Latest / Scripture Central / Alma 39–42 | Scripture Study Insights with Tyler Griffin | A Come Follow Me Resource

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Alma 39–42 | Scripture Study Insights with Tyler Griffin | A Come Follow Me Resource · Scripture Central

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Hello there. My name is Tyler Griffin and
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this is Scripture Study Insights by Scripture Central today Alma
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39 through 42. So this is the the set of
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chapters where Alma the Younger is talking to his son Corry
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Anton, who while they were on the mission in Antionem among
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the Zoramites, Corry Anton had some, some issues and ended up,
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it tells us, doing two things. Verse two.
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Now this is what I have against thee.
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Thou didst go on unto boasting in thy strength and thy wisdom.
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So this boasting attitude was problem number one and problem
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#2 is in verse three. And this is not all, my son.
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Thou didst do that which was grievous unto me, for thou didst
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forsake the ministry and did go over into the land of Cyron,
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among the borders of the Lamanites, after the harlot
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Isabel. And she did steal away the
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hearts of many. But this was no excuse for thee,
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my son. Thou should have tended to the
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ministry wherewith thou wast entrusted.
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So he has these fairly significant problems that he's
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facing. And here's Alma, who is the, the
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High priest of the Church. He's the, I guess you could call
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him the mission president of the group here in Antionam in that
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mission among the Zoramites. And yet he's also a father.
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And he's looking at his son, his youngest of three sons that that
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we have mentioned here, Helaman, Shiblan, and now Korianten.
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And he, he's talking to this son in a way that is profound
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because keep in mind, Alma the younger had some rough
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experiences in his past. And he has experienced that
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mighty change of heart that we talked about last week with Alma
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36 and that shift from the his previous life of fighting
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against the church to his new life building up the Kingdom of
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God. And so he he has a pretty good
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sense of what's going to help this wayward son or this
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struggling son. And he has a pretty good idea of
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what's not going to help him. And so we get to watch as this
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these chapters play out. Now the other thing to consider
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here as we jump in to these chapters is a lifelong learning
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overlay from Elder Maxwell. Years ago, when he was the
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Commissioner of Church Education, he taught a principle
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that you now see playing out over and over again with our
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prophets, seers and revelators as they teach, as they minister
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in all the world as a witness for the name of Jesus Christ.
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You see this this principle playing out.
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Here's what Elder Maxwell taught.
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He said when you're teaching the gospel, there are four ways for
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learners to actually learn, and they all start with an E.
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He called them the four ES of learning.
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So he said, in the church we do a lot of these first two,
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exhortation and explanation. So we explain a lot of
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principles, we diagram things, we show object lessons and then
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we explain how they they connect to the gospel.
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And then we make these exhortations or invitations to
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now act. He said learners can also learn
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many things by examples. So they can observe.
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We can tell stories, we can tell parables, we can give case
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studies, we can ask them about their own life circumstance and
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they can learn from examples that are taking place in their
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own families or their own in your own ward or stake or or
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branch, wherever you may live. But here's the beautiful point.
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He said the 4th East of learning is by experience.
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And let me just say that these first three to me are all means
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to the end of helping students or learners or children learn to
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experience the gospel, learn to experience the mercy of God, the
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the grace of Jesus Christ through his infinite atonement
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that will only come through the power of the Holy Ghost.
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When they actually feel motivated to act on the
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principles that they're being invited, explained and shown
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examples of all of these things are simply there to then
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activate agency to get them to to do something about what we're
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teaching them. So if we if we look carefully,
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one of the things that we could do as teachers, as parents, as
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leaders, as friends, is to figure out how to make more
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inspired invitations with inspired promises that can go
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along with those invitations. Now, if you look to God's
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prophets today, pick up any any general conference that's that's
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recently occurred and start studying any talk from our
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prophets, seers and revelators and watch for how often they
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will explain a concept or a doctrine.
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They'll show you some examples. They'll illustrate it from their
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own life or from a scripture story or from something in in
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their sphere of experience. So for instance, if it's Elder
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Uchtdorf, he'll give you a lot of examples from his life
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experience. His his examples will often
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include aviation. And we as a church have grown to
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love him for that and have grown to to recognize these beautiful
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principles of the gospel that he is able to teach us from his own
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examples as he then explains these concepts.
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But he and all of the others, they don't leave it at that
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level. They always give us inspired
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invitations to help us to act so that we can use that agency to
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then experience those principles that they've been teaching us
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and illustrating for us for ourselves because that is where
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lives change. In other words, as you're
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watching podcasts or these videos that that many people
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produce here at Scripture Central and many other places,
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at the end of the day, every one of these, these videos or these
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podcasts can help you with these first three ease of learning.
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You can walk away learning great things, but at the end of the
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day, the most powerful learning, the most impactful changes in
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life are only going to come if you act on those things that you
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have felt prompted to, to integrate into your life by the
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power of the Holy Ghost as the real teacher.
