Sunday, April 29, 2012

Lesson Outline 15: “Eternally Indebted to Your Heavenly Father”


1)      Introduction
a)      Transition from “I Nephi” and Enos saying, “I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God” to the third person
i)        Mormon is writing
ii)      We have a prophet’s commentary on what another prophet has said
iii)    Pres. Eyring – pay particular attention when a prophet quotes another prophet
(1)   Second Witness
b)      Amazing King Benjamin comes bursting onto the scene
i)        We know only a little about his from the Words of Mormon
ii)      Great military leader
(1)   Has fought and won great victories over the Lamanites
(2)   Has personally carried the sword of Laban into battle
iii)    Great spiritual leader
c)      Importance of Benjamin’s sermon
i)        Reading 1 - Elder Bruce R. McConkie said that [King Benjamin’s sermon]  contained ‘what well may be the greatest sermon ever delivered on the atonement of Christ the Lord.’ (John W. Welch, King Benjamin’s Speech: Made Simple, pp. 51, 58)
ii)      Reading 2 – Jack Welch has written, “With the exception of the words of Christ himself, no speech in sacred literature, in our opinion, surpasses that of King Benjamin. Delivered at the temple in the city of Zarahemla around 124 BC, this text is a treasure trove in inspiration, wisdom, eloquence, and profound spiritual experience and insight. Little wonder that Mormon saw fit to include this speech as he complied the most significant Nephite records into the Book of Mormon…That oration was a landmark in its own day, and it still stands as a shining beacon of truth and goodness in our day.” (John W. Welch, and Stephen D. Ricks, King Benjamin’s Speech: Made Simple, p. vii)
2)      Calling the People Together
a)      King Benjamin is old and wants to call his people together for two purposes:
i)        Reading 3 – Mosiah 1:10-12
10 Therefore, he had Mosiah brought before him; and these are the words which he spake unto him, saying: My son, I would that ye should make a proclamation throughout all this land among all this people, or the people of Zarahemla, and the people of Mosiah who dwell in the land, that thereby they may be gathered together; for on the morrow I shall proclaim unto this my people out of mine own mouth that thou art a king and a ruler over this people, whom the Lord our God hath given us.
  11 And moreover, I shall give this people a name, that thereby they may be distinguished above all the people which the Lord God hath brought out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I do because they have been a diligent people in keeping the commandments of the Lord.
  12 And I give unto them a name that never shall be blotted out, except it be through transgression.
(1)   Verse 10 - King Benjamin will name Mosiah as king –
(2)   Verse 11 – King Benjamin will give his people a name
(a)    He will name Christ
(i)     In Mosiah 3:8, Benjamin says “8 And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.”
(b)   Christ has already been named before and his name has been revealed to be Jesus.
(c)    This is the first time we learn that his mother will be called Mary
(3)   Benjamin is speaking of giving his people a name in a different way
(a)    Verse 11 “they have been a diligent people in keeping the commandments of the Lord”
(b)   Verse 12 “I give unto them a name that never shall be blotted out, except it be through transgression”
(c)    ASK: What ordinance have we just participated in that involves a name?
(i)     Sacrament – take the name of Christ upon us
(d)   This is a sermon about the Atonement
(e)    Benjamin will tell his people how to take upon them the name of Christ
b)      Sukkot
i)        Hebrew for "huts" or "tabernacles"
ii)      Seven-day festival falls in September or October
iii)    Religious convocation
iv)    One of its main observances is living temporarily in huts or tents, called sukkot, resembling those in which the Children of Israel dwelt during their forty years in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt.
v)      The door of the hut or tent faces the temple in Jerusalem
vi)    Every 7 years, the king read the Torah to all of his people during Sukkot
vii)  Two important religious convocations in the Jewish calendar
(1)   Spring – Passover
(2)   Fall – Sukkot
(3)   Schedule is like our General Conferences in April and October
3)      The Attitude of King Benjamin – Chapter 2
a)      Benjamin begins by speaking about himself as someone who has not lifted himself above others, a man without pride
i)        Verse 10 - I have not commanded you to come up hither that ye should fear me, or that ye should think that I of myself am more than a mortal man.
ii)      Verses 12-15
(1)   12 I say unto you that as I have been suffered to spend my days in your service, even up to this time, and have not sought gold nor silver nor any manner of riches of you;
(2)   13 Neither have I suffered that ye should be confined in dungeons, nor that ye should make slaves one of another, nor that ye should murder, or plunder, or steal, or commit adultery; nor even have I suffered that ye should commit any manner of wickedness, and have taught you that ye should keep the commandments of the Lord, in all things which he hath commanded you—
(3)   14 And even I, myself, have labored with mine own hands that I might serve you, and that ye should not be laden with taxes, and that there should nothing come upon you which was grievous to be borne—and of all these things which I have spoken, ye yourselves are witnesses this day.
(4)   15 Yet, my brethren, I have not done these things that I might boast, neither do I tell these things that thereby I might accuse you; but I tell you these things that ye may know that I can answer a clear conscience before God this day.
