Abide in the Doctrine of Christ

John the Beloved warned that there would be many people who would enter into the world and deceive others.  Their deception stems from a misunderstanding of the nature of God.  At that time many believed in the notion that matter was inherently evil and therefore anything involving matter was evil; the truth that God has a body of flesh and bones would then be blasphemous in their eyes.  In addition, the idea of Christ coming to the earth in a physical body made up of “evil matter” would then make Christ evil.  This could not be, so therefore they concluded that Christ only appeared to have a body of flesh and bone and that his suffering was all in appearance instead of reality.  This is of course false.   If true, it would make Christ a liar which is just as counterproductive as Christ not having a body.

If believed, such a doctrine would destroy men’s faith.  The purpose of Peter and the Apostles was to stand as witnesses that Christ lives in the flesh and that we need to exercise faith in that fact.  If that does not exist, what then do we have faith in?  If Christ had no body, how could he suffer?  If Christ could not suffer, how could he pay the price for our sins?  If Christ could not pay the price for our sins, how could we overcome sin and death?  If we could not overcome sin and death, what is our reason for living?  Ultimately, such a belief would destroy all hope in gaining eternal life, and there would be very little to live for.

To avoid believing such doctrines, John taught us to “[abide] in the Doctrine of Christ.”  In other words, we need to check those things that we hear with the established doctrines set forth by Christ himself and his ordained apostles.  He also said, “look to yourselves” or determine your beliefs based on how it makes you feel and what it inspires you to do.  President Hinckley stated, “Does it persuade one to do good, to rise, to stand tall, to do the right thing, to be kind, to be generous? Then it is of the spirit of God…”  If we follow that counsel, we will not be deceived.

The High Priest of Good Things to Come

                The whole purpose of the Law of Moses was to prepare the minds of the people to live the higher law established by Christ.  Amulek taught that “every whit [of the law pointed] to that great and last sacrifice and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God” (Alma 34: 14).   The atonement itself is applied to us by having a “broken heart and a contrite spirit” (3 Nephi 9: 20).  There was to be a stop to the shedding of blood, for as Paul mentions, “it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10: 4).  Christ was to be the last sacrifice and fulfilled the law by making an infinite and eternal sacrifice.  Christ’s atonement allows us to be forgiven of our sins and a chance to really think for ourselves, having the laws written in our hearts (see Hebrews 10: 16).

                Under the Law of Moses, a sacrifice was made once a year on Yon Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  On this day, the High Priest would enter into the Holy of Holies in the inner most part of the tabernacle and sprinkle the blood of a male lamb without blemish before the mercy seat.  This is symbolic of Christ, who is called the “High Priest of Good Things to Come” offering himself as a sacrifice to allow mercy to be applied to all of us.  He stands in the presence of God (the Holy of Holies) and pleads to the Father on our behalf.  He took upon himself the sins of the world, much like how the “scapegoat” was symbolically given our sins and sent to his death.

                Christ truly is the High Priest of Good Things to come because he provided us a means to have hope.  Without Christ, nothing we do would matter and we would have no hope at all.  Every “good thing” that happens in our life can some way be traced back to the sacrifice Christ made as the great High Priest of the New Covenant.  Salvation only comes through the New Covenant established by Christ.

The Rest of the Lord

                In Hebrews 3: 11, Paul mentions that the people in the days of Moses, who wandered in the wilderness for forty years, not entering into the rest of the lord.  They lost this privilege because they hardened their hearts and did not understand the ways of the lord.  They could not enter because of their unbelief.  Although they had seen miracles in the wilderness they still were laxed in following the Lord.  Paul repeatedly warned the saints to not harden their hearts, warning them that if they did they would not hear the voice of the Lord nor enter into his rest.  This can apply to us today because we can harden our hearts by not listening to the words of the modern prophet.  The Modern Prophet is the voice of the Lord today and if our hearts are hardened we will not hear the voice of the Lord and we won’t understand his ways.

