SPECIAL BONUS EPISODE: Come Follow Me Insights (Lectures on Faith, Sep 13-19)

i'm taylor and i'm tyler this is book of mormon central's come follow me insights today a special episode on the lectures on faith so why a special episode on lectures on faith in a doctrine and covenants year taylor so yeah here we are many many months into studying the doctrine and covenants and originally 1833 the revelations that joseph smith had received were published in a book called the book of commandments 1835 additional revelations had been received including a series of theological discussions prepared by joseph smith and others it gets included in the book of commandments the book gets updated added to and it gets renamed in 1835. let's just put this down real quick and be is called the doctrine and covenants and by the way the word covenants and commandments are actually uh interrelated so what's the doctrine so before we had a bunch of revelations that we call the book of commandments those commandments are still there as covenants what's the doctrine it turns out the lectures on faith were are those doctrines of course there are lots of great doctrines in the doctrines and covenants but the lectures on faith was what actually instituted or led to the renaming of the book to doctrine and covenants that's what we're spending time on today why these doctrines matter so the the side note here is that in 1835 uh that's when they first get put in they these lectures there are seven theological lectures surrounding the topic of faith given by joseph smith sydney rigdon and other leaders of the church in kirtland ohio during the winter of 1834 1835 keep in mind back in back in those early days of the church you'll notice that many of these early saints they're farmers they're tradesmen and they'll often do a lot of their their study of language study of the scriptures study of doctrines um training opportunities in the dead of winter when they can't be doing much on their farm or with their trade in many cases and that is exactly what's happening here in kirtland it's november december january february 1834 1835 time frame when they're delivering these lectures and then it's later on in 1835 when they when joseph smith prepares them for inclusion in this new edition of the doctrine and covenants and they stay there until 1921 so in 1921 the church's scripture committee joseph fielding smith james e talmage and john a woodso were tasked with with a new publication of the scriptures and it was at that point where the first 75 pages of the doctrine and covenants which were these lectures on faith where they were removed and some would ask well why did they take them out it's because in the the reasons the rationale they gave was because the lectures on faith are not ever claiming to be a direct revelation from god like the sections in the doctrine and covenants that we've been covering and so people were confused holding them as equal to direct revelation from god for that reason they were removed and there were other reasons as well it's more like more like school lessons yeah so deeply valuable but the scripture committee felt like we should preserve revelations that are direct from god and you can continue to read these for for profit and benefit and that's why we're spending time here today so from an etymological standpoint if we look at where the word faith originates it actually comes from a very ancient word which has its origin and meaning of to trust confide or persuade so as we jump into the lectures on faith you might think of the word faith as the synonym of to trust very powerful word and think about how we are asked to have faith in god you could say god asks us to trust him it's a very powerful word now before we jump in let me just give a number of other words that are actually related to the same root word from which faith the word faith is generated so in the english language the origin of the word faith is also etymologically related to all these other words i've put on the board some which you may have seen in other contexts things like to abide we ask the lord abide with me it's a form of trust and confidence an abode it's a place that you go and live and dwell but it's also a place you can trust will be there as a safe place of and a source of safety an affidavit is a trustworthy truthful statement you may make in a claim for a court proceeding bona fide or confident confide confidence felity fidelity again all these words come from the same word that produces the word faith the word federal in the united states and in other countries around the world they talk about the their governments as federal governments meaning the government should be something that we trust and they trust back that you cannot actually have a society where trust breaks down and when people try to break trust or cause doubt in trust it actually starts to break down government and why do we call it federal government is because there should be trust within the society that we're all in this together to make the world a better place a federation a fiance right somebody promises one to another person i promise to marry you there's trust and faith and confidence that will happen and fiduciary kind of a technical term that somebody might have some responsibilities in um a monetary sense to take uh take care of resources on behalf of others it all is based on the idea of having trust and confidence so as we press forward to understand more these beautiful lectures on faith you might think about the cinema synonym to trust and how god is asking us to trust the lectures on faith are all about how we can learn how god is absolutely trustworthy and we can trust him but total faith in him and his son to find life and salvation i am so excited to share this particular particular episode with you today from the lectures on faith uh i have to tell you in full disclosure that before my mission i was able to take multiple institute classes during that one semester because i was going to leave into the mtc before the semester was going to end so i couldn't start my college classes yet so i had lots of room and i took a lot of institute classes and that was transformational for me and helped me in in amazing ways there was one particular class that semester that quite literally changed my life for the better and it was a class specifically on the lectures on faith taught by brother jerry wilson there at the logan lds institute that class opened my mind it opened my heart it changed the way i read scriptures it changed the way i served as a missionary it changed the way i studied as a student when i came home from that mission as i got married started raising children it changed the way i read and marked my scriptures and it has had a huge impact in how i see the principles of the gospel and how i teach students today so i am really really excited to jump in and share some of those for me what came became for me life-changing experiences by studying these seven lectures so let's dive in the lectures on faith there are seven lectures recorded and by the way this these lectures they were in essence they were the mtc the missionary training center experience for our missionaries in 1834 1835 before they would go out and serve their missions they would come into the school of the prophets and they would discuss these theological lectures and after all but one of the lectures they have this question and answer section called a catechism where it helps to increase the understanding where certain questions could be asked and then the answers could be given that would relate to the