iii)    16 Behold, I say unto you that because I said unto you that I had spent my days in your service, I do not desire to boast, for I have only been in the service of God.
b)      Benjamin demonstrates by his life and his teaching that he is a humble servant of God
4)      The Great Debt the People Owe to the Lord
a)      As he starts to speak to the people, King Benjamin does not congratulate them on their accomplishments, on their prosperity, on their defeat of the Lamanites, which would not have happened if they were not obedient
b)      Reading 4 – Mosiah 2:20-22
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
  21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
  22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
i)        ASK – What does it mean to be an unprofitable servant?  Is this the same thing as a faithless or wicked servant?
ii)      ASK – In these verses, what does Benjamin enumerate that we receive from our Heavenly Father?
(1)   Created us
(2)   Preserves us from day to day
(3)   Lends us breath
(4)   Lets us live
(5)   Lets us exercise our agency according to our will
(6)   Supports us from one moment to another.
(7)   If we keep the commandments, he blesses and prospers us
c)      Reading 5 – Mosiah 2:23-25
23 And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him.
  24 And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?
  25 And now I ask, can ye say aught of yourselves? I answer you, Nay. Ye cannot say that ye are even as much as the dust of the earth; yet ye were created of the dust of the earth; but behold, it belongeth to him who created you.
i)        Benjamin drives this point home
(1)   God has created you and granted you life
(2)   If you obey his commandments, he immediately blesses you
(3)   “Can ye say aught of yourselves?”
(a)    You are not even as much as the dust, because you were created of the dust and the dust belongs to him
(b)   Later on, in Helaman 12, Nephi will say that the disobedient Nephites are less than the dust, because at least the dust moves according to God’s will
d)     ASK – Why is Benjamin doing this?  Why is he being so hard on the Nephites?
i)        Only by seeing their nothingness, can the Nephites understand their need for the Atonement
ii)      They are not independent from God or self-sufficient from God, they need God for every breath.  They need the Atonement every minute of their lives.
e)      READ: Hugh Nibley has written, "Only those who are aware of their lost and fallen state can take the mission of the Savior seriously, and before one can embrace it in terms of the eternities it must be grasped on the level of common, everyday reality ... For behold, are we not all beggars? ... The essence of Benjamin's preaching is to purge the people, if possible, of their flattering self-image as good guys." (Hugh Nibley, The Prophetic Book of Mormon. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1986) pp. 484-485)
f)       None is good but God.  If we want to be good, we must do so by following the path that God has laid for us, an impossible task without the Atonement.
g)      Reading 6 – Brigham Young has said, “The animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms abide the law of their Creator; the whole earth and all things pertaining to it, except man, abide the law of their creation….We tame the animals and make them do our drudgery and administer to our wants in many ways, yet man alone is not tamed—he is not subject to his Great Creator. Our ignorant animals are faithful to us, and will do our bidding as long as they have any strength; yet man who is the offspring of the Gods, will not become subject to the most reasonable and self-exalting principles.” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 9, pp. 246-7 as taken from Latter-day Commentary on the Book of Mormon compiled by K. Douglas Bassett, p. 205)
5)      The Consequences of Disobedience
a)      Benjamin warns of the consequences of disobedience without repentance
i)        READ Mosiah 2:33 - 33 “For behold, there is a wo pronounced upon him who listeth to obey that spirit; for if he listeth to obey him, and remaineth and dieth in his sins, the same drinketh damnation to his own soul; for he receiveth for his wages an everlasting punishment, having transgressed the law of God contrary to his own knowledge.”
b)      Reading 7 – Mosiah 2:37-38
37 I say unto you, that the man that doeth this, the same cometh out in open rebellion against God; therefore he listeth to obey the evil spirit, and becometh an enemy to all righteousness; therefore, the Lord has no place in him, for he dwelleth not in unholy temples.
  38 Therefore if that man repenteth not, and remaineth and dieth an enemy to God, the demands of divine justice do awaken his immortal soul to a lively sense of his own guilt, which doth cause him to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill his breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish, which is like an unquenchable fire, whose flame ascendeth up forever and ever.
i)        ASK – How does that work – the demands of divine justice awaken the soul of the wicked person to a lively sense of his own guilt?
ii)      READ – John Taylor said, “God has made each man a register within himself, and each man can read his own register, so far as he enjoys his perfect faculties. This can be easily comprehended.
“…Let your memories run back, and you can remember the time when you did a good action, you can remember the time when you did a bad action; the thing is printed there, and you can bring it out and gaze upon it whenever you please.