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In any of these settings, whether it be general
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conference, whether it be in your ward or branch meetings, or
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whether it be in the temple, or whether it be in a home setting
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or a personal scripture study. It's here where we make those
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decisions to act in faith that our lives are really going to
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change, which then allows us to be a stronger instrument in the
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Lord's hands to help other people do the same thing.
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Now with that foundation, you could now take chapters 39
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through 42 and watch how often Alma exhorts, explains, uses
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some principles that that are setting some examples.
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And then he invites his son Corienson, his struggling son,
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to act in order so that he can experience these principles of
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the gospel and the mercy of Jesus Christ.
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Because quite frankly, at this point in his mission in his
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life, Coriantha needs peace. He needs hope.
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He needs to feel the love of God.
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He needs to have the, the clouds of, of uncertainty and doubt and
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despair and, and frustration and that guilty conscience that he's
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facing. He needs to have all of that
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resolved with the help of the Lord.
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And you watch as Alma works with this son of his through that
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process. It's a, it's a beautiful example
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for us in our own parenting and leading and teaching today.
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So with that, let's jump in. He jumps down into verse seven
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with this statement. And now my son.
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So another thing you could watch for in chapters 39 through 42 is
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the words and the phrases and the ways in which Alma refers to
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Corienson. And if you like marking your
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scriptures, a great invitation would be to mark all of the
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times that he refers to him as my son.
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That's powerful for a for a young man.
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We don't know his age, we just know he keeps referring to him
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as being young. For a young man who's struggling
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to hear his dad repeatedly say my son, my son, that identity
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connection, that familial relationship has to be
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empowering to help better motivate positive and righteous
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experiences coming from Corry Anton.
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So he says, and now my son, I would to God that you had not
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been guilty of so great a crime. I would not dwell upon your
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crimes to Harrow up your soul if it were not for your good.
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So there's a beautiful principle here for teachers and leaders
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and parents again, is you don't do correction for correction's
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sake. You don't discipline, you don't,
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you don't rebuke struggling children or students or or
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people to to defend the the good name of the law, so to speak.
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You Harrow up their souls only for the intent that it will lead
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to good. Now, it may be painful to get to
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the good, which is fascinating because Satan's invitation, once
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somebody has sinned is, oh, either sweep it under the rug
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because you don't want to have to face it.
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Try to cover it up, try to make it look like you didn't do
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anything wrong. And if anybody asks you then lie
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your way out of that, Create more sins.
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So that's one extreme. The other extreme is try to puff
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it up and make it sound like there's nothing wrong with this.
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There's everybody else is doing it.
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What's what's so wrong with me enjoying that part of life?
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Which is fascinating because Corey Anson here on this mission
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is among the Zoramites who have embodied the teachings and the
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practices of Korahor, which is there is no God, there is no
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sin, there is no crime against any moral right or wrong.
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So just every man survives according to his genius and
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according to his strength. So just go and live it up.
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So he's been surrounded by people in that culture.
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And so it's possible that he has started to hear and perhaps
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adopt some of those cultural norms of what's the big deal?
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Everybody else's is doing this kind of thing.
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Let me enjoy it as well. And so Alma the younger, his,
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his father has to remind him of the seriousness of this sin, of
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these sins that he's committing. And he tells him in verse 8,
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behold, you cannot hide your sin, your crimes from God and
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except you repent, they will stand as a testimony against you
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at the last day. This is a man, a father, who
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knows an awful lot experientially about serious sin
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and about forgiveness that the Lord offers if we're willing to
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repent. So he's reminding his Son of the
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seriousness of sin only to the extent that he can encourage
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action in the right direction. And that right direction is
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turning to Christ and embracing the gift of the Savior's
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atonement and his mercy and his grace.
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Now you might be asking yourself, so how does one turn
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to Christ? How does one actually do the
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repenting? If you, if you look carefully,
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if you study carefully, verse 9 down through 14 of chapter 39
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and you mark the verbs in your Scripture in 9/10/11, 12:13 and
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14. What you will see laid out for
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you on that column there of your scriptures are verbs that are
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all pointing you to how a person can repent.
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Let me just give you 2 examples and then you can do the rest on
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your own. Verse nine.
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Now, my son, I would that you should repent and forsake your
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sins, and go no more after the lusts of your eyes, but cross
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yourself in all these things, for except you do this, you can
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in no wise inherit the Kingdom of God.
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Oh, remember and take it upon you, and cross yourself in these
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things. Jump down to verse 11.
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Suffer not yourself to be LED away by any man or foolish
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thing. Coranthan at that moment is
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probably having the Holy Ghost carry his Father's message a
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little deeper than the eardrums alone, as he's realizing the
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seriousness of what he's done, even though he's surrounded by
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people who have been teaching vain and foolish things.
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So it's the suffer not and then suffer not the devil to lead
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away your heart again after those wicked hearts.
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Behold, O my son, how great iniquity you brought upon the
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Zoramites, for when they saw your conduct, they would not
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believe in my words. An example I love to use here.
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So teaching, using an example, teaching this principle is it
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would be a very easy thing to go into any second or third grade
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classroom while they're working on math worksheets and walk up
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and down the aisle and look at all of the problems that are
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being done incorrectly by those second or third graders and
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pause and think to yourself, there's so many, so many math
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problems that are being done incorrectly.