lecture that had just been been received by the people i'm not going to spend any time in the in the catechism sections today in this special episode but i would recommend if you get the book that you read through all of it some of them are quite fascinating those questions and answers so let me give you a really quick overview of the lectures on faith before we we dive in and it's important to note that these are very unique they're theological discussions they're very systematic in how it's addressing the topic of faith it's beautifully laid out it's very logical scholars today debate as to who wrote what parts or who contributed what parts i don't know i it looks like there's a lot of influence from sydney rigdon and others but what we do know is that joseph smith taught these lectures and he prepared them for publication in the doctrine and covenants in 1835 so whether he actually wrote the lectures himself or whether he dictated any portion of the lectures to me is less important than the fact that joseph used them fairly extensively and relied on them to teach these important principles so here we go lecture one is going to they call them in the lectures on faith lecture first lecture second lecture third so on and so forth so lecture first talks about faith what it is so it's this overarching uh description and definition of what faith is the second through the sixth lectures are the objects upon which faith rests so this is this isn't typical language that we would use today in the in the 21st century like they did back then objects upon which faith rests meaning the foundation pillar structure that we place faith upon so that our faith can be firm steadfast and immovable or as the lectures on faith describe it faith unto life and salvation it's not just just simple faith in in uh natural laws or theories or principles this is faith in god that leads to life and salvation so what what are the the the objects upon which it rests in order to make it uh work for us and then the final lecture discusses the effects which flow from it so we have to see what what happens when i have that kind of faith so that's our our quick overview of the the whole series of lectures now let's dive in to the first lecture faith what it is okay so when we open up to that first lecture the very first verse i'll call them verses even though they're paragraphs but it's when we're when we're studying in a uh scripture context which is where this originally was found we generally it's easier to just refer to verses so verse 1 says faith being the first principle in revealed religion and the foundation of all righteousness did you notice that it's the foundation of all righteousness it's the beginning point of anything good necessarily claims the first place in a course of lectures which are designed to unfold to the under unfolds to the understanding the doctrine of jesus christ so the purpose of the lectures on faith isn't to begin and end with faith it's to reveal the doctrine of christ and what role faith has within the doctrine of christ so then it introduces what i had just written on the board those in verse three four and five it gives you the what it what faith is the objects upon which it rests and the effects which flow from it and then we jump in to this paragraph without it meaning faith without faith both mind and body would be in a state of inactivity and all their exertions would cease both physical and mental why is that it's because faith is the the cause of action in all beings we wouldn't do anything without faith notice he goes on to say here in verse 11 and by the way some of these verses are very long some of them are longer than an entire page so towards the bottom of verse 11 he says in a word is there anything that you would have done either physical or mental if you had not previously believed it's that idea of we would never turn on a light switch we would never turn on a shower we would never turn a key in a car we would never open a door if we didn't believe that it would produce certain results so they're beginning this lectures on faith concept with most basic elements of action that i have to believe before it will cause me to do certain things now he goes on to say turn your thoughts on your own minds and see if faith is not the moving cause of all action in yourselves and if the moving cause in you is it not in all other intelligent beings now let's jump down to verse 16. had it not been for the principle of faith the worlds never would have been framed neither would man have been formed of the dust it is the principle by which jehovah works and through which he exercises power over all temporal as well as eternal things did you catch that faith is the principle by which god does all of his work now most of you watching might think to yourself wait a minute god doesn't need faith because the book of mormon in alma 32 it it describes faith as this belief and and you have to plant a seed and nurture that belief and that faith will grow and that's a funny way to picture god functioning by belief the way we talk about it in the book of mormon joseph smith and others in the school of the prophets they're describing faith as more than just belief but as a principle of power in fact they say that very directly in verse 15 of the first lecture by this we understand that the principle of power which existed in the bosom of god by which the worlds were framed was faith brothers and sisters there's there is so much to discover in this principle that we call faith and and more specifically faith in the lord jesus christ that sometimes we get really excited about studying the mysteries and the deep doctrines of the gospel can i just say if you pick up the lectures on faith and just dive into this topic you're going to discover that faith in the lord jesus christ is a deep enough topic to keep you busy and spiritually engaged for a long long long time without having to worry about some of the the far-reaching mysteries that haven't been fully revealed yet so to finish the first uh the first lecture i'm going to jump clear down to verse 24 the final verse in this lecture listen to this faith then is the first great governing principle which has power dominion and authority over all things by it they exist by it they are upheld by it they are changed or by it they remain agreeable to the will of god without it or faith there is no power and without power there could be no creation nor existence now isn't that wonderful from an eternal perspective from from god's view to to discuss it that way but what about from our view brothers and sisters there is nothing that you are going to go into and try to create or uphold without faith you can't do it you will never go into a marriage or never go into parenthood or never go into an educational endeavor or an occupational endeavor or any kind of relationship without faith and it's deep and abiding faith that upholds that that pursuit whatever it is in a family context in a home context it's faith that upholds that uh that relationship and carries it forward now we go into the second lecture again i'm skipping all of the catechism those q and a the questions and answers that come let's jump right into the second lecture verse 2 we here observe that god is the only supreme governor and independent being in whom all fullness and perfection dwell who is omnipotent omnipresent and omniscient without beginning of days or end of life and that in him every good gift and every good principle dwell let me let me explain that in in a way that i think might make more sense for you and me we have to have faith