God’s Grace and Mercy
Talk given by Elder Jason Kinghorn
17 February 2013
I would like to start off my talk with a parable that Brad Wilcox gave during a speech at a BYU devotional. Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher. Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but in seeing her gift used—seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice, practice.
Through this parable Wilcox is demonstrating that Gods grace saves us 100 percent. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. We will all be resurrected because of Gods grace. The third article of faith says, “We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel.” The atonement of Jesus Christ is the incredible gift, by showing faith and following the commandments and keeping the covenants we have made with God, we are just showing appreciation for what Jesus did for us. We can not pay the demands of justice. Jesus did that for us.
We do suffer for sins we make, but the purpose of the suffering is not to save us, its purpose is to change us. Elder Dallin H. Oaks said “The repenting sinner must suffer for his sins, but this suffering has a different purpose than punishment or payment. Its purpose is change.” Because we know that no unclean thing can enter into the kingdom of heaven, we must change in order to enter heaven. But we can never become perfect in this world, only Jesus was. we need to “continue in patience until [we] are perfected” (D&C 67:13).
We can not become discouraged just because we make a mistake. The atonement can help everyone—It can save everyone, we just have to use it. We must endure to the end, and make the most of the gift Jesus gave us. Moroni 10:32 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; Through christ we can become perfect. But becomeing perfect is not an event, it is a journey. We can not lose hope. John 14:18, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." Much like a $20 dollar bill, no matter what you do to it will always be worth $20 dollars. Jesus always sees the value in us. No matter what we have done he still cares about us.
Jeffery R Holland said, “Because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path...Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are.” Jesus is always waiting for us. We just have to let him in.
Through God’s grace and mercy we can become perfected and enter in heaven. We know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do." Everybody who lived on this earth will be resurrected, but we must follow the commandments to live with God again. Wilcox said that, “Christ is not waiting at the finish line once we have done ‘all we can do’ (2 Nephi 25:23).”
Through God’s grace and mercy we can become perfected and enter in heaven..” Elder Bruce C. Hafen said “The Savior’s gift of grace to us is not necessarily limited in time to ‘after’ all we can do. We may receive his grace before, during and after the time when we expend our own efforts” Christ can give us comfort, or hope, or the belief that we can go forward. In Corinthians 15:22 it says, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. If we just rely on what we can do, we will die. We need Christ in our lives. Without Christ, our lives would be meaningless. He is the reason we can return to live with God again. But why would we want to enter heaven if we don’t change. If we do not know God, and love him, why would we want to return with him? We must use the atonement of Jesus Christ to change for the better, and want to live with him again. In Ezekiel 36:26 “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” We can change, we just have to make the necessary sacrifices in order to do so. We need to offer up a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
“I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” John 10:10. Once we go through the change, our lives become much better. We find joy in more things, and become a better person. In my Book of Mormon class at BYU my teacher gave a parable. A man was waiting in a chair with headphones in his ears listening to music. He was snapping his fingers and tapping his feet. A deaf man then walked into the room and thought that this man was having a real good time. So he sat next to him and started snapping his fingers and tapping his feet. After a short while he thought that this was not all that good of a time, so he left. We have to change from the guy who is just following because he/she is told to, to following because we want to, and we know God and love him and want to listen to him.
I was always planning on going on a mission but I was more like the man just going through the motions. But then when my brother opened his call I felt like I needed to go on a mission. We should not just blindly follow the commandments, we should no that they are the right thing to do.
If you ever have a question about following God, then pray about it and you will receive an answer. Every commandment is important to obey and helps us to live with Heavenly Father again. By following these commandments it shows love to God. “If ye love me keep my commandments” John 14:15 God gave us the gift, we just have to show our appreciation, and love toward God.
This is a parable told by President Packer:
There once was a man who wanted something very much. It seemed more important than anything else in his life. In order for him to have his desire, he incurred a great debt. He had been warned about going into that much debt, and particularly about his creditor. But it seemed so important for him to do what he wanted to do and to have what he wanted right now. He was sure he could pay for it later. So he signed a contract. He would pay it off some time along the way. He didn’t worry too much about it, for the due date seemed such a long time away. He had what he wanted now, and that was what seemed important.
The creditor was always somewhere in the back of his mind, and he made token payments now and again, thinking somehow that the day of reckoning really would never come. But as it always does, the day came, and the contract fell due. The debt had not been fully paid. His creditor appeared and demanded payment in full. Only then did he realize that his creditor not only had the power to repossess all that he owned, but the power to cast him into prison as well.
“I cannot pay you, for I have not the power to do so,” he confessed.
“Then,” said the creditor, “we will exercise the contract, take your possessions, and you shall go to prison. You agreed to that. It was your choice. You signed the contract, and now it must be enforced.”
“Can you not extend the time or forgive the debt?” the debtor begged. “Arrange some way for me to keep what I have and not go to prison. Surely you believe in mercy? Will you not show mercy?”
The creditor replied, “Mercy is always so one-sided. would serve only you. If I show mercy to you, it will leave me unpaid. It is justice I demand. Do you believe in justice?”
“I believed in justice when I signed the contract,” the debtor said. “It was on my side then, for I thought it would protect me. I did not need mercy then, nor think I should need it ever. Justice, I thought, would serve both of us equally as well.”
“It is justice that demands that you pay the contract or suffer the penalty,” the creditor replied. “That is the law. You have agreed to it and that is the way it must be. Mercy cannot rub justice.”
There they were: One meting out justice, the other pleading for mercy. Neither could prevail except at the expense of the other.
“If you do not forgive the debt there will be no mercy,” the debtor pleaded.
“If I do, there will be no justice,” was the reply.
Both laws, it seemed, could not be served. They are two eternal ideals that appear to contradict one another. Is there no way for justice to be fully served, and mercy also?
There is a way! The law of justice can be fully satisfied and mercy can be fully extended—but it takes someone else. And so it happened this time.
The debtor had a friend. He came to help. He knew the debtor well. He knew him to be shortsighted. He thought him foolish to have gotten himself into such a predicament. Nevertheless, he wanted to help because he loved him. 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.”
As the creditor was pondering the offer, the mediator added, “You demanded justice. Though he cannot pay you, I will do so. You will have been justly dealt with and can ask no more. It would not be just.”
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 save 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. I will provide a way. You need not go to prison.”
And so it was that the creditor was paid in full. He had been justly dealt with. No contract had been broken. The debtor, in turn, had been extended mercy. Both laws stood fulfilled. Because there was a mediator, justice had claimed its full share, and mercy was fully satisfied.
That is the beautiful thing about Gods grace and mercy. We are eternally indebted to him, but there is no way for us to repay him. In 1 Timothy 2:5 it says, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
Ours debts could never be paid without Jesus Christ and all that he did for us. Because our Father in Heaven loves us he has made a way to pay the penalty for our sins. He sent His Son, Jesus, to pay the penalty for our sins. And we can return to Heaven by having faith in Jesus Christ, to trust Him and become His disciples.