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Therefore math is bad. Math isn't true.
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Math doesn't teach correct principles because look at how
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many math problems are being completed erroneously or
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incorrectly. Brothers and sisters, we don't
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judge math or principles of mathematics based on 2nd and 3rd
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graders, or adults for that matter, for their inability to
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perfectly execute those mathematical principles as they
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work through math problems. Math, the principles of
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mathematics are true independent of my ability to perform those,
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those principles with a with an actual problem.
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And yet we live in a world that looks at, say a member of the
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Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who maybe is
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practicing, working on some quote UN quote, math problems or
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life problems in this case. And they're not, they're not
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executing the the principles as they've been taught and they're
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messing up and they're not doing it perfectly.
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And people then look at that person and say, therefore the
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church can't be true or therefore the gospel must not be
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good because look at what my neighbor is doing, or look at
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what my colleague is doing or look at what my sibling or a
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relative is doing. And therefore the gospel can't
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be true. Be careful because that's the
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world we live in and people are going to judge the church by
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what they can observe, and there is a seed of truth in that, the
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Lord Jesus Christ taught by their fruits, ye shall know
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them. So as we act appropriately,
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people can recognize true fruits of the gospel and unfortunately,
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they can apply that same principle going in the negative
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direction and say, OK, that's a that church is bad because this
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person cheated me or because this person is not a a great
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example of of how to treat people in a family or in a
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neighborhood or in a business deal or whatever the case may
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be. The point being, in this case,
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because of the world in which we live, the Zoramites wouldn't
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listen to Alma because they were watching Korantan and they were
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judging Alma and the other missionaries and their message
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based on Korantan's actions. And it's, it's an unfortunate
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and yet sad reality of the world in which we live, that that's
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what happens all the time. So let's jump over to chapter
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40. Now he's he's taught his son the
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seriousness of sin. He sandwiched it with some hope,
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with some expressions of love, and then he keeps putting in the
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reminders of, but you've got to be so careful because what you
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do is seen. And now he jumps into chapter
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40, and he begins with Now my son, here is somewhat more I
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would say unto thee, for I perceive that thy mind is
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worried concerning the resurrection of the dead.
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Another thing to watch for is this concept of perception of a
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parent or a teacher or a leader's ability to look at at
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an individual or a group and to perceive what their needs are,
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what they're struggling with, what they're, what they're
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facing in life. Now.
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It's not our job in any of these roles to know everything about
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these people that we're working with.
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It is our job to plead with heaven to make it so that as we
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observe, as we listen instead of just talk and explain and exhort
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and show examples that there's this feedback loop with those
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that were teaching or leading. To be able to perceive when
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they're confused, when they're frustrated, when they're
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disinterested and zoning out, when they're actively engaged,
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when they have questions and or concerns.
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And in this case, as Alma has been dealing with the sun, you
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can imagine in your own mind's eye, you can imagine the
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different facial expressions or body language that Corienton
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might be exhibiting as his father has worked through the
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the things he's talked about in chapter 39.
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The maybe a little bit of squirming, maybe a little bit of
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looking at the ground, maybe a little bit of defiance, We don't
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know. But he finally gets to this
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verse one of chapter 40. And he says, I perceive that thy
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mind is worried concerning the resurrection of the dead.
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You see the Zoramites embodying core horse teaching where there
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is no life after this death, there is nothing to look forward
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to. Therefore, you can just enjoy
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life as it comes to you today, right here, right now.
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So now there might be this question in Corry Anton's mind
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of does it really matter what I do with my physical body?
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Is there really? I know in the church we're
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teaching about resurrection. And so Alma's picking up on
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this, this train of thought that Coriantin's having, which is
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beautiful because if he understands the true doctrine of
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his pure and eternal identity, if he can help Coriantin to
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think celestial, as President Nelson would say, then now these
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doctrines that he's going to share will far more likely
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translate into Coriantin truly repenting and experiencing that
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glorious promise of forgiveness that the Savior offers.
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So he then describes what he knows about the resurrection.
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And if you consider that this is 7 plus decades before Jesus is
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even going to be born, the concept of resurrection has to
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feel a little bit more distant to them.
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Nobody's ever been resurrected up to this point.
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The Savior Jesus Christ is going to be the first and he's not
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even going to be born for over 70 years from this time moving
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forward. So he's planting these seeds of
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faith with Coriantin and he says, I'm going to, I'm going to
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unfold a mystery for you. This is in verse three.
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And then he shares this, this beautiful prophetic insight.
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The prophets don't know everything, but that's OK.
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They teach what they do know, and they teach with certainty
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those things that they do know. And if they're uncertain,
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they'll let you know. To illustrate this, let's look
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at verse 5. Now, whether there shall be one
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time or a second time or a third time that men shall come forth
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from the dead, it mattereth not. For God knoweth all these
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things, and it sufficeth me to know that this is the case, that
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there is a time appointed that all shall arise from the dead.