in things either in laws of nature science are learning or ultimately in the gospel of jesus christ and in the doctrine of christ the first principle of the gospel is faith and then you'll notice in the lord jesus christ or faith in god the faith is in somebody it's not in myself whereas verse two of the lecture second says god is independent and he's supreme god doesn't have to have faith in other people his his level of faith not a belief but his principle of power is in the knowledge of his capacities his doesn't have to be rooted in other people but my faith and your faith has to be rooted in god to have any kind of power at all so after introducing god's sovereign nature he then goes through and tells the story of adam and eve and the creation and their experiences in the garden of eden and if we jump down then to verse 18 we're introduced to this new concept that says in order for us to have faith in god because it can't be independent in order for us to do that we have to have some things in place first you've got to know that there is a god you've got to know that he's there so after talking about all this story of adam and eve and how they came to know of of god's existence notice this verse 18 two important items are shown from the former quotations which took us through all of the story of the creation and the fall first after man was created he was not left without intelligence or understanding to wander in darkness and spend an existence in ignorance and doubt as to the real fact by whom he was created or unto whom he was in a he was amenable for his conduct god conversed with him face to face in his presence he was permitted to stand and from his own mouth he was permitted to receive instruction he heard his voice walked before him and gazed upon his glory while intelligence burst upon his understanding and enabled him to give names to the vast assemblage of his maker's works notice that then from there adam and eve fall they leave the garden of eden and the lectures on faith describe in this next portion that even though they were cast out of the garden they didn't lose their intelligence that they had gained in the presence of god there was no veil separating them from eden even though there was a veil separating them when they were in eden from the pre-mortal realm they were able to bring that knowledge from their their experiences in the garden of eden with them as they now start raising their family and so then we get this description in uh verse 30. after talking about the story of cain slaying abel on some of the struggles that adam and eve's have family had after they left verse 30 says the object of the for foregoing quotations is to show to this class the way by which mankind were first made acquainted with the existence of god that it was by a manifestation of god to man and that god continued after man's transgression to manifest himself to them to him and to his posterity and notwithstanding they were separated from his immediate presence they could not see his face they continued to hear his voice and so now they start spreading this word so the lecture second starts giving you all of the genealogies in the old testament of the patriarchs down through all of those generations and it's pages and pages of it until you get clear down to verse 55. and it says let us hear observe that after any portion of the human family are made acquainted with the important fact that there is a god who has created and does uphold all things the extent of their knowledge respecting his character and glory will depend upon their diligence and faithfulness in seeking after him it's one thing to know that there's a god it's another thing to seek after him and to be diligent and obedient to what we have received seeking to get more uh you'll notice that the devils they even believe and tremble they have belief in god but they're not seeking to become like him they're not seeking to do his will they're only seeking to do their own will and so just because we have a knowledge that god exists isn't sufficient it's necessary but it's not sufficient it's a good starting point you have to have it as a starting point but you have to keep going and the lectures on faith are going to help us go to those next levels with our belief what do you do with a belief in god and how do you act once you have that belief in god and the last concept that the second lecture teaches is how god spreads this knowledge of his existence is by choosing special witnesses who witness things from him directly then he closes the veils again now they go and they bear testimony to other people saying i know god lives i've seen him i know him those are usually the roles of dispensation heads like adam and eve and enoch and noah and abraham and moses jesus himself and joseph smith there are other prophets who have seen god but it's usually the dispensation heads who begin this process of human testimony where once they spread the word the holy ghost bears witness to the people who hear their testimony they now become independent witnesses and they can go out and preach that they too now know god lives and will cover some additional things that they can teach and that is how the gospel is spread rather than god revealing himself to the masses he does it through these appointed special witnesses through prophets seers and revelators now we turn our attention to lecture third so the third lecture begins with this description of three things that are necessary in order for any rational and intelligent being to exercise faith in god unto life and salvation once again this is a distinction it's much more than just being able to say yeah i believe in god um which is an important thing to be able to say but we eventually need to move to the next levels here's what the the third lecture tells us in order for us to have faith in god you need three things those three things are first now notice the wording that it uses here because each one of these words is carefully chosen i think number one an idea that god exists you have to have an idea number two once you have that idea and we've already told or taught this from the second lecture that that idea that god exists it comes from human testimony and in the lectures on faith he discusses this idea that it would be impossible for a person to discover that god exists unless god revealed himself to special witnesses to then bear that human testimony to others so once i have the correct or sorry the idea that he actually exists then i need notice the word that they use here the correct idea of his character what kind of a character is he his perfection and his attributes this is such a critical element in the process that i need to not just have an idea of what his attributes and characteristics are but i need a correct idea because there are a lot of ideas floating around the world about what kind of a being god is and and what his attributes are and how he thinks and how he treats people but we need to have a correct idea which by the way is going to be lecture three 4 and 5 are going to cover that helping us understand who god is and what kind of a being he is and then the third thing that is required in order for us as humans to have faith in god unto life and salvation is we have to have a an actual knowledge notice the wording here it's not an idea it's not a correct idea it's an actual knowledge that the course that you are pursuing in your life the course of your life is in accordance with god's will that you are pleasing the lord you're doing what god wants you to do until you have that the lectures on face faith would teach