Repentance Talk- LDS
Jan 28, 2019
-How Repentance is an Aaronic Priesthood and Lower Law function.
-Why there are two different prayers for the sacrament.
-Our half of the atonement and John the Baptist.
- Mail Jeep Story
Raw Transcript
this is a talk that I gave not too long
ago on the subject of repentance talk a
little bit about the higher and lower
laws here or the monk acidic and ironic
laws repentance is is an ironic
priesthood function I give some examples
of that with John the Baptist and a
little bit of Isaiah I believe in this
as well here you go in those days Came
John the Baptist preaching in the
wilderness of Judea saying repent ye for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand these
are the first words by Matthew
attributed to John the Baptist as he
preached in the wilderness and
appropriately so in all four of the
Gospels in the New Testament the authors
carefully lay a framework for John the
Baptist as the precursor to Christ in
all four Gospels he is preaching
repentance or baptism unto repentance
why in each of the Gospels there is also
a reference to Isaiah's prophecy of one
crying in the wilderness prepare either
way make his paths straight this is in
reference to John the Baptist as the
preparer the one who cleared the royal
path so that the king could come in his
procession
it is John the Baptist who is the icon
of the Aaronic priesthood it is he that
personally came to Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery to give them the Aaronic
priesthood by the laying on of hands
it is the ironic priesthood that is the
preparatory priesthood we often confuse
this term preparatory with young men who
will eventually be receiving the
monistic priesthood but the priesthood
is not named because of the bearer but
rather for the principles it governs as
we are told in the Doctrine and
Covenants speaking of the lesser
priesthood the Lord says this priesthood
holdeth the keys of the ministering of
angels and the preparatory gospel which
gospel is the gospel of repentance and
of Baptism and the remission of sins and
the law of kernal Commandments it is
what we do to reach to heaven so
repentance is a part of that preparatory
gospel which affords us the greater
blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ
and the Melchizedek Priesthood the
priesthood that represents Jesus Christ
and what he did to reach down to us and
allows us to fully invite the grace of
God in Jesus Christ into our lives to
live a happier more fulfilled life it is
this preparatory path that should
intrigue us in this moment and that I
call your attention to in this talk
repentance is a looking forward
sacrifice something today for something
better tomorrow
therefore repentance turns our hearts
and minds toward the future and
hopefully toward an eternal perspective
this is Alma 20 to 16 or it says if thou
wilt repent of all thy sins and will bow
down before God and call on his name in
faith then shalt thou receive the hope
which thou desirest if then repentance
first as the preparation than the hope
of eternal life as a result
whore appeared in the Book of Mormon
about 90 years before the birth of
Christ
he taught of a shortcut a way back to
God without repentance he taught that
all mankind should be saved at the last
day for the Lord had created all men and
had also redeemed all men and in the end
all men should have eternal life that's
Alma 1 for but are we meant to be
coddled in such a way was that the plan
in heaven the plan of happiness is it a
plan determined to cut and unfold us as
spiritual snowflakes or were we meant to
grow reaching to heaven through faith
and repentance to gain a greater hope
through struggle that struggle leading
us to the greatest joy after all it is
Lehi who says Adam fell that men might
be and men are that they may have joy as
we know there is one path back to God
there is no other way the choice is
simply do we align ourselves with
reality and the hierarchy of value set
before us in the gospel or do we use our
own hierarchy of values we could look at
repentance as a rearranging of
priorities in mind spirit and behavior a
rearranging of our own hierarchy of
values as we are told in the Ten
Commandments thou shalt have no other
gods before me this is simply telling us
the way forward should we choose it
elder Christofferson puts it succinctly
it would Mock the Savior's suffering in
the Garden of Gethsemane and on the
cross for us to expect that he should
transform us into angelic beings with no
real effort on our part rather we seek
His grace to complement and reward our
most diligent efforts perhaps as much as
praying for mercy we should pray for
time and opportunity to work and strive
and overcome he says how do we change
with repentance is it an act or perhaps
a state of mind I
lies on d'etre repentant converts find
that the truths of the restored gospel