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So he's showing you the difference between what I don't
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know and what I do know. And he's very comfortable in
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this space of I don't know whether there's one, two, or
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three that hasn't been revealed to me yet.
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I It's not in the Scriptures from what he's seen, and he's OK
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with not knowing that. So what does he do?
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He goes back to what he does know.
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How often in conversations or in relationships do people ask you
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hard questions where you may not know the answer to that specific
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question? A pattern to follow here would
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be to analyze what aspect in that question is something that
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you do know and begin from a position of what you do know and
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be OK with saying I don't know when you actually don't know.
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It's it's a powerful thing to be able to admit that and to
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understand that part of life is this journey of discovery and
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journey of curiosity to figure out things that you don't
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already know. So now he goes on verse 8.
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Now whether there is more than one time appointed for men to
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rise that mattereth not for all do not die at once.
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And this mattereth not all is as one day with God and time only
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is measured unto men. So he goes back to an eternal
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truth, applying it to this situation that he doesn't know
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the specific answer to. And to take that one step
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further, he goes down to verse 11.
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Now concerning the state of the soul between death and the
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resurrection. Behold, it has been made known
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unto me by an Angel that the spirits of all men, as soon as
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they are departed from this mortal body, yeah, the spirits
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of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that
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God who gave them life. Now, that's a beautiful verse, a
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standalone verse that that many prophets and apostles have
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quoted at funerals and many of many Saints have taken great
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solace in verse 11. But you can picture that verse
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in the context where it was originally given from Alma the
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younger to his son Corryant and struggling with these questions
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and these issues in his life as as he's trying to figure out
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that path of repentance for himself with the help of his
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father, That reminder that when we die, we're taken home to that
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God. Now, that doesn't mean that
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everything's finalized and we're instantly resurrected.
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He's made that very clear. We're not resurrected at that
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point. There is a space of time between
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the the death and the resurrection from the dead.
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And So what happens? And he says the spirits are
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taken home to God. So we enter into this realm and
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and you experience this partial judgment.
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And then he describes something beautiful here.
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So you get again this repeat word if, if you like marking
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your scriptures, start in verse 11 and on the first line, just
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highlight the word state. So concerning the state of the
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soul, much more important than where you are is who you are and
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how you exist and how you feel. So as you go from 11 through 15,
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you're going to find the word state used multiple times
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showing that there is a state of, of peace and paradise and
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rest. And then he also talks about the
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state for those who have been wicked.
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The the state of the souls is awful, as he describes it.
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That's one of the the ways to describe spirit prison.
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It's a state of awfulness. It's a state of misery.
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It's the these pain feelings. And so for Corey Anton to hear
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this is one thing for us to hear it in our day.
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Now the question remains, what am I going to do about that?
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What difference is knowing that going to make on how I live my
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life today, how I treat people today, how I look to God today,
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how I seek to hear him the words of the Lord Jesus Christ and
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feast upon them today. What difference is that going to
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make? Well, we're going to see how he
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builds on that concept moving forward as he he describes the
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the resurrection and he even goes as far in verse 20 as to
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give his opinion. And he clarifies that.
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Now my son, I do not say that their resurrection cometh at the
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resurrection of Christ, but behold, I give it as my opinion
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that the souls and the bodies are reunited of the righteous at
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the resurrection of Christ and his ascension into heaven.
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So everybody who has died from Adam to Jesus Christ's
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resurrection, he's giving it as his opinion that all those
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righteous souls will be resurrected at that point.
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But he doesn't say absolutely this is going to happen.
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Now it turns out from other Scripture later on, we find out
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that Alma's opinion was right on at the resurrection of Jesus
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Christ. The graves of all the righteous
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are opened up and they are resurrected.
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And we learned that from Section 132 and other places in
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Scripture that that resurrection is complete for many of these
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righteous Saints previous to the Savior's death and resurrection.
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And so then he finishes describing that glorious event
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and the glorious promise of resurrection.
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And we jump into 41. And he opens by saying, and now
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my son, did you catch that in chapter 40?
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He opened with, Now, my son, here's somewhat more I would
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say, and to thee, for I perceive he opens up Chapter 41 with.
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And now, my son, I have somewhat to say concerning the
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restoration of which has been spoken.
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For behold, some have rested the Scriptures and have gone astray
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because of this thing. They've to rest is to twist or
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distort, or to turn it a different direction than it was
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intended. And I perceive that thy mind has
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been worried also concerning this thing.
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But behold, I will explain it unto thee.
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So, my son, I perceive that now you have some questions about
32:05
this. We've finished our discussion of
32:07
resurrection. I've shared what I know.
32:08
I've shared what I don't know. I've given my opinion on some
32:11
things, but I've told you absolutely what is true on
32:14
others. And now I perceive that you have
32:16
some questions about this restoration.
32:20
You can label Chapter 41 however you'd like.
32:24
For me and my scriptures I have written at the top, the law of
32:29
the harvest restoration is not to bring forth something
32:36
different than was planted. The law of the harvest is a very
32:40
simple principle of the gospel. You reap or harvest whatever it
32:48
is that you sow or whatever you plant.