that we we don't have sufficient faith unto life and salvation to access the savior's merits mercy and grace in their fullness so now if you go to lecture third verse seven listen to this as we have been indebted to a revelation which god made of himself to his creatures in the first instance for the idea of his existence so in like manner we are indebted to the revelations which he has given to us for a correct understanding of his character perfections and attributes because without the revelations which he has given us no man by searching could find out god he's saying there's so much more a play here than just god being in heaven and just existing as as if a statue could exist or or a building could exist or something like that we need to know how he exists what kind of a being is he how does he think what's going on how does he how does he treat people and we will never discover that on our own it has to be revealed so we look to the scriptures so you'll notice as you go through the lectures on faith it's it's fascinating to me they only use the old and the new testament they quote them extensively in lecture fifth and some of the other lectures you're going to get some concepts that seem to come from the book of mormon but the book of mormon is never directly quoted in parentheses in quotation marks which is fascinating they're focused on the old and the new testament largely in the lectures on faith which could have something to do with the rebuke that the church received back in section 84 where they're treating too lightly the book of mormon so it's wonderful when you can add concepts from the book of mormon to what you're reading in the lectures on faith with their understanding of the biblical passages it becomes even more powerful so now as we turn the page over he picks up in verse 13 giving us what the character of god is and by the way this is not an exhaustive list they're giving us six character traits for god that have been revealed in scripture okay notice the six and so they're going to list them first in verse 13 14 15 16 17 18 and then they spend the rest of the lecture expounding on each one individually and it's its role in building up our faith remember what we're doing here uh lectures two through six are what are the objects upon which faith rests well some of the objects are that you have an idea that he exists and a correct idea of his characteristics perfection and attributes so that's what we're building up is as you discover each one of these it becomes yet another pillar another foundation for your faith in christ so the first one that he mentions is that god is a creator and an upholder of all his works so later on in the the lecture third as he's describing this it's beautiful because they're in the school of the prophets they're learning if you didn't have a correct idea that god is a god of creation and an upholder of his works then you wouldn't be able to have faith in that being unto life and salvation your faith would be weakened if god is weak if he's up in heaven sitting back looking out at the vast expanse of the universe scratching his head twiddling his thumb saying wow i sure hope that somewhere we're going to be able to have some sort of a planet where we can send our children to have a mortal experience then you can't really have faith in that god unto life and salvation so it's fascinating that they opened up with that particular characteristic trait that god is a god of creation and a god of power to uphold his creations that he's not a victim of the chaos in the universe that he can take matter that is unorganized and in a state of disarray and he can put creative power into that and form worlds and solar systems and galaxies exactly the way he wants them to be formed where he can then send life to to inhabit those those new creations and uphold those creations so it would be really hard to have faith in god if we just believed he created the world but then became a victim of all of the natural laws that govern the world part of this first characteristic is that he is also an upholder so it gives us more foundation for our faith to say as president nelson has invited us to to repeatedly do let god prevail so when natural disasters happen when things happen in the universe or in the world we trust god we place our faith in him and it it becomes more more firm and steadfast the second character of god trait that they list is that he is merciful and gracious imagine imagine worshiping a god so you say okay well i have an idea that god exists but that god is angry at me he's vengeful he doesn't like me and he's annoyed every time i mess up well then it's pretty hard to have faith in that god whereas if you picture a merciful and gracious god who is slow to anger abundant in goodness and that he was so from everlasting and will be to everlasting now all of a sudden i can start exercising faith in that being in that god because i'm not afraid of him striking me down when i struggle with mortal weakness and sin or addiction or doubt or fear or any of those elements the third thing that they mention is that he changes not neither is there variableness in him they go on to describe you can't have faith in a god who changes the rules halfway through the game or at the end of the game it would be terrible for us to go through life assuming one thing and then arrive at the quote unquote pearly gates and have him say oh you know what yeah you i told you to do all that but i'm i've changed my mind i'm not i'm not requiring that anymore or i'm requiring other things that you didn't happen to do you can't have faith in god unto life and salvation if god is a moving target so this attribute or this characteristic trait is very very critical number three that he changes not some would say well wait a minute he's changing things all the time you're right he's changing practices and procedures and policies all the time to match the needs of the world and the culture and the environment in which we live but god's perfected attributes and characteristics are not changing he's not running an experiment with us this is not a rough draft he's not practicing he knows what he's doing and he's not changing he's allowing us to adapt and change and he's allowing the church to change because that's what a perfect god would do is help us survive and live to the greatest degree of light and truth and knowledge as possible in whatever circumstance we we may find ourselves the fourth item he is a god of truth and he cannot lie when he makes a covenant with you when he comes and makes a promise to you he will never ever ever break that promise it is firm steadfast and immovable he will never deceive you that is not in his nature he is a god of truth and you and i can have absolute faith in a god like that who who isn't trying to trick you or or deceive you in any way shape or form he's a god of truth fifthly he is no respecter of persons some of you maybe have heard of this phrase and some of you maybe are unfamiliar with it let me let me demonstrate what a respecter of persons would be if you were at church and somebody came up to you and said hey um your ministering brothers are going to come to your home this afternoon at 4 pm for a visit how would you respond what would you do if you went home at noon and you know the ministering brothers are gonna come over at four what would you do and how would you respond what if somebody came up to you and said hey we're we have a really unique opportunity in conjunction with our coming steak conference um the president of the church the prophet himself is going to come to your