“…Man sleeps the sleep of death, but the spirit lives where the record of his deeds is kept--that does not die--man cannot kill it; there is no decay associated with it, and it still retains in all its vividness the remembrance of that which transpired before the separation by death of the body and the ever-living spirit. Man sleeps for a time in the grave, and by-and-by he rises again from the dead and goes to judgment; and then the secret thoughts of all men are revealed before Him with whom we have to do; we cannot hide them; it would be in vain for a man to say then, I did not do so-and-so; the command would be, Unravel and read the record which he has made of himself, and let it testify in relation to these things, and all could gaze upon it. If a man has acted fraudulently against his neighbor--has committed murder, or adultery, or any thing else, and wants to cover it up, that record will stare him in the face, he tells the story himself, and bears witness against himself. It is written that Jesus will judge not after the sight of the eye, or after the hearing of the ear, but with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity the meek of the earth. It is not because somebody has seen things, or heard anything by which a man will be judged and condemned, but it is because that record that is written by the man himself in the tablets of his own mind--that record that cannot lie--will in that day be unfolded before God and angels, and those who shall sit as judges.” (Journal of Discourses, pp. 77-9)
6)      An Angel’s Visit
a)      In Mosiah 3, Benjamin recounts what an angel told him when he was awakened in the night.
b)      Reading 8 – Mosiah 3:5-8
5 For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent who reigneth, who was, and is from all eternity to all eternity, shall come down from heaven among the children of men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.
  6 And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.
  7 And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people.
  8 And he shall be called Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.
c)      Next comes the reason why Jesus Christ will come to the earth.
d)     Reading 9 – Mosiah 3:9-12
 9 And lo, he cometh unto his own, that salvation might come unto the children of men even through faith on his name; and even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him.
  10 And he shall rise the third day from the dead; and behold, he standeth to judge the world; and behold, all these things are done that a righteous judgment might come upon the children of men.
  11 For behold, and also his blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned.
  12 But wo, wo unto him who knoweth that he rebelleth against God! For salvation cometh to none such except it be through repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.
e)      Lays out the influence of the Atonement.
i)        Who does the Atonement save in this part of King Benjamin’s sermon?
(1)   Saved from the fall
(2)   Those who sin in ignorance
(3)   Those who know the truth, sin and repent
f)       Reading 10 – Mosiah 3:16-18
16 And even if it were possible that little children could sin they could not be saved; but I say unto you they are blessed; for behold, as in Adam, or by nature, they fall, even so the blood of Christ atoneth for their sins.
  17 And moreover, I say unto you, that there shall be no other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of men, only in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.
  18 For behold he judgeth, and his judgment is just; and the infant perisheth not that dieth in his infancy; but men drink damnation to their own souls except they humble themselves and become as little children, and believe that salvation was, and is, and is to come, in and through the atoning blood of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.
g)      Adds little children to those who are saved by the Atonement.
7)      The Natural Man
a)      READ – Mosiah 3:19 - 19 For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father
b)      ASK – What is a “natural man”?
i)        Elder Bruce R. McConkie said: “After the fall of Adam, man became carnal, sensual, and devilish by nature; he became fallen man. … All accountable persons on earth inherit this fallen state, this probationary state, this state in which worldly things seem desirable to the carnal nature. Being in this state, ‘the natural man is an enemy to God,’ until he conforms to the great plan of redemption and is born again to righteousness. (Mosiah 3:19.) Thus all mankind would remain lost and fallen forever were it not for the atonement of our Lord. (Alma 42:4–14.)” (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed. [1966], 267–68).
c)      ASK – How do we put off the natural man?
i)        Listen to the Holy Ghost
ii)      Work to overcome our carnal, sensual and devlish characteristics
iii)    Become a saint, through the Atonement
iv)    Become like a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit
d)     Reading 11 - Elder Robert D. Hales said: “What we must remember about the Savior is that He and He alone had the power to lay down His life and take it up again. He had the ability to die from His mortal mother, Mary, and the ability to overcome death from His immortal Father. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, went willingly and deliberately to His death, having told His followers that this would happen. Why? one might ask. The answer: to give immortality to all mankind and the promise of eternal life to those who believed in Him (see John 3:15), to give His own life for a ransom for others (see Matthew 20:28), to overcome Satan’s power, and to make it possible for sins to be forgiven. Without Jesus’ Atonement, there would be an impassable barrier between God and mortal men and women. When we comprehend the Atonement, we remember Him with awe and gratitude” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1997, 34; or Ensign, Nov. 1997, 26).

Conclusion

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