32:51
You reap what you sow. I can't go into a garden or into
32:57
a field and plant weed seeds and expect to come back a a month or
33:05
two or three later and start harvesting corn or tomatoes or
33:09
potatoes or wheat. It doesn't work.
33:13
President Russell M Nelson has shared the beautiful concept as
33:17
a heart surgeon of of these laws.
33:22
There's certain things, their cause and effect.
33:25
It just happens, and it always happens when you do certain
33:29
things, and that's what chapter 41 is all about.
33:32
He's teaching Corianthin. You can't plant sinful seeds and
33:39
expect to harvest righteous consequences.
33:44
It doesn't work. Not in this life or in the next,
33:49
definitely not in the eternities.
33:52
So this whole chapter, if we go back to our principle of
33:58
exhortation, explanation, example and experience, he's,
34:02
he's going to explain very clearly this concept of the law
34:08
of the harvest. You reap what you sow in an
34:12
effort to try to get Corryanson to experience planting righteous
34:19
seeds in order to harvest righteous fruit.
34:23
So as an example, look at verse four.
34:26
And if their works be evil, they shall be restored unto them for
34:30
evil. Therefore, all things shall be
34:33
restored to their proper order, everything to its natural frame.
34:38
There's a predictable law going on here, mortality raised to
34:43
immortality, corruption to incorruption raised to endless
34:47
happiness to inherit the Kingdom of God or to endless misery to
34:52
inherit the Kingdom of the devil.
34:54
The one-on-one hand and the other on the other.
34:58
Now if you jump down to verse seven, he's describing the the,
35:03
the righteous consequences. These are they that are redeemed
35:08
of the Lord, yet these are they that are taken out, that are
35:12
delivered from that endless night of darkness.
35:15
And thus they shall stand or fall.
35:19
For behold, they are their own judges whether to do good or do
35:25
evil. Brothers and sisters, this gift
35:27
of agency, what a gift. What an amazing, glorious gift
35:34
it is. We are our own judges.
35:38
Nobody is forcing me to experience the gospel of Jesus
35:42
Christ. Nobody's forcing me to repent.
35:46
Nobody's making me love God. Nobody's making me go to church
35:51
or go to the temple or to pay my tithing.
35:54
These are choices that you make as a judge over what am I going
36:02
to plant in the soil of my soul? What seeds am I going to plant
36:10
myself and allow others to plant into the fields of my faith that
36:16
I then nurture and feed and weed and work with the Lord to, to
36:24
help grow these, these seeds that have been planted so that I
36:29
can literally harvest fields of faith.
36:32
I can harvest those fruits of righteousness.
36:39
Isn't that fascinating? That once we die, we are brought
36:44
up out of the grave, We're brought back into the presence
36:48
of God for judgement And at that point we are judged.
36:54
But at this point, we are the judges.
36:58
We get to decide and how we judge is going to lead to how we
37:05
are judged. So in that context, see if this
37:10
verse from the Sermon on the Mount, Sermon of the Temple
37:14
makes a little more, has a little more impact.
37:18
The Lord said, for with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be
37:24
judged and with what measure you meet, it shall be measured to
37:27
you again. So we usually use that that
37:32
concept of judge not and and however you're judging is how
37:35
you're going to be judged, referring to how we treat other
37:38
people and how we judge other people.
37:41
But that principle perhaps applies even more powerfully to
37:47
this concept of they are their own judges back here in Alma 41,
37:52
verse 7, The way I judge to live my life, the seeds I judge as as
38:01
being able to be planted in the fields of my my life are going
38:07
to lead to the way I'm going to be judged.
38:11
And he goes on to say, now behold my son, do not risk one
38:16
more offense against your God upon those points of doctrine
38:19
which you have hitherto risked to commit sin again.
38:23
Alma the Younger knows what he's talking about experientially on
38:27
both the the sin side and the redemption from that sin side,
38:32
the forgiveness from that struggle aspect.
38:37
And he's pleading with his Son to to not go further into
38:43
casting more of those sinful seeds onto his soul as he moves
38:49
forward. And then he clarifies a
38:52
beautiful principle in verse 10. Do not suppose because it has
38:57
been spoken concerning restoration, that ye shall be
39:01
restored from sin to happiness. Weed seeds do not produce fruit.
39:07
Behold, I say unto you, wickedness never was happiness.
39:14
It's one of the grand ironies of every temptation is it's an
39:18
invitation to indulge in some carnal, sensual or devilish
39:23
pleasure or temptation at that moment, but it it's not
39:29
happiness. And I love that that same
39:32
principle applies for the positive aspects of the gospel
39:36
as well. You can feed the Spirit, you can
39:42
feed your faith, you can feed your righteousness, and it will
39:48
grow. And your ability to recognize
39:50
God's hand through those things will grow with that process over
39:55
time. So now he comes down to chapter
40:00
41, verse 14, and he says, therefore my son.