home at four o'clock this afternoon and you now go home and it's noon what are you going to do when you go home knowing the prophet is going to come to your home in four hours my hunch is that you will do things very differently knowing the profit is going to come compared to if your ministering brothers are going to come four hours from now that is a demonstration of us being respecters of persons or a respecter of title position authority power in the world and these these ways that we look at each other so this fifth characteristic trait that god is no respecter of persons implies that you do not worship a god who is up in heaven looking down at all of his creations all of all of the the children of our heavenly parents you don't have god looking down saying oh the queen of england is praying to me i'm going to listen to her and then i've got this person that's homeless and that is a drug addict and that has had major problems and he's praying to me at the same time but i nobody knows about him and nobody cares about him but the queen of england she's praying to me i'm going to listen to her if that's how god treated us you and i would never be able to have faith in him to the degree that would lead to life and salvation because we would always be a little bit unsure of our standing before god this attribute right here is so critical that every one of the children of our heavenly parents can go to god in prayer and know that they are children of god and that their prayer will be heard on equal footing with everybody else that is a powerful characteristic trait now the sixth one god is a god of love you cannot have faith in god unto life and salvation if you picture a god that despises you if you picture a god who disdains you or picture a god who just is annoyed by you and just kind of puts up with you think about this when a little baby is born that baby cries at in opportune times makes a lot of noise um it soils its diapers it demands to be fed when it wants to be fed it costs you a lot of money a lot of time a lot of energy a lot of lost sleep so why do we keep putting up with these little creatures it's because there's this deep underlying feeling of love for these these children of ours we love them so much that we don't look at what it's costing us we keep infusing life and we keep teaching and we keep forgiving and we keep working with and we keep nurturing and feeding and helping them to grow to become who they need to become and who they have the capacity to become if we as mortal parents can figure that out how much more do perfect uh eternal parents have that figured out god is a god motivated by love it's not just this outward thing it's part of the divine characteristic god is love and without that you and i can't have full faith in in god unto life and salvation now before i close lecture third and go to lecture fourth let me just say this as you look at that list on the board one through six it's nice to know it's in fact it's essential to know those things about god in order for us to have faith in him but you're going to find i'm going to give you kind of a a spoiler here that comes in lecture 7. the whole point of this is for you and me to have a blueprint to be able to see a prototype of what we're trying to become little children have the capacity to grow up to become like their parents you and i have the capacity to grow up to become like jesus christ who is our great prototype to become joint heirs with him so as you look at this list don't stop by thinking or seeing the list as oh those are nice descriptors of what god is like that is true but it's incomplete because that very same list also happens to be a description of who you have the capacity to become and it's not too early to start working with the lord jesus christ on becoming more like him through each of these attributes in fact uh brother jerry wilson when i took this class he he used a a green a dark green very similar to the color of this book a dark green scripture pencil marking pencil and every time he would come across one of the characteristics or attributes or perfections of god in scripture he would mark it with dark green green things grow and i want to grow to become more like jesus i i adopted that practice in my own scriptures and now if you were to grab my my bible or my triple combination of the scriptures and open them up to any page you would see the page splashed with this dark green color here a little there a lot all showing these different attributes and characteristics of god that are giving me kind of an idea of this is the type of person i want to grow to become these are my targets that i'm i'm trying to implement in my life so that i no longer just say i believe in god or i think god's there but the more you practice those attributes by seeking to to identify them and then seeking to put them into your life the more you're able to say i know god lives and i know his perfected characteristic and attributes and and his his traits what kind of a being he is and i'm striving to become more like him i'm i'm growing up in christ from grace to grace to become more like him but that's hard to do if you don't even know what you're shooting for it's pretty hard to shoot arrows at a target that you can't see because you have a blindfold on what lectures on faith does for me is it takes the blindfold off and it reveals the target so i can see the goal what i'm what i'm aiming for it doesn't mean i'm going to be perfect at doing these things and so don't beat yourself up when you struggle it means that you at least can can recognize what you're seeking to become now let's shift over to lecture fourth this is where they use a different word than character he uses the word attributes you could spend some time figuring out what the difference between the character of god is and the attributes of god but i'm just going to list off these six attributes that come up in lecture fourth so the first one helis and by the way you're gonna notice two of them get repeated from lecture third um in fact before we before we do this listen to this quote in verse two lecture 4. the god of heaven understanding most perfectly the constitution of human nature and the weakness of men knew what was necessary to be revealed and what ideas must be planted in their minds in order that they might be unable to exercise faith in him unto eternal life in other words he's saying god knew what he was doing when he created us in this fallen mortal condition and he knew exactly what we needed to know in order to be able to grow to become more like him so he's not just revealing truths he's revealing his own attributes his own characteristics and by the way if you look for them on scripture page and start marking them they're all over the place you can see the fingerprints of god on every page of scripture in our canon so the first attribute that they mention in lecture fourth is that he is a god of knowledge that he is omniscient meaning he knows everything the the lectures on faith are teaching very powerfully and joseph smith in other settings also teaches this that there is not anything save god knows it as he's quoting the scriptures here that he is a god of all knowledge stop and think about that for a minute in lecture fourth as it's describing this attribute the question gets brought up could you really have bedrock faith in a being who doesn't know everything who five thousand four hundred years from now might learn something and say oh oh no i if only i had known that back then i would have done things differently can you see how our faith would become weaker