govern their thoughts and deeds shape
their habits and forge their character
that's elder Nelson now president Nelson
Cora hor another book of mormon
character preached something similar but
nuanced to nee hoor his preaching was to
the effect that there would could be no
atonement made for the sins of men but
every man fared in this life according
to the management of the creature
therefore every man prospered according
to his genius and that every man
concurred according to his strength and
whatsoever a man did was no crime that's
Alma 3017 this is a purely spiritually
libertarian point of view
it requires no repentance it requires no
atonement these false prophets and their
followers did not believe in the
repentance of their sins it is
interesting that we find throughout the
Book of Mormon that where repentance is
not taught neither is the need for
Christ and His grace tucked there's a
lot said about grace in the last several
years much needed by the way but it is
important to understand also incredibly
important that it is the gift of God the
gift our Father in Heaven gave us in
Christ and his sacrifice but it is only
half of the atonement any gift unused is
useless our job is to take advantage of
that gift to see the opportunity for
what it is and repent which is to say
become more like the creature we were
created to be become more like the
Savior one way to learn about repentance
is through consequences today natural
laws are becoming ignored they happily
provide us with natural consequences
there is a movement to deny science to
deny gender to deny nature even the gnat
t'rul man we are told to put off the
natural man but not to ignore it our job
is to live with in mortality and
overcome it our job is to understand our
responsibilities while in mortality and
the consequences that go with them when
I was in high school we used to have a I
took Auto Body and we used to have an
old male jeep and you know the ones I'm
talking about they're the smaller ones
with a steering wheel on the right-hand
side so that the mailman could go along
the sidewalks in the roads and and just
drop off the the mail at each house into
the mailbox out on the preferably out on
the curb and we had one of those and we
chopped off the top and made it
convertible and then we worked on the
body a little bit primered the whole
thing out we were gonna paint it up and
but it didn't run very well and
sometimes when you would gun it yeah you
know when I say gonna do you're talking
about a very small engine but it it
would it would pop out at a spark plug
and the brakes were horrible what they
would do is you would just tap the
brakes and they would fully lock up and
so if you're going along in the mail
Jeep here in the Jeep and you needed to
slow down you would tap the brake and
they would lock up and so that's just
how you did it but we would take this
thing out after school sometimes and I
went to school at a high school that was
up in the hills and there was a lot of
open area and just roaming hills that we
were able to go through and they have
these little paths that we could drive
this thing through and we used to take
it back into the hills and drive around
and one day it was the day after it had
just rained and the Sun came out really
Harley strongly the next day and really
hardened up the dirt but what it what
happens is is when when it rains and
then gets really hot the neck
day is that it leaves the ground hard
but this on the surface it gets a little
sandy and so we took this thing out and
we're going down this hill and making
this turn it kind of turns and starts to
get strong a tighter and tighter on the
turn and steeper and steeper on the hill
and I was driving and I was with two of
my friends and we start going down the
hill and we start gaining speed and I
try to tap on the brake here and there
to try and slow things down but because
of the the way the road was with the
sand on top it was just it was just
sliding it wasn't slowing down at all
and and then if I just held the brakes
on it we lost complete control the
problem is is downward making the turn
to the left up down the right-hand side
there's a very steep hill and so we're
turning left tighter and tighter the
wheels come up on the left-hand side a
little bit as we start going down and I
try to straighten it out it they come
back down as soon as they come back down
my other two friends jump out and it
wasn't bad they jump out into the grass
you know the tall grass on the hill and
and they're fine I'm still in the in the
Jeep and I'm going faster and faster and
I'm trying to save this thing and I I
finally make a tight turn again I have
no around it the wheels come up again
and as the wheels come up I just jumped
I just jumped right out of the the
driver's seat down the right-hand side
and rolled down the hill a little bit
and looked up and as I looked up the