40:06
So he's taught him some beautiful principles of the law
40:09
of the harvest. So watch him shift into inspired
40:15
invitation mode here as a as an excellent teacher and an
40:19
inspired father in this setting. Therefore, my son, see that ye
40:25
are merciful unto your brethren. Deal justly, judge righteously,
40:30
and do good continually. And if you do all these things,
40:34
then shall you receive your reward?
40:37
Yeah, You shall have mercy restored unto you again, and you
40:41
shall have justice restored unto you again, and you shall have
40:44
righteous judgment. Did you see the the parallel
40:49
structure at the beginning? The invitation was be merciful,
40:53
deal justly and judge righteously and do good
40:55
continually. That was his four things.
40:58
Now he gives the law of the harvest.
41:01
He's giving the example of what happens then.
41:06
You will have mercy restored. If you give mercy, you'll
41:11
receive mercy. If you deal justly, you will
41:14
have justice restored to you again.
41:16
If you give righteous judgment, you shall have a righteous
41:19
judgment restored unto you again.
41:21
If you do good, you shall have good rewarded unto you again.
41:25
So verse 14 is this beautiful parallel structure of four items
41:30
that you plant into the soil of your of your life and the four
41:36
fruits that match 1 to one with each one of those seeds.
41:41
It's a law, it always works. What it doesn't tell you is how
41:46
long it takes. Some fruit grows quickly, and
41:51
some takes a long time to to bear that fruit in the season
41:56
thereof. And so he then says, For that
41:59
which you do send out shall return unto you again and be
42:04
restored. Therefore the word restoration
42:08
more fully condemneth the Sinner, and justifieth him not
42:11
at all. Makes you think that among the
42:14
Zoramites, they've been teaching the the concept of well, even if
42:19
there is a God, then he must love you.
42:21
And so you can just eat, drink and be merry.
42:24
And for tomorrow we die and it will be well with us.
42:28
God might beat us with a few stripes, but in the end we'll be
42:31
saved. And so Alma is pushing back
42:35
against that devilish doctrine that, yeah, God's love is going
42:40
to overcome God's law or eternal law regarding who we're
42:47
becoming. And so chapter 42 hits that
42:52
point very hard. And you'll notice chapter 42
42:55
opens with the same opening as 30 or as chapters 40 and 41.
43:01
And now my son, I perceive. So all three chapters, identity,
43:09
you're my son. And I perceive something which
43:12
now leads to what I'm going to teach you.
43:17
So in this case, the thing that's worrying the mind of
43:22
Coriantin as he's been discussing this issue is the
43:27
justice of God in the punishment of the Sinner.
43:30
For ye do try to suppose that it is injustice that the Sinner
43:34
should be consigned to a state of misery.
43:36
He's he's wrestling at this point with wait, is that right?
43:41
Is that fair? Is it good that God would punish
43:44
sinners that something's wrong with that?
43:48
They're in that culture in Corhor's teachings.
43:52
If somebody were to say, well, I'm not going to buy Corhor's
43:56
doctrine of no God, but I'm going to I'm going to go with a
43:59
universal universalist approach that God's just going to save
44:03
everybody. We heard that doctrine presented
44:06
in the pre mortal counsel from Lucifer.
44:09
His his lie, his deception was if if I am selected, I will save
44:15
all of them, which was impossible.
44:19
It was a lie from the beginning. So now he says verse two.
44:25
Now behold my son, I will explain this thing unto thee,
44:30
for behold, after the Lord God send our first parents forth
44:34
from the garden of Eden to till the ground from whence they were
44:36
taken. Yeah, he drew out the man and he
44:39
placed at the East End of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a
44:42
flaming sword which turned every way to keep the tree of life, to
44:47
prevent Adam and Eve prematurely from partaking of that fruit of
44:52
the tree of life, so that they would live forever in this state
44:58
of not ready, not prepared to meet their God.
45:01
So because they couldn't take it.
45:03
Verse 4 Thus we see that there was a time granted unto man to
45:07
repent. Yeah, a probationary time, a
45:11
time to repent and serve God. All of a sudden, if you're
45:14
corient and you're hearing this doctor and you're thinking, wait
45:18
a minute, Dad. So that means everyone needs to
45:21
repent, not just me. I'm.
45:25
I'm not isolated in this need to repent.
45:29
Because you see, that's one of Satan's biggest tactics is to
45:33
make people feel like everybody else has it figured out.
45:37
And I'm, I'm so bad and I'm not ever going to be worthy enough.
45:43
And Satan's invitation is to get us to think telestial or to
45:46
think terrestrial. God's invitation through his
45:51
prophet is to help us to think celestial and to keep our sights
45:55
set on the eternal glorious promises that God and the Lord
46:02
Jesus Christ are offering to us. So verse seven says, now you see
46:08
by this that our first parents were cut off both temporally and
46:14
spiritually from the presence of the Lord, unless we see that
46:17
they became subjects to follow after their own will.
46:20
So there's a spiritual death and a temporal, a physical cut off
46:27
from the presence of the Lord and eventually leading to a
46:30
physical death, both deaths that would prevent us from becoming
46:36
like God. And so chapter 42 is filled with
46:41
this glorious teach, with this glorious doctrine and teachings
46:46
about the Savior's infinite atonement and what he does to
46:52
help us overcome the effects of the fall that we've all
46:57
inherited from Adam and Eve, our first parents.