in that god it would become shaken in that being how firm a foundation is laid for our faith in a god who knows everything who is not in practice mode or in rough draft mode or trying an experiment he is a god of all knowledge and even though we and all of our collective wisdom as human beings on the earth are continuing to learn and grow and develop in our understanding god isn't doing that his growth his his uh increase isn't coming in knowledge it's coming in things like thrones kingdoms principalities dominions exaltations so yes there is an eternal progression and growth just not in the realm of of these elements that are his attributes he's got all perfection in these realms the second one is that he is a god of faith or power is the way it's described in lecture fourth verse six that he's a god of faith or power that he does everything with all power you cannot have faith under life and salvation in a god who is lacking in ability to do things our god has all power to do all things that are necessary for all of us to attain unto life and salvation and that's very clear third he is a god of justice perfect fairness there is nothing unjust in in his being he's incapable of treating people unfairly and you and i could never have faith in a god who had the capacity to treat us unfairly the reason the faith the foundation for our faith is so sure and steadfast and immovable is the fact that he is perfect in that attribute as well fourthly he is a god of judgment not just judgment but perfect judgment that justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne he he's the rock and all of his judgments are just so these two go hand in hand justice and judgment uh by the way sometimes in the gospel when we're talking with each other we love emphasizing the attributes of mercy and love and kindness and graciousness and we don't like talking about god's justice in god's judgment the book of mormon does a great job of describing how god's justice actually becomes merciful in so many different ways for us that judgment brothers and sisters we need a god of perfect judgment otherwise all of the injustices that were done to you would never be fixed they would always remain as a pain point for you but a god of perfect judgment matched perfectly with complete mercy and love that is the perfect combination that we're looking for in the heavens and we can have complete faith in that number five one of his attributes is he is a god of mercy are you noticing that that's kind of a repeat from the merciful and gracious character of god back in lecture third it says they quote psalm 89 14 mercy and truth shall go before thy faith before thy face and then quoting nehemiah but thou art a god ready to pardon gracious and merciful i love the fact that they repeated the the mercy attribute with the mercy character trait from lecture third and sixthly is another repeat that he is a god of truth i'm not sure why they repeated those two number five and six that they both show up on on both lists um but i love the fact that he says here uh that god is long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth it's almost as if they're saying the first one back in lecture third is a character trait god is truth almost as if we could stand at a pulpit and say similar to how we say i know the gospel is true or i know the church is true we could just as easily say i know that god is true he's true and he embodies all truth he's he is true to the faith he's true to us he's true to to the laws of the eternities he's true to all of his promises but he also is a god of truth using this attribute where it says mercy and truth shall go before thy face longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth he is the rock his work is perfect for all his ways our judgment a god of truth without iniquity just and right is he okay so now as we as we get ready to turn over to lecture fifth um i just want to hit one more concept on this knowledge because it comes up a lot people wondering about how much does god really know listen to this without the knowledge of all things god would not be able to save any portion of his creatures for it is by reason of the knowledge which he has of all things from the beginning to the end that enables him to give that understanding to his creatures by which they are made partakers of eternal life so part of all of this stuff that we've been talking about is the fact that god this god of knowledge this god of that knows all things also knows what portion of his attributes and characteristics and perfections he needs to reveal to the earth for us to be able to have sufficient means to exercise faith in him unto life and salvation now uh let's jump over to lecture fifth this one is the lecture that caused many people to to struggle it it is a theological deep deep lecture it's only three verses long now mind you the second verse is nearly two pages long all by itself but it is the shortest lecture but it caused some some doctrinal struggles for people through the ages but it is i believe one of the most beautiful uh sermons on the godhead and the unity and the oneness of the godhead that i know of so this lecture fifth is going to help us see some of those principles so verse 1 is very short it says at the very end of verse 1 we shall in this lecture speak of the godhead we mean the father son and holy spirit and then verse 2 opens with there are two personages who constitute the great matchless governing and supreme power over all things now it's going to go on a little bit people get confused because they say wait a minute at the bottom of verse 1 it said the godhead was three and now it opens up with verse two saying there are two personages who constitute this great matchless governing supreme power over all things notice the other qualifier by whom all things were created and made that are created and made whether visible or invisible whether in heaven on earth or in the earth under the earth or throughout the immensity of space it seems that they're making the distinction here that the father and the son are the ones who are performing those creative acts so while the godhead involves all three the supreme governing power over all these things resides with the father and the son and then it gives more descriptions of the father and then the son the father being a personage of spirit glory and power possessing all perfection many people read that and say wait a minute so god the father is a personage of spirit because right after that it's going to say that the son who was in the bosom of the father is a personage of tabernacle you'll notice that the word tabernacle in scriptures usually refers to an earthly mortal existence the tabernacle god the father is not mortal he's immortal we learn in section 130 that the father and the son have bodies of flesh and bones never flesh and blood it's always flesh and bone as tangible as man's and so then the questions come and and in the book of john the gospel of john it talks about god is spirit well in the doctrine and covenants we learn this exact phrase man is spirit i you we are personages of spirit as well but we're not just percentages of spirit we're percentages of spirit and of flesh a tabernacle because because we're mortal notice the description back of the father the father being a personage of spirit glory and power if you say somebody is a personage of glory it doesn't mean you ignore all of their other characteristics or attributes or a god of power doesn't mean that that's all they are or a person of spirit doesn't mean that you ignore everything else that they have he's