 .:ARE YOU PREPARED TO MEET GOD? --A SIMPLE TEST FOR THE
HONEST LATTER-DAY SAINT
“Have ye walked, keeping yourselves
blameless before God? Could ye say, if ye were called
to die at this time, within yourselves, that ye have
been sufficiently humble? …Behold,
are ye stripped of pride? I say unto
you, if ye are not ye are not prepared to meet
God. Behold ye must prepare quickly; for the
kingdom of heaven is soon at hand, and such an one hath
not eternal life.” — Alma 5:27-28, Book
of Mormon
1. Have you done “all” you can do
for salvation?
“…for we know that it is by grace that
we are saved, after all we can do.” —2 Nephi 25:23
“Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Council of the
Twelve gave the following illustration to show how Christ’s atonement
makes it possible to be saved from sin if we do our part. ‘Let
me tell you a story.… There once was a man who.…incurred
a great debt.…the day came, and the contract fell due. The debt
had not been fully paid. His creditor appeared and demanded payment
in full.… The debtor had a friend. He came to help.…He stepped
between them, faced the creditor, and made this offer. ‘I will
pay the debt if you will free the debtor from his contract so that he
may keep his possessions and not go to prison.’…And so the
creditor agreed. The mediator turned then to the debtor. ‘If I
pay your debt, will you accept me as your creditor?’
‘Oh yes, yes,’ cried the debtor. ‘You saved me from
prison and show mercy to me.’ ‘Then,’ said the benefactor,
‘you will pay the debt to me and I will set the
terms. It will not be easy, but it will be possible.” —Gospel
Principles, 1992ed, pp. 75, 77
According to Mormonism, Jesus refinanced the sin-debt
we owed Heavenly Father. It is now up to us to repay Jesus by complying
with the “laws and ordinances” of the gospel. Have you done
“all you can do” to pay your sin-debt to Jesus? Are there
any commandments you have failed to obey?
“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and
yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.”—James
2:10
2. Have you achieved perfection “in this
mortal life”?
“…for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments
unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that
they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”—1
Nephi 3:7
“This progress toward eternal life is a matter
of achieving perfection. Living all the commandments
guarantees total forgiveness of sins and assures one of exaltation
through that perfection which comes by complying with the formula
the Lord gave us. In his Sermon on the Mount he made the command to
all men: ‘Be ye therefore perfect,
even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.’ (Matt. 5:48) Being perfect means to triumph over sin. This is
a mandate from the Lord. He is just and wise and kind. He would never
require anything from his children which was not for their benefit
and which was not attainable. Perfection therefore is an achievable
goal.”—The Miracle of Forgiveness, 1969,
Spencer W. Kimball, pp. 208-209
“Perfection…is an achievable goal.”
It is a command from the Lord. Jesus said, “be” perfect.
He did not say, “become” perfect. Perfection is not a process;
it is an event. The word “be” indicates a state of existence
that must be instantaneously achieved and sustained in our mortal lives.
Kimball goes on to explain:
“One of the most serious human defects in all
ages is procrastination, an unwillingness to accept personal responsibilities
now. Men came to earth to obtain their schooling,
their training and development, and to perfect themselves.…And
the burden of the prophetic warning has been that the time
to act is now, in this mortal life. One cannot with
impunity delay his compliance with God’s commandments.”
—The Miracle of Forgiveness, pp. 7, 10
“For behold, this life is the time for men
to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day
for men to perform their labors.”—Alma 34:32
Some may feel that it is unreasonable to believe that
God would require total perfection in this mortal life. After all, one
might think: “‘The Lord knows my heart is
right and that I have good intentions.…’ But will one receive
eternal life on the basis of his good intentions?” Kimball asks.
He goes on to say:
“Samuel Johnson remarked that ‘hell is
paved with good intentions.’ The Lord will not translate one’s
good hopes and desires and intentions into works. Each of us must
do that for himself.…Men and women who live in mortality and who have heard the gospel here have had their
day, their seventy years to put their lives in harmony,
to perform the ordinances, to repent and to perfect their
lives.” —The Miracle of Forgiveness, pp. 8, 314
3. Have you repeated a sin after asking for
forgiveness?
“By this ye may know if a man repenteth of
his sins —behold, he will confess them and forsake them.”
—Doctrine and Covenants, Section 58:43
“There is one crucial test of repentance. This
is abandonment of the sin….The saving power does not
extend to him who merely wants to change his life.…Nor is repentance
complete when one merely tries to abandon sin....To
‘try’ is weak. To ‘do the best I can’ is not
strong. We must always do better than we can....”
—The Miracle of Forgiveness, pp. 163-165
In your repentance, are you doing “better”
than you can? Have you permanently abandoned all of the sins you have
ever committed? Gospel Principles explains: “Those who receive
forgiveness and then repeat the sin are held accountable for their former
sins.” 1.
