Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Repentance Brings Joy-1 Nephi 20:1

1 Nephi 20:1

Chapter 20

The Lord reveals His purposes to Israel—Israel has been chosen in the furnace of affliction and is to go forth from Babylon—Compare Isaiah 48. About 588–570 B.C.
Repentance Brings Joy
What
 aHearken and hear this, O house of Jacob,[the 12 tribes of Israel] who are called by the name of Israel,[Jacob] and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, or out of the waters of bbaptism, who cswear  [make covenants]by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, yet they swear dnot in truth nor in righteousness.

This is for those who have been baptized and say they believe but are not honest or righteous.

Why
They are receiving this because they need correction. Nephi wants to bring them hope through these teachings.

Pattern
Baptism
Mark 1:4
4  John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptismof repentance for the remission of sins.
Mark 16:16
16  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
Acts 2:38
38  Then Peter said unto them,Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Convert
Matt. 13:15
15  For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyesthey have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
Matt. 18:3
3  And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Swear
Deut. 6:13
13  Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
Jer. 4:2
2  And thou shalt swear, The Lordliveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
5:2
2  And though they say, The Lord liveth; surely they swear falsely.

Christ
This is for people who “swear by the name of the Lord and make mention of the God of Israel”
Jesus is the Lord and the God of Israel.

Conference
10/16 Renlund
Repentance a Joyful Choice

Such joy is one of the inherent results of repentance. The wordrepent connotes “to perceive afterwards” and implies “change.”4 In Swedish, the word is omvänd, which simply means “to turn around.”5The Christian writer C. S. Lewis wrote about the need and the method for change. He noted that repentance involves “being put back on the right road. A wrong sum can be put right,” he said, “but only by going back till you find the error and working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on.6 Changing our behavior and returning to the “right road” are part of repentance, but only part. Real repentance also includes a turning of our heart and will to God and a renunciation of sin.7 As explained in Ezekiel, to repent is to “turn from … sin, … do that which is lawful and right; … restore the pledge, … [and] walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity.”8

Yet even this is an incomplete description. It does not properly identify the power that makes repentance possible, the atoning sacrifice of our Savior. Real repentance must involve faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, faith that He can change us, faith that He can forgive us, and faith that He will help us avoid more mistakes. This kind of faith makes His Atonement effective in our lives. When we “perceive afterwards” and “turn around” with the Savior’s help, we can feel hope in His promises and the joy of forgiveness. Without the Redeemer, the inherent hope and joy evaporate, and repentance becomes simply miserable behavior modification. But by exercising faith in Him, we become converted to His ability and willingness to forgive sin.
President Boyd K. Packer affirmed the hopeful promises of repentance in April 2015 at his last general conference. He described the power of the Savior’s Atonement to heal in what I consider the distillation of the wisdom gained in half a century of apostolic service. President Packer said: “The Atonement leaves no tracks, no traces. What it fixes is fixed. … It just heals, and what it heals stays healed.”9
...We can—and sometimes do—make different choices. Such choices may not seem intrinsically wrong, but they prevent us from becoming truly penitent and thus preclude our pursuit of real repentance. For instance, we may choose to blame others. As a 12-year-old in Göteborg, I could have blamed Steffan. He was the one who brought the big firecracker and the matches to the church in the first place. But blaming others, even if justified, allows us to excuse our behavior. By so doing, we shift responsibility for our actions to others. When the responsibility is shifted, we diminish both the need and our ability to act. We turn ourselves into hapless victims rather than agents capable of independent action.13
Another choice that impedes repentance is minimizing our mistakes. In the Göteborg firecracker incident, no one was hurt, no permanent damage occurred, and the meeting was held anyway. It would have been easy to say that there was no reason to repent. But minimizing our mistakes, even if no immediate consequences are apparent, removes the motivation to change. This thinking prevents us from seeing that our mistakes and sins have eternal consequences.
...Brothers and sisters, as we conclude this conference, I invite you to feel more joy in your life: joy in the knowledge that the Atonement of Jesus Christ is real; joy in the Savior’s ability, willingness, and desire to forgive; and joy in choosing to repent. Let us follow the instruction to “with joy … draw water out of the wells of salvation.”27 May we choose to repent, forsake our sins, and turn our hearts and wills around to follow our Savior. I testify of His living reality. I am a witness and repeated recipient of His incomparable compassion, mercy, and love. I pray that the redeeming blessings of His Atonement may be yours now—and again and again and again throughout your lives,28 as they have been in mine. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Apply
The key to repentance is given in the first word of this verse. Hearken and hear. Or in other words, pay attention to what is being said, listen, ponder, understand.

How can we apply this message to our own lives? How can we do better in keeping the covenants that we have made? We have received council and strength by studying the word of the Lord.
Being baptized is just the beginning and it brings with it responsibility to keep the covenants we have made to serve Him all of our days. How can we as individuals serve Him better in our circle of influence? What would He have us do today?

Hymns
180- Father In Heaven, we Do Believe

Primary
100 Baptism

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