                Doctrine and Covenants 84: 23-24 describes the rest of the Lord as a fullness of the God’s glory.  God’s work and his glory is the immortality and eternal life of man (see Moses 1: 39) so the rest of the lord described here is Eternal Life in the presence of God.  To enter into this rest, Paul counsels us to labor and eagerly work to enter the Lord’s rest.  He notes that not laboring is a sign of unbelief (see Hebrews 4: 11).  Paul also said the “word” needs to be “mixed with faith.”  James taught that we need to be “doers of the word and not hearers only” (James 1: 22).  Paul mentions the work of the creation and how on the seventh day God rested.  It is understood that God created the earth by the word of his power, which is Christ (see Moses 1: 32, Jacob 4: 9).  We need to not only confess Christ as our savior, but we need to do the works of Christ so that on our seventh day we will be able to rest.  Further, John 7: 17 and Matthew 21-23 state how important it is to do the will of the Father in all things in order to understand the doctrine (the word) and to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven (eternal life) which is the rest of the Lord.

Work Out Our Salvation

When the Lord says to work out our salvation he is telling us we need to live righteous lives.  Ezekiel 3: 20 speaks of the necessity to repent of our sins and how if we die in our sins then it doesn’t matter how much good we’ve done, we will die spiritually.  On the other hand, D&C 20: 7 states that if we keep the commandments we will have eternal life.  To receive salvation we must persevere on the path of righteousness and not turn from it.  We must keep the commandments with full purpose of heart.  We must endure to the end.

                Paul Counseled in Romans 12 and 13 some things we can do in this life that will help lead to salvation.  He counseled us to treat our bodies with respect so that we may be able to offer them as acceptable sacrifices.  We are to renew our mind, meaning we need to stay active in our learning.  We need to abhor evil and cleave to that which is good.  We need to be hospitable and kind to others.  We need to not judge others or think we are better than them.  We need to be subject unto God and those ordained of God.  We need to settle our debts and love each other.  We need to love our neighbor as ourselves.

                In order to truly love others we cannot judge them.  In Romans 14 Paul reminds us that all of us will stand before God and be judged by him.  In another scripture he mentions that “all have sinned and come of the Glory of God” (Romans 3: 23).  Everyone does different things and has different strengths and weaknesses.  No matter what those are, it is important to do everything for the Glory of God.  Meaning, we need to give God the credit that is rightfully his and obey him out of love.  Since God is no respecter of persons, neither should we be.  We need to be “one” with our brethren so that we can be one with the Lord.  Paul often spoke of the people of his day as “saints.”  This title implies a sense of oneness and duty the people share one with another a common bond, in this case, the covenant of Baptism.

Christ is the Rock of our Lives

Jesus Christ is the rock of our salvation.  He is the one sure footing we can have to return and live with our Heavenly Father.  He is the rock because He should be the foundation of our testimonies.  He is the rock of Revelation.  He is the means by which the Father is revealed and known.  Christ is also the chief cornerstone of the church (Ephesians 2: 20).  He is also a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense for those who live in their sins and choose not to follow his teachings (Isaiah 8: 14).

                Today there are many sins and traps that we can fall into if we do not have our testimonies deeply imbedded in Christ.  Through Christ we can overcome all temptations.  God will never give us a temptation we cannot overcome through his help, “but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that [we] may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10: 13).  Christ is our way of escape.  God sent his son Jesus Christ to the earth to provide an example and firm footing on which we can step to overcome the challenges of life.  We can be assured that if we if we place our faith in Christ we can trust him to help us overcome our challenges as we would trust a rock firmly planted in the earth.  However, if we do loose our footing, through repentance and the atonement of Christ we can regain it.  Alma taught that to fully utilize Christ in our lives, and to make him our one sure rock of faith, we need to pray unto the Father continually and that if we do so we will not be tempted above that which we are able but transversely we will become “meek, submissive, patient, full of love and all long-suffering” (see Alma 13: 28)