giving you descriptions of who god is so that we can have greater faith in him that leads us to become more like him unto life and salvation by accessing the savior's atonement so while it sounds a little bit confusing at times if you read all of it in context you can see what they're trying to teach us here notice it describes the the son jesus christ at the bottom of this page he kept the law of god and remained without sin showing thereby that it is in the power of man to keep the law and remain also without sin and also that by him a righteous judgment might come upon all flesh so again they're setting the stage as jesus being the perfect prototype that we all should be striving to emulate and to become like and to come unto him and then it spends the rest of verse 2 talking about the oneness and the unity you know it's interesting because of the the doctrinal differences with other religions and other theological perspectives in the world we sometimes as members of the church we feel almost like defensive like we need to we need to go and make sure that they understand that god the father and god the son and god the holy spirit are separate and distinct beings you'll notice that we don't often emphasize when we're talking to people the oneness of the godhead we almost want to over emphasize the separateness of the godhead i find it fascinating that jesus doesn't spend very much time if any talking about how separate and distinct he is from the father and the son every time jesus seems to talk about the godhead and his relationship with within that godhead he seems to emphasize that word right there one he's trying to bring a unity and it's almost like we want to overemphasize disunity if you will or separateness not that we're taking away from from their unity but i love lecture fifth when read in that context allow them to be absolutely unified and one in all things other than their physical uh existence itself kind of like he describes in john chapter 17 with the intercessory prayer there in verse 19 20 and 21 where he's praying to the father and he's praying in behalf of his apostles his 11 apostles who are there and he's praying for all those who will believe in me through their word and then he says that they all may be one as we are one that they may be one in us jesus is seeking for not separateness between us and him or between us and each other he's seeking to unify us and when read in that light i think there's a lot we could learn from our our lecture fifth on the godhead about the kind of a family relationship we should be seeking to build the kind of award culture or a steak culture or a world culture where we should be striving to build is this unity this oneness not this separateness or this this great divide between what makes us different uh notice verse 3 from the foregoing account of the godhead which is given in his revelations the saints have a sure foundation laid for the exercise of faith unto life and salvation through the atonement and mediation of jesus christ by whose blood they have a forgiveness of sin and also a sure reward laid up for them in heaven even that of partaking the fullness of the father and the son through the spirit so isn't that interesting jesus sheds his blood his humanity so that you and i can have access to that to overcome the stains of our own struggles with more mortality symbolized by blood so that we can attain unto that perfect oneness with him and the father in the resurrection where blood doesn't come into play it's flesh and bones that's how the scriptures always describe resurrected beings so jesus's mortality is shed for us unless we forget every week he gives us a little cup that symbolizes that blood that was shed that humanity that life that was given so that you and i could have eternal life it's beautiful now we go to lecture six this is an answer to the question of how do i know that my life the course of my life is in accordance with god's will remember three things are necessary for me to have faith in god unto life and salvation an idea that he exists a correct idea of his character perfections and attributes and a certain knowledge that the course in my life is in accordance with his will so once again these lectures on faith it's a systematic theology it's this very it's this very logical very organized flow through this deep deep complex topic called faith that i think i'll study the rest of my life and still never get close to the bottom of it lecture six is now going to answer that question how do i know if my course in life is actually in accordance with god's will so here he gives some examples of what people have done in the past but the real crux of the matter is found in verse 7. let us here observe that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things did you notice the qualifier of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation it's that is probably the most quoted segment of all of the lectures on faith is that little little sentence right there listen to this a little further down in verse 7 when a man has offered in sacrifice all that he has for the truth's sake not even withholding his life and believing before god that he has been called to make this sacrifice because he seeks to do his will he does know most assuredly that god does and will accept his sacrifice and offering and that he has not nor will not seek his face in vain back in verse 5 this is what he said for a man to lay down his all his character and reputation his honor and applause his good name among men his houses his lands his brothers and sisters his wife and children and even his own life also counting all things but filth and dross for the excellency of the knowledge of jesus christ requires more than mere belief or supposition that he is doing the will of god but actual knowledge realizing that when these sufferings are ended he will enter into eternal rest and be a partaker of the glory of god so he then goes to describe the sacrifice of abel that he he knew that it was going to be accepted versus cain who didn't know that his sacrifice was going to be accepted uh verse 12 has another concept that is widely known from the lectures on faith for doubt and faith do not exist in the same person at the same time so the persons whose minds are under doubts and fears cannot have unshaken confidence and where unshaken confidence is not there faith is weak now some of you may be hearing that and and now wanting to beat yourself up because maybe you've struggled with some fears or some some deep questions that have troubled you over many years don't be discouraged by that the purpose of lectures on faith is to help you turn to god and move forward in increased faith to become like him because you understand what kind of a being he is more and you're trying to access the savior's atonement to help you to become more like that over time so just because you have doubt doesn't mean that you can't turn more fully to the lord and move forward in faith to have the god of the universe who knows all things help you slowly discover truths that are going to bless your life as you move forward by the way lecture sixth instead of having the catechism or the questions and answers at the end of it like all the other lectures have it says this lecture is so plain and the facts are set so set forth so self-evident that it is deemed unnecessary to form a catechism upon it the student is therefore instructed to commit the whole to memory so if you're living in the school of the prophets in 1834 1835 your homework for lecture six is just memorize all 12 verses and they're long but they're