47:02
So verse 8 says, now behold, it was not expedient that man
47:05
should be reclaimed from this temporal death, for that would
47:09
destroy the great plan of happiness.
47:11
It wasn't just the temporary separation from God that needed
47:16
to be overcome. It's this long process, this
47:22
life that gives us an opportunity to prepare, to meet
47:26
God, to repent, to come to know the Savior better.
47:32
Then opens up verse 9. Therefore, as the soul could
47:36
never die. So it's using the word soul not
47:40
in a Doctrine and Covenants context of soul being body and
47:43
spirit combined, but in a Book of Mormon context of the soul
47:47
being the spirit, the body being your physical body.
47:51
So it says, therefore, as the soul could never die, your
47:54
spirit can't be destroyed. And the fall had brought upon
47:58
all mankind a spiritual death as well as a temporal.
48:00
That is, they were cut off from the presence of the Lord.
48:04
It was expedient that mankind should be reclaimed from this
48:07
spiritual death. We, we've been separated.
48:12
Death is the separation. We're separated from God.
48:16
Therefore, as they had become carnal, central and devilish by
48:19
nature, this probationary state became a state for them to
48:23
prepare. It became a preparatory state.
48:28
There's that word state again, these different states of beings
48:32
that you can pass through in this life in the the spirit
48:36
realm before the resurrection and then the state of being
48:39
after the resurrection. Therefore, according to justice,
48:45
the plan of redemption could not be brought about only on
48:49
conditions of repentance of men in this probationary state.
48:54
Yeah, this preparatory state. And then he talks about the
48:58
conditions of mercy, that they can't take effect or it would
49:03
destroy the work of justice. Now, the work of justice could
49:06
not be destroyed. If so, God would cease to be
49:08
God. So there's this problem you have
49:14
verse 16 says repentance could not come unto men except there
49:19
were a punishment which also was eternal, as the life of the soul
49:23
should be a fixed opposite to the plan of happiness, which was
49:27
as eternal also as the life of the soul.
49:30
So here's the here's the the chain of concepts.
49:38
You have a law, attached to that law are punishments for those
49:47
who break that law. And the problem is, is because
49:50
of our carnal central devilish our, our fallen state of being
49:56
in this probationary or testing state, we are all going to break
50:01
that law. So this punishment is going to
50:04
come and hit each of us and there's nothing we can do to
50:10
prevent it. And those punishments are not a
50:14
sign of God's hatred or anger. It's an eternal law.
50:19
If you break it, you are going to experience it.
50:24
So now jump down to verse 18. Now there was a punishment
50:28
affixed and a just law given, which brought remorse of
50:31
conscience unto men. So we we break the law and then
50:38
we get this remorse of conscience.
50:40
Oh no, but the real Oh no, comes in the eternal sense, not in the
50:47
temporal or the the earthly sense.
50:50
It's what is the effect of any sin in the eternal realm.
50:54
If we were to think celestial here, then we look at this
50:58
through the lens of no unclean thing can dwell in the presence
51:02
of God. Oh no, what have I done?
51:06
I've now made it so that I am unworthy and incapable of
51:11
dwelling in the presence of God after my judgement in his
51:15
presence. When I'm brought there to be
51:17
judged of my works, I'm doomed. So watch as he now finishes with
51:25
the glorious message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
51:29
Here he says verse 22. There is a law given and a
51:34
punishment affixed and a repentance granted, which
51:40
repentance? Mercy claimeth.
51:43
Otherwise justice claimeth the creature and executed the law,
51:48
and the law inflicteth the punishment.
51:51
So the law is inflicting this punishment because justice must
51:57
be served. There's no way around this.
52:03
And then he finishes verse 22 by saying, if not so, the works of
52:07
justice would be destroyed and God would cease to be God.
52:14
This isn't a question of does does God not love me enough to
52:17
forgive me? This is a question of there are
52:21
eternal laws that have to be followed and God is following
52:27
those eternal laws. Or according to Alma here he
52:31
would cease to be God. And then he says in verse 23, I
52:34
love this, but God ceaseth not to be God, and mercy claimeth
52:40
the penitent. So mercy is weighed out with
52:47
justice on those who are penitent.
52:51
If you choose to repent, if you plant seeds of faith that
52:57
develop into this repentant heart, it says mercy cometh
53:04
because of the atonement and the atonement bringeth to pass the
53:09
resurrection of the dead and the resurrection of the dead
53:11
bringeth back men into the presence of God.
53:14
Insert here the Lord Jesus Christ who stands betwixt you
53:23
and justice to use Mosiah 15 verse nine phrase from Abinadai.
53:28
He puts himself in the middle, so that all of these pains and
53:36
punishments and eternal judgments, they never hit you,
53:43
because they are absorbed in Christ, who stands between you
53:49
and that punishment. And it says, For behold, justice
53:55
exercise exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy claimeth
54:01
all which is her own, and thus none but the truly penitent are
54:08
saved. Now this brings up the question,
54:11
So wait, did did mercy just rob justice?