“Discontinuance of the sin must be
permanent....the former transgressor must have reached a
“point of no return” to sin wherein there is not merely
a renunciation but also a deep abhorrence of the sin — where
the sin becomes most distasteful to him and where the desire or urge
to sin is cleared out of his life.” — The Miracle
of Forgiveness, pp. 176, 354-355
“And now, verily I say unto you, I, the Lord,
will not lay any sin to your charge; go your ways and sin no more; but unto that soul who sinneth shall the former sins return, saith
the Lord your God.” —Doctrine and Covenants, Section 82:7
4. Have you “procrastinated” the
day of your repentance?
Have you confessed and repented of every sin that you
have ever committed? Are you confident that you will never repeat any
of these sins in the future? If repentance requires the abandonment
of sin, and if repeating a sin after receiving forgiveness makes you
“accountable” for your former sins, how can you claim that
you have totally repented of all your sins?
This is why Jesus said that we must “be perfect”
in this mortal life if we are to merit eternal life with Heavenly Father.
If you have failed to completely repent by eradicating sin in your life,
you are guilty of procrastinating the day of your repentance.
“…I beseech of you that ye do not procrastinate
the day of your repentance until the end; for after this day
of life, which is given us to prepare for eternity, behold,
if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the
night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed. Ye cannot
say, when ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent,
that I will return to my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess your bodies at the time that ye
go out of this life, that same spirit will
have power to possess your body in that eternal world.
For behold, if ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even
until death, behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit
of the devil, and he doth seal you his;
therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from you, and hath
no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you;
and this is the final state of the wicked.”
—Alma 34:33-35
Just as the Book of Mormon states: “If we do
not improve our time while in this life,…that same spirit which
doth possess your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that
same spirit will have power to possess your body in that eternal world
after you have died.” This is why, if we are to merit eternal
life, physical perfection must be accomplished in this mortal life.
5. Have you cleared “all ungodliness”
out of your life?
“Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in
him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love
God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect
in Christ.…” —Moroni 10:32
Mormonism teaches that you must “deny”
yourself of “all ungodliness” before you
can receive the saving “grace” of Christ. Is it any wonder
Mormonism makes forgiveness conditional upon your ability to repent
by abandoning sin? This is why the Jesus of Mormonism “cannot”
save you while you are in a condition of unworthiness, being “in
your sins.”
“And I say unto you again that he cannot
save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and
he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven.…Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins.” —Alma
11:37
6. Is Jesus sufficient or is He only necessary?
Jesus is either 100% sufficient for your perfection
or He is just a “necessary” step in the process. If He is
truly sufficient to cover your sins, you do not need to add works to
make yourself acceptable to God; for the Bible declares: “Not
by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy
he saved us.” 2.
“For the wages of sin is death; but the gift
of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” —
Romans 6:23
In order for something to be a “gift,”
it must be given freely with no terms or conditions attached. If there
is anything that we must do to merit or earn eternal life (or to pay
Jesus back for His sacrifice), salvation would not be a gift, but rather,
a payment or wage for what is earned. 3.
“And if by grace, then is it no more
of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be
of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.”
—Romans 11:6
If we did not have the ability to pay our sin-debt
to Heavenly Father in the first place, how could we ever have the ability
pay the debt to Jesus? The Bible proclaims that “we are all as
an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” 4. Just
as it is impossible for “filthy rags” to clean something
to spotless perfection, so it is with our souls. “All” righteous
efforts done to merit eternal life are nothing but “filthy rags”
of pride.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and
that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not
of works, lest any many should boast.”—Ephesians
2:8-9
The standard required for worthiness is physical perfection
in this mortal life. Jesus Christ is the only person who met this test.
He lived the perfect life and died in your place—paying the full
penalty for your sin so that His righteous perfection could be credited
to your account. But just as any gift must be accepted before it can
be applied, so it is with Christ. You must personally come to Jesus,
admit that you’re a sinner and that you can do nothing to save
yourself. Why not come to Jesus today and ask Him to give you His righteousness
in exchange for your sin?
“For he hath made him to be sin for
us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him.” —2 Corinthians 5:21
“By the which will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.…For by
one offering he hath perfected for ever them that
are sanctified.” —Hebrews 10:10, 14
“…ye are dead, and your life is hid with
Christ in God.” —Colossians 3:3
For More Information See:
 ARE YOU FORGIVEN OF ALL OF YOUR SINS?
SAVED OR UNSAVED? - THAT IS THE QUESTION
WHAT IS REQUIRED TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE? (www.4witness.org)
=================
1. Gospel Principles, 1978, 1992ed, p. 253
2. Titus 3:5
3. See Romans 4:4-5
4. Isaiah 64:6
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