Remembering in Whom We Have Trusted

Remembering in Whom We Have Trusted

By Elder Allen D. Haynie, Of the Seventy



INTRODUCTION/ LEARNER READINESS



Have a black board ready.



SAY: To start the lesson, I wanted to ask you a question. In the Church and the Gospel we have a lot of rules, laws and commandments. What do you think the biggest or most important rule, law or commandment is? I want to write your thoughts on the board. You can repeat what others have said. There isn't a right or wrong answer.



WRITE: responds [Love God, Love our neighbor, Obedience, Sabbath, Sacrifice a Broken Heart, Faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, Follow the Prophet]



ASK: Individuals to respond.



SAY: This lesson, in a way, is appropriate for Easter. The title of the talk by Elder Allen D. Haynie is Remembering in Whom we have Trusted. This title has caused me some introspection. In whom do I trust? In the past, it seemed like I trusted that keeping the laws and commandments would get me to heaven. This trust may have merits but I believe it is incomplete.



SAY: These days, I have been trying to put more trust in my Savior. I think of scriptures like 2 Nephi 4:18-19, I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me. And when I desire to rejoice, my heart groaneth because of my sins; nevertheless, I know in whom I have trusted.



I think of 2 Nephi 31:19, And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.



And I think of this verse in Moroni 6:4, And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith.

SAY: Is this how I view myself on the the strait and narrow path? Do I rely alone upon the merits of Christ, the author and finisher of my faith? Do I rely wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save? If I don't see my faith as taught in the scriptures, how do I gain this new perspective? How do I change my focus?



SAY: I now want to give you a short synopsis Elder Haynie's talk.

1. No unclean thing can enter the Kingdom of Heaven

2. We will commit sin, we need a Savior, Christ suffered for us. He requires that we confess and repent.

3. It doesn't matter what sins we have committed. What matters is Christ suffered and died, who had not sin.

4. This should give us renewed hope and determination to try one more time. The Savior will never turn us away, never reject us.

5. Repentance is not a fictional experience. It may lead us to no more having a disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.

6. The atonement heals. Christ took on himself the collective weight of all mankind. There is great power in the atonement. It makes perfect possible.

7. We will be judged. Our advocate will be Jesus.



LEARNER INVOLVEMENT



Let's read the last paragraph of Elder Haynie's talk:



READ #1



#1 - Brothers and sisters, if you feel discouraged or wonder if you can ever get out of the spiritual hole that you have dug, please remember who stands “betwixt [us] and justice,” who is “filled with compassion towards the children of men,” and who has taken upon Himself our iniquities and transgressions and “satisfied the demands of justice.” In other words, as Nephi did in his moment of self-doubt, simply remember “in whom [you] have trusted,” even Jesus Christ, and then repent and experience yet again “a perfect brightness of hope.”



Q: What is a spiritual hole that may have dug for ourselves? [becoming lax in our faith, ceasing to work on ourselves, giving up on particular weakness or sins that we have never quite mastered]



Q: Brethren, how do we get out of the spiritual hole that we have dug?

Q: Brethren is it that simple? Simply remember in whom you have trusted, repent, and experience yet again a perfect brightness of hope?



SAY: Lately, I have been studying Paul's writings in the New Testament. One chapter in Romans I found particularly interesting. May I indulge with some scriptures that are particularly difficult to understand? It reminded me of resent counsel from our leader regarding the sacrament. Open your scriptures to Romans. Let's read Romans 6 together. Who has verse 1?



1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? [what he seems to be saying here is, since Christ paid for our sins, should we sin even more to have more of God's grace?]



2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? [After receiving our new life in Christ, we should be living in sin any longer. This may be referring to continuing in our fallen natures, being carnal, sensual and devilish; being selfish, unkind, etc.]



3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? [Paul is now comparing baptism to Jesus’ death]



4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.



Q: Why is Paul comparing baptism to death and coming out of the water to the resurrection?



[So, Paul is comparing being baptized to death, and being raise up out of the water, to the resurrection, that we can now walk in newness of life]



5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:



6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him,that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.



[our old way of being human was crucified with Jesus. He seems to be saying that the crucifixion cut the cord that bound us to sin]



7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.



Q: What do you think Paul means when he says he that is dead is freed from sin? [Could Paul be saying that he that is buried or baptized, is no longer a slave to sin? Or, since we are dead and buried, how can we be charged with the crimes of the past? Or, perhaps, now, since we are new creatures in Christ, we can continuously rely on His merit whom is might to save?]



SAY: Since we have been baptized, we are now under Grace. Justice can no longer make its demands as on long as we continue doing certain things. Q: What are those things that we must do on a continual basis to remain encircled about by Mercy?



[covenants, commandments: Q: by keeping our covenants or keeping the commandments, what are we demonstrating to God? {that we love Him} which is the first great commandment. What is the second great commandment?



Q: If our baptismal covenant and our sacramental covenants are basically the same, what are we affirming to God each week when we partake of His flesh and blood?



READ #2



#2 --- Galations 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.



Galations 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.



SAY: We must have faith in Christ.

Q: What does it mean to be called unto Liberty? (we are now under grace and the atonement.)



Q: How do we exercise our faith in Jesus Christ? {by loving our neighbor}

Q: What must we do to truly love our neighbor? {work on our inner self}



SAY: the embodiment of how to love each other is in Jesus' sermon that he gave to the Nephites in Bountiful.



Q: Who remembers some of Jesus's sayings?



SAY: In fact, Jesus calls all these sayings something else. Q: What does Jesus all them?



READ #3



#3 ---3 Nephi 12:19 And behold, I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father, that ye shall believe in me, and that ye shall repent of your sins, and come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Behold, ye have the commandments before you, and the law is fulfilled.



20 Therefore come unto me and be ye saved; for verily I say unto you, that except ye shall keep my commandments, which I have commanded you at this time, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.



READ #4



#4 ---3 Nephi 15:10 Behold, I have given unto you the commandments; therefore keep my commandments. And this is the law and the prophets, for they truly testified of me.


LEARNER APPLICATION



SAY: At this stage of our development as saints, as High Priests after the order of the Son of God, we are learning how to love our God with all our might, mind, and strength and we are learning how to truly love our fellowman. Let's read a few quotes from Elder Haynie.



READ #5



#5 - I testify that the Savior will never turn away from us when we humbly seek Him in order to repent; will never consider us to be a lost cause; will never say, “Oh no, not you again”; will never reject us because of a failure to understand how hard it is to avoid sin. He understands it all perfectly, including the sense of sorrow, shame, and frustration that is the inevitable consequence of sin.



Q: How does repentance fit into the commandment to love? [when we fail at loving, we endure to the end by trying again and again]









READ #6



#6 - Repentance is real and it works. It is not a fictional experience or the product “of a frenzied mind.” It has the power to lift burdens and replace them with hope. It can lead to a mighty change of heart that results in our having “no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually.” Repentance, of necessity, is not easy. Things of eternal significance rarely are. But the result is worth it. As President Boyd K. Packer testified in his last address to the Seventy of the Church: “The thought is this: the Atonement leaves no tracks, no traces. What it fixes is fixed. … The Atonement leaves no traces, no tracks. It just heals, and what it heals stays healed.”



SAY: Brethren, after we are baptized and as we continue to take the sacrament worthily, with a desire to follow Christ, we remember Him whom we have trusted. We rely alone upon the merits of Christ, the author and finisher of my faith. We are learning to love our God and our fellow man. We work on our inner man. And we repent quickly so we can experience yet again “a perfect brightness of hope.”



In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.