Jeep had actually landed back down on
all four wheels but then went off the
path and then went screaming down this
hill just bouncing all over the place it
jumped a gully and actually ended up on
the other side of the gully and bent the
frame as it landed in on the other the
other side of the gully there are
consequences and we shouldn't have been
taking that thing out and we shouldn't
have we knew that there were problems
with the brakes and
with the engine and that it was not it
was not a very safe thing to do
consequences they exist and it's our job
to try and work with in mortality and
where necessary repent and change
ourselves fix ourselves improve
ourselves so that we can have a little
bit of a more smooth ride and hopefully
affect those around us as well
Alma the younger after being subtly
reminded as you recall not so subtly
reminded of who he was and about
spiritual consequences tells us about
his experience with repentance they are
some of my favorite words in Scripture
hmm he says nevertheless after wading
through much tribulation repenting nigh
unto death the Lord in mercy hath seen
fit to snatch me out of an everlasting
burning and I am born of God my soul
hath been redeemed from the gall of
bitterness and bonds of iniquity I was
in the darkest abyss but now I behold
the marvelous light of God my soul was
wracked with eternal torment but I am
snatched and my soul is pained no more
consequences are lessons they are
opportunities to focus on change on
repentance when I am in need of
blessings I forget sometimes to first
ask what do I need to do how do I need
to change what would bring me closer to
you in looking at natural law and
spiritual law as well as the preparatory
gospel and the fullness of the gospel we
might look to the ordinance that we
previously participated in just a few
minutes ago the atonement is shown in
the ordinance of the sacrament the
sacrament is a representation of the two
ordinances of Baptism and the gift of
the Holy Ghost one in ironic preparatory
ordinance the other a Melchizedek
ordinance in
the bread we have the carnal or flesh
judgment Commandments repentance in the
wine or water we have the gift of
opportunity through sacrifice through
blood this is Grace this is mercy the
sacrament represents the two sides of
atonement or at one mint we might even
think about our own efforts to be at one
with God when we partake of the bread
our focus could be on repentance here
and then think of what the Savior did
for us when we drink of the water just
as there are four gospel accounts of
John the Baptist preparing the coming of
Christ
I'd like to use four words to season the
word repentance now come now calm is a
Hebrew word used in the Old Testament
which means to be sorry to console
oneself to repent regret or even to be
comforted dead Bhutan is an old English
word date bohtan means better deed or to
make a deed better can we change that
behavior is what its implication is the
Savior's sacrifice gives us an ever
accessible gift a perpetual opportunity
as he says in the New Testament seven
times seventy times if necessary
there's also Metanoia which is the Greek
translation of the word repent in the
New Testament it essentially means a
change of mind it's a little different
in nuance in meaning because it it means
a little bit more about our state of
mind so we can look at repentance in a
way that is we change a deed we've done
something wrong we need to improve
ourselves in that thing or or repent and
unburden ourselves with something that
we've done or we can also look at it is
are we in a repentance state a
repentance state of mind and a spirit
where we are humble
and living a specific way as a repentant
person and that's a little bit more what
metanoia would mean president Nelson has
stated that here I quote thanks to the
ransom paid by the atonement of Jesus
Christ full forgiveness is given to the
sinner who repents and remains free from
sin and then lastly teshuva is another
Hebrew word for repent in the Old
Testament the root shove means to return
which is kind of cool it's like a return
to God yes in a way
so repentance gives us the opportunity
to participate in the atonement that's
our part repentance in conclusion
prepare ye the way we can all clear out
our own paths ready it for our own
travel but more importantly invite the
healer to come down our path the king to
come down our path clear it to invite
the peace and greater happiness and
fulfillment in our lives that the Lord
has waiting for us the atonement is a
two-way street with this all in mind I
pray that we can all participate more
fully in our covenant relationship with
God and participate more fully in the
atonement through repentance to be sorry
to change to return and to be healed and
I say these things in the name of Jesus
Christ amen
LDS Mormon
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