You may only achieve a limited amount
of grace in this life, but to that limited amount of grace you must
hold fast. You cannot receive more if you will not receive what is
offered to you now. But if you will receive what is offered now, you
will be added upon forever and ever. (Abraham 3:26) Or, in other
words, you move up the ladder by how you conduct yourself in this
cycle of creation, and in the next cycle you will have so much the
advantage. (D&C 130:18-19) You can choose to move upward and be
added upon, or you can choose instead to remain as you are, worlds
without end. The scriptures speak of things that happened "before
the foundation of the world" or "in the first place"
or "from the foundation of the world". These statements
make it clear what went on before this creation mattered and affected
who you are now. In like manner what you achieve in this life through
your heed and diligence will affect what comes after. The course we
are on has been ordained by God and is "one eternal round".
God has been at this a long time.
Christ has, likewise, been involved for many repeated cycles of
creation.
Moses was told: “by
the word of my power, have I created them, which is mine Only
Begotten Son, who is full of grace and truth. And worlds without
number have I created; and I also created them for mine own purpose;
and by the Son I created them, which is mine Only Begotten.” (Moses 1:32-33) It is endless and it is cyclical. “But only an account of
this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you. For behold,
there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power.
And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man;
but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know
them.” (Moses 1:35) This is God's great work. It has been going
through cycles of creation, fall, redemption, judgment and recreation
forever. It is endless.
God's works do not end.
You are the developmental work God has
chosen as His greatest accomplishment. He intends to bring to pass
your immortality and eventual eternal life. (Moses 1:39) How long
that requires for any given individual depends upon how long it takes
you to become like Christ, the prototype of the saved man. How long
will you delay attaining to the resurrection is within your own
control. I am hoping to awaken you to the great work lying before
you. (See Lecture 7, pages 40-43)
Christ said of Himself in Ether 3:14:
“Behold, I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world
to redeem my people. Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and
the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even
they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and
my daughters.” This is the way in which you also might become a son
of God. As the One who redeems you becomes your Father, so that He
who is the Only Begotten of the Father, in turn begets many sons and
daughters Himself.
If you will receive it, faith in him
comes by hearing the word of God. (Romans 10:17) Not by a pretender,
not by someone guessing, not by someone offering up their theory of
how the scriptures ought to be understood. Faith does not come by
hearkening to someone citing you a bibliography. Faith comes only by
hearing the word of God delivered as he would have it delivered, by
whomever it is that he may choose to deliver it. (Romans 10:14-17)
If you receive God's word sent by
someone He sends, then you might have faith, and that too in the Son
of God. Then you also might receive Him. But if you will not, if you
will harden your hearts, if you will blind your minds, if you will
not receive what He offers from his mouth in your day, then you do
not have faith in Him. You will fall short of that faith required to
become His son and His daughter.
It is that way, it has always been that
way, it will always be that way. There is no other test.
Therefore, either I am a liar and you
ought to forget everything I have said, or I have been sent by
someone greater than I am. If I have been sent and you reject and
quibble over the things I declare to you, it is at your peril!
It ought to be that way. I ought to be
damned if I'm a pretender, and I ought to be damned and rejected by
God if I'm saying things about which I know nothing! But I bear
witness to you I know what I'm talking about. I have no reason to lie
to you. I have no reason to pay to reserve a place to speak to you,
and ask nothing of you but to listen. It requires a sacrifice to do
what I am doing. I have no other reason to do this than to tell you
the truth. Joseph Smith testified to these things and I am come as a
second witness. Therefore you now have two proclaiming the same
doctrine.
He (Christ) was in the world and the
world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. Why did the world
not know Him? The world did not know Him for the same reason people
would not know a messenger when one is sent today.
Our Lord was so very ordinary in His
time. He seemed for all the world to be just another itinerant
preacher. There have been so many pretenders. If you want to find the
Lord look for Him among the outcast, for it is only there you will
find Him at work. (See Lecture 7, pages 49-51)
The real project in the labor needing
to be done, will be by you. If you don't lay hold upon this, if you
don't move this forward, if you don't rise up, I suppose he will find
another people. But you ought to accept this invitation, and then
come to the feast He offers us. You should want to be numbered among
those who choose to have the Gospel live again.
Let me end by testifying to you that,
however improbable or unlikely all of this may seem to those of you
who spend any time at all thinking about this, it was just as
improbable when John was baptizing. It was just as improbable when
Christ taught. It was just as improbable when Joseph Smith said, "I
have seen a vision, I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I
could not deny it, neither did I do it." (JS-H 1:25) It may seem
improbable. But it is true! (See Lecture 10, pages 39-40)
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