29
Spirit, and it's no longer making requests, but it starts
40:33
making demands if we're not careful.
40:36
So I said, Benjamin, once a month God appropriately gives us
40:40
an opportunity to have this scenario.
40:43
I'm hungry. Good.
40:46
What? You're not going to feed me?
40:49
Not yet. I'm thirsty.
40:53
Good. I'm hungry.
40:56
Oh, thank you for reminding me. I'm fasting.
40:58
What was I fasting about? Oh, that's right.
41:02
And we pray what happens over the course of a fast that's done
41:07
appropriately is things get put back into order where the Spirit
41:13
calls the shots. The Spirit is in charge.
41:16
Now we need to be really careful here because sometimes when we
41:20
do analogies like this, we demonize the flesh, the body,
41:24
and we say the body is bad, the spirit is good.
41:27
The reality is, brothers and sisters, God has a body of flesh
41:33
and bone, and it's not bad. It's not evil.
41:36
The devil himself never had a body, and yet he's the most
41:40
wicked of all. So the body itself is not evil.
41:46
It's not bad. The beauty of of what we're
41:50
talking about here with fasting ties back into this covenant
41:55
progression along the path that leads to to eternal life.
41:59
It's swallowing up my will in the will of the Father.
42:04
It's not doing what I want to do, It's doing what he wants me
42:08
to do. And that's really hard when it
42:10
comes to things like food and water once a month.
42:14
And for some, it's really hard with things like tithing time to
42:17
go to church or time to really pray and connect with God.
42:22
And so as we move forward on this covenant path and as Christ
42:26
is laying out all these other behaviors, I think he's trying
42:30
to get us again and again and again to get down to the heart
42:33
of the issue to say, what does God want me to do rather than
42:39
what do I want and, and what do I need?
42:42
Notice that he finishes off chapter 13 by turning to the 12
42:50
whom he had chosen in verse 25. And then he gives them some very
42:53
specific instructions, leadership principles in verse
42:57
25 through 34. And you can look at those in
43:01
greater detail on your own. Really, really profound
43:05
instructions for how to how to be a true Christ like leader
43:09
moving forward in the work and then he comes into chapter 14.
43:14
Another pitfall that I that I learned from from Grant
43:17
Anderson, chapter 14, verse 1. And now it came to pass that
43:21
when Jesus had spoken these words, he turned again to the
43:24
multitude and did open his mouth unto them again saying, verily,
43:28
verily, I send you, judge not that ye be not judged.
43:34
Beautiful that he's saying it's not your job on the covenant
43:39
path to look down or up or in the mirror and judge and, and
43:47
pass final judgment on people. I love President Oakes gave a
43:50
talk many, many years ago on judging and he talked about
43:55
intermediate judgments and he talked about final judgments And
43:58
he says we have to make all kinds of intermediate judgments.
44:00
And later on, Mormon is going to teach us how to judge righteous
44:04
judgments in Meroni Chapter 7. But what I think he's talking
44:08
about here is stop looking around at other people, at the
44:13
gaps that they have, at the struggles that they're facing,
44:17
at the crosses that they're carrying through life, and stop
44:22
judging them. It doesn't do anybody any good
44:26
to look downward in judgement or to look upward in judgement.
44:30
Either way. We're not focused on the next
44:33
step, on our own progression. The only time we should be
44:36
looking down is in compassion, in kindness, in love, in
44:41
extending a hand of fellowship to lift up those hands that hang
44:44
down and encourage them to to progress on that covenant path.
44:50
Notice that he then takes us down through these other
44:54
behaviors of how a true Christian treats other people
44:59
turning outward. So the rest of chapter 14,
45:02
you're going to get how you interact with others along the
45:05
covenant path. And then he finishes the great
45:08
sermon with his beautiful analogy of the wise man and the
45:12
foolish man. Build his house upon the rock
45:15
versus on the sand. And we've already talked in
45:18
Human 5 about that foundation built upon the rock of our
45:22
Redeemer. How we have faith in Christ and
45:25
the devil will have no power over us to drag us down to the
45:29
gulf of misery and endless woe if we if we're founded upon that
45:33
rock. And then Jesus brings us into
45:36
chapter 15 where he starts talking about how he has
45:40
fulfilled the law of Moses. Everything that was in the Law
45:44
of Moses, he has fulfilled. Now he's given us this,
45:47
upgraded, what we would call the law of the Gospel, this higher
45:51
law, these new expectations. He talks in here about the other
45:55
sheep that these Nephites and Lamanites are part of, those
46:00
other sheep that were mentioned in the Gospel of John to the
46:03
people in the old World. And then when you turn over to
46:06
chapter 16, we get this incredible discourse about the
46:12
House of Israel in Scriptures. You're going to notice there are
46:16
three distinct groups of people. You have the Jews in Jerusalem,
46:24
back in the homeland. You have the scattered
46:27
Israelites, and they're all over the world.