powerful on how do i know that my life is in accordance with god's will and the ultimate answer is sacrifice make sacrifices that god asks you to make and then you'll know that they're accepted and now we come to the final lecture lecture seventh what are the effects that flow from this kind of faith that we've been talking about trying to build uh look at verse 3 it says let us here offer some explanation in relation to faith that our meaning may be clearly comprehended we ask then what are we to understand by man's working by faith we answer we understand that when a man works by faith he works by mental exertion instead of physical force it is by words instead of exerting his physical powers with which every being works when he works by faith uh this is powerful towards the end of verse 3 he says faith then works by words and with these its mightiest works have been and will be performed it's not with the arm of flesh it's with these powerful words now you come down to verse 8 and he says when men begin to live by faith they begin to draw near to god and when faith is perfected they are like him and because he is saved they are saved also for they will be in the same situation he is in because they have come to him and when he appears they shall be like him for they will see him as he is and then that obviously raises some additional questions that they answer in verse 9. what constitutes the real difference between a saved person and one not saved here's the answer the difference is in the degree of their faith did you catch that the difference is in the degree of their faith one's faith has become perfect enough to lay hold upon eternal life and the others is not uh but to be a little more particular let us ask where shall we find a prototype into whose likeness we may be assimilated in order that we may be made partakers of life and salvation so where are we going to find a saved being we need a model and the obvious answer is it is christ all will agree in this he is the prototype or standard of salvation or in other words that he is a saved being and if we should continue our interrogation and ask how it is that he is saved the answer would be because he is a just and holy being and if he were anything different from what he is he would not be saved so for us to be saved we need to follow that same pattern which means we need to do a lot more than just believe in god we have to have a correct idea of what kind of a being he is what are his attributes what are his characteristic traits what are his perfected abilities and how can we strive to implement them into our own life and relationships today it goes on to say here in in the bottom verse 9 salvation consists in the glory authority majesty power and dominion which jehovah possesses and in nothing else and no being can possess it but himself or one like him so he goes on to quote john the first epistle of john third chapter beloved now are we the sons of god and it does not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and every man that hath his hope in him purifyeth himself even as he is pure so the the seventh lecture keeps bringing us back to example after example of after example that if you want more faith in the lord jesus christ then you need to learn more about what jesus christ was what he did what he taught how he lived and do our very best to plead with him for help to keep emulating and strive and repent when we fall short and keep forgiving others when they fall short in the process and just keep moving forward and that's how the faith increases as we make more and more and more sacrifices for him now jumping clear down the longest verse in the entire lectures are lecture seventh uh verse 17. it covers two and uh and an eighth of a page um it's very long part way down it says speaking of the former day saints by their faith they could obtain heavenly visions the ministering of angels have knowledge of the spirits of just men made perfect of the general assembly and church of the firstborn whose names are written in heaven of god the judge of all of jesus the mediator of the new covenant and become familiar with the third heavens see and hear things which were not only unutterable but were unlawful to utter in answer to the question from lecture seventh what are the effects that flow from this kind of faith well that's a pretty good list of things that the lord has offered us now verse 18 if the question is asked how are they to obtain the knowledge of god because there is a great difference between believing in god and knowing him knowledge implies more than faith so again we need to become more acquainted with the being of god and jesus christ not just the the concept of god or the concept of christ and in the final verse of the lectures on faith verse 20 lecture seventh it says when faith comes it brings its train of attendance with it apostles prophets evangelists pastors teachers gifts wisdom knowledge miracles healings tongues interpretations of tongues etc all these appear when faith appears on the earth and all these disappear when faith disappears from the earth for these are the effects of faith and always have attended and always will attend it for where faith is there will the knowledge of god be also and with all these things which pertain thereto revelations visions and dreams as well as every necessary thing in order that the possessors of faith may be perfected and obtain salvation brothers and sisters this this particular institute class that i took on the lectures on faith this particular book has had such a huge effect on my life on my perspective of god on my perspective of myself and and my loved ones and people in my circle of influence the way i read my scriptures uh it it has opened up so many avenues for discovering new truths about what it means to strive to become more like christ and to really truly have faith in god the eternal father his son jesus christ and in the holy ghost how firm a foundation is laid for your faith and that foundation was laid by the lord jesus christ himself we know that he lives we know that he loves us we know that he is a god of all these perfected attributes and he's given us all that we need to be able to continually grow and progress to become more like him so as we close this episode i want you to know that i know that god does exist uh he has revealed his characteristics his perfections his attributes to us through prophets and through the chain of human testimony and scriptures and thank heaven for living prophets seers and revelators on the earth today they are sent to help increase a knowledge of who god is and what he wants us to become and thank heaven for those uh opportunities that he's given us to sacrifice in order for us to come to know that the course we're pursuing in life is in accordance with his will and when all those things line up it gives us hope it gives us the ability to move forward on that covenant path trusting in the lord that he knows what he's doing and that he will help us continue to grow to become more like him and to ultimately attain unto life and salvation as a joint heir with christ and we leave that with you in the name of jesus christ amen know that you are loved [Music] so you

Channel: Book of Mormon Central

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Keywords: Come Follow Me, Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph Smith, Church History, Mormon, LDS, Latter Day Saint, Latter Day Saints, Lesson

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Length: 84min 51sec (5091 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 10 2021