54:13
And any answers that in verse 25, what do you suppose that
54:17
mercy can rob justice? I say unto you, No, nay, not one
54:20
wit If so, God would cease to be God.
54:25
Now that's the third time we've read that phrase once over in
54:28
13, once in 22, and now again in verse 25, that God would cease
54:33
to be God. If, if this eternal law is not
54:37
kept, if it's not followed and protected and guarded, so
54:42
justice has its full sway, it's, it is fully meted out by the
54:50
law. It's not robbed in any way,
54:54
shape or form. The Savior Jesus Christ absorbs
54:58
it and then turns to us in exchange and now extends the
55:04
arms of mercy. And he says this this closing
55:09
section here 26 through 31. If you consider Corryanton as
55:15
his father has walked him through all of these concepts
55:18
and now he gets to verse to this closing part, Consider the the
55:24
glorious invitations that are being offered and how much it
55:30
will motivate him to act in faith, to repent and to turn to
55:36
the Lord. Verse 26 says, and thus God
55:38
bringeth about his great and eternal purposes which were
55:43
prepared from the foundation of the world, and thus cometh about
55:48
the salvation and the redemption of men and also their
55:52
destruction and misery. They get to be the judge.
55:56
They get to choose judgement day.
55:58
Shouldn't be this this huge surprise for anybody?
56:02
What am I choosing? What am I judging to to do with
56:08
my relationship with God, with the Lord Jesus Christ, with
56:11
other people? How am I choosing to plant seeds
56:15
today? And then he says, Therefore, O
56:20
my son, whosoever will come may come and partake of the waters
56:25
of life freely. And whosoever will not come, the
56:29
same is not compelled to come, but in the last day it shall be
56:34
restored unto him according to his deeds.
56:36
Now jump down to verse 30. O my Son, I desire that you
56:41
should deny the justice of God no more.
56:44
Do not endeavour to excuse yourself in the least point
56:47
because of your sins by denying the justice of God.
56:51
But do let the justice of God and His mercy and His
56:56
long-suffering have full sway in your heart, and let it bring you
56:59
down to the dust and humility. You see, if we choose to bring
57:07
ourselves down in humility, the Lord will lift us up.
57:12
If we choose rather to plant seeds of pride, seeds of
57:19
boastfulness, seeds of glorying and wickedness, and puff
57:23
ourselves up even bigger, then the day will come that the Lord
57:28
will have to bring us down because that justice will be
57:33
needed out. And he says, And now, O my son,
57:38
ye are called of God to preach the word unto this people.
57:42
And now, my son, go thy way, declare the Word with truth and
57:48
soberness, that thou mayest bring souls under repentance,
57:52
that the great plan of mercy may have claim upon them.
57:55
And May God grant unto you even according to my words.
57:58
Amen. He finishes with this absolutely
58:03
powerful inspired invitation to not just change your own life
58:08
Corryanton, but go out and cry repentance.
58:12
Teach these principles from your own experience as Alma the
58:16
younger has just done with his son from his own experience to
58:19
now connect people with God through through that beautiful
58:25
opportunity to show their faith through repentance in him.
58:32
In closing, every one of us to 1° or another has the
58:39
opportunity to sit in the place of Coranthan at the feet of this
58:44
great prophet. You don't have to have committed
58:46
the same sins as Coranthan to benefit from reading chapters 39
58:52
through 42 in a very careful way.
58:56
To study and ponder and plead with God to inspire us to know
59:01
better how to plant more seeds of of righteousness in the soil
59:07
of our soul, and to not only do that for ourselves, but to reach
59:13
out and encourage others to to do the same and to trust in the
59:19
Lord's promises. They are eternal wickedness.
59:22
Never was happiness. Righteousness always leads to
59:28
eternal joy. It's an eternal law.
59:31
What has the Lord done to help you produce these fruits of
59:37
righteousness and to fill of His sweet forgiveness, of his mercy
59:43
and of His grace? So to finish, we don't leave
59:49
this story hanging with people wondering OK, I wonder what?
59:54
I wonder what Coriantin ended up doing To finish.
59:58
You can cross reference the end of chapter 42 with two verses,
1:00:05
chapter 48, verse 18, and chapter 49.
1:00:11
Verse 30 And if you take some time to look those two up,
1:00:17
you're going to see Corryanton listed among a group of people
1:00:23
who are actively teaching and loving and serving God's
1:00:30
children and trying to bring them into the fold.
1:00:33
This is a beautiful success story of somebody who was taught
1:00:40
appropriately, whose father exhorted and explained and gave
1:00:45
many examples, followed by many invitations.
1:00:49
And this story ends with him experiencing the gospel of Jesus
1:00:54
Christ, not just hearing about it or seeing it in other people.
1:00:59
And that's our hope for all of us is that you find ways to now
1:01:02
go out and act to plant those seeds of faith and to spread
1:01:08
this this glorious message. And I leave that with you in the
1:01:12
name of Jesus Christ, Amen. Know that you're loved.