46:31
They've been scattered, so they're all over.
46:34
And then you get the Gentiles. Those are the three major groups
46:40
of people that come up whenever we talk about the House of
46:44
Israel and the gathering of Israel.
46:46
You'll notice Christ came as a son of Mary who was a Jewish.
46:51
He is a Jew. His disciples are all his first
46:54
disciples in the 1st century. They're all Jewish.
46:57
The gospel was brought first to them.
47:00
Then at his ascension, he tells his apostles to go not just to
47:04
Jerusalem, but to the scattered Israelites in Samaria and in all
47:08
the world. And then lastly, the gospel is
47:12
take take the gospel and preach it to every nation, kindred
47:15
tongue and people. Abraham was promised the
47:18
covenant given to him was to bless all the kindreds of the
47:21
earth, not just his own family ultimately.
47:24
So you'll notice this progression that the Gentiles
47:28
got at last and in chapter 16. Just pay attention as you go
47:33
through to how Jesus teaches these Nephites and Lamanites who
47:38
are part of Group 2 here. They're part of scattered Israel
47:42
and they know that. They've been told that
47:44
repeatedly. That's their identity.
47:47
But watch how he talks about the House of Israel and how the
47:50
Gentiles are brought into that discussion and how the Gentiles
47:56
accept this gospel and will bring it to scattered Israel and
48:00
eventually to the Jews. So the first shall be last and
48:02
the last shall be first in the latter days.
48:05
So pay attention as you go through to the role that the
48:10
Lord has asked for the Gentiles to play.
48:14
Notice that in verse 13 it says, But if the Gentiles will repent
48:19
and return unto me, saith the Father, behold, they shall be
48:22
numbered among my people, O House of Israel.
48:27
This great missionary effort is to not just gather the House of
48:32
Israel, but to gather the Gentiles into the House of
48:35
Israel they're adopted in. And it's powerful this this work
48:42
that we're involved in. President Nelson has told us
48:44
there's nothing more important taking place on the earth than
48:48
this effort to gather all of these groups into the House of
48:53
Israel, into the covenant, get them on the path, trusting God
48:58
by following his prophets, getting baptized, and then
49:01
following those steps that we talked about in the Beatitudes
49:04
over and over and over again as they continually progress to
49:09
become more like God. Now in closing today, one of the
49:13
other ways to look at Jesus's phrase, be ye, therefore
49:17
perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven is perfect.
49:21
The Matthew 548 version is through that lens of a Greek
49:27
world, the word perfect, meaning complete, whole, lacking,
49:33
nothing, finished, arrived. Brothers and sisters, it will be
49:39
a great while after we passed out of this life.
49:42
Joseph Smith said. Until we attain unto that level
49:45
of perfection, don't look in the mirror and judge harshly.
49:50
We can probably all do a better job at not looking around us and
49:54
judging harshly, but exercising that Christ like attribute of
49:59
mercy and trying to be more like Christ and extending that mercy,
50:04
especially when it's not deserved.
50:07
That's when we become more like Him and we progress more on the
50:12
covenant path. If you or your loved ones are
50:15
struggling right now through a Blizzard or through a dark night
50:18
of trial and tribulation or feelings of abandonment on the
50:22
covenant path or through a really steep, rocky section of
50:26
that path, as you move forward, my prayer and our hope and our
50:31
desire is that you will press forward with steadfast faith in
50:36
Christ, knowing that you can't take one step without Him.
50:41
This isn't about you working your way into heaven.
50:43
This is about you coming unto Christ so that He can perfect
50:48
you, complete you, make you so you're finished and whole.
50:52
And I know He lives. I know He loves, and I leave
50:56
that with you In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
50:58
Know how much you're loved.