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Since we have been talking about the
various sections of “For the Strength of Youth,” I am speaking on
the Spirit of the Law, and the Letter of the Law, and how we apply
them in our lives.
For my talk I will actually be
discussing three things: The Spirit of the Law, the Letter of the
Law, and the “The Interpretation of the Law.”
So then what is the Spirit of the
law? It consists of at least three parts, and they work in a pattern.
The first is the Spirit of the Law is the reason for which our Father
has given us the law. The laws He gives us are meant to bring us
closer to Him, and to help us exercise faith in the atonement of His
son, Jesus Christ by keeping them. As a result of our acting in faith
we are cleansed from our impurities, and we learn to gradually take
upon us the qualities of Christ.
The second is our intent for keeping
the law. Why do you keep it? Or do you choose to keep it? Do you know
what the laws are? These are questions we should all be asking
ourselves regularly. In order to gain a testimony of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and the restoration of the Gospel, we had to do just
that, we had to ask questions, and we had to take them to the Lord so
that He could teach us through His Spirit that these things were
indeed true. That testimony does not automatically grant us a
testimony for every piece of doctrine we will go on to learn from
that point forward. Yes, at times we will hear things that we do know
are true immediately and we accept it as such. But there will also be
times where you will be taught something, and you will wonder why
that law is given, or what that piece of doctrine is what it is.
In order to properly understand it,
you must study it out, and take it to the Lord. Line upon line,
precept upon precept He will reveal the purposes of His laws unto
you, the reason He has given them to us, and how to best apply them
in our individual lives. That testimony of His laws that we gain
little by little will fill us with desire, it will fill us with the
right intent for seeking to follow Him, and will give us the strength
to keep His laws.
The third part of the Spirit of the
Law is the pattern I mentioned. When we seek to have the presence of
the Holy Ghost in our lives, who testifies of the truth of our
Father's laws, the Holy Ghost then brings us to the law. Then we have
the option to choose to keep the law. As we choose to keep the law,
and do so to the best of our abilities, we open a door in our lives
that allows us to receive more guidance through the Spirit or the
Lord, and to also receive a greater portion of His Spirit in our
lives. The Spirit teaches us new things about the law, and about
ourselves. Line upon line. And as we are taught, the Spirit then
brings us back to the law. This process of receiving the spirit,
keeping the law, learning from the spirit, and being brought back to
the law is one we will spend the rest of our lives working. But
that's a good thing, because as I said, it opens the door in our live
for us to be taught by the Spirit.
The Letter of the Law:
We know the letter of the law to be
the actual laws God has given us. You could even call it simply the
literal wording. I think too often in the church we get into the
pattern of thinking that “Spirit of the Law” is good, “Letter
of the law” is less good. But that is not the case at all. The Lord
has said in DC 1:38, “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken,
and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass
away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled,
whether by mine own voice of by the voice of my servants, it is the
same.” We know that in some cases, we can take the word “word”
as in this verse, and the word law applies to it. It would then read,
“and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my law shall not
pass away, but shall all be fulfilled.” In Abraham 3:17 we read,
“...and there is nothing
that the Lord thy God
shall take in His heart to do but what he will do it.”
We
can be sure then of this: The Lord does not give us laws without
expecting us to keep them. The keeping of the laws of God is one of
the very reasons we are here, as stated in Abraham 3:25 where it
reads, “We will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all
things whatsoever the Lord
their God shall
command them.”
Think
of your baptismal covenants. And for those of you who are endowed
your temple covenants. Each of you entered into those with the intent
to keep the laws associated with that ordinance, you entered into a
covenant to keep them. Think of the sacramental prayer which has that
line, “That they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son,
and always remember Him, and keep his commandments which He has given
them, that they may have thy Spirit to be with them.” How can the
Lord place His name upon us unless we do His works, and keep His
laws? How can we have the Spirit with us unless we keep the laws we
have been given, and open the door for the Spirit to enter into our
lives? Our goal as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ is to become as
He, and our Father in heaven are.
That is not something that should leave our lips lightly. Think about
that and what it means. In order to accomplish such a monumental
task, a great deal of effort must be done on our part. But the
instruction to fulfill that comes little by little. And it starts
simply with this: With observing the things the Lord has already
given us so that we can learn more through His spirit. It begins with
the basics, and the Lord begins to enlighten our minds and our
understanding from there. And as we observe this, the letter of the
law, the Spirit of the law becomes the driving force of our lives.
The Spirit of the Law is the instruction and guidance that comes to
us from our Heavenly Father, through His spirit, as we keep the
letter of the law. For no blessing can come unless the law it is
predicated upon is first kept: and the receiving of the Spirit in our
lives is such a blessing.
I
will now speak on the third type of law observance I mentioned:
“Interpretation
of the Law”
I
have heard often from members of this church, “I am more of a
Spirit of the law type of person.” And there is nothing wrong with
this if it is in the manner I have spoken on. But it is regularly
applied in peoples' lives differently. Often it is applied as a means
of justifying ourselves so that we do not have to keep the laws which
have been given in the way the Lord has given them to us, usually
because
a)
The law itself feels unclear to us,
b)
We don't understand the law as well as we need to.
As
I thought about an example to give concerning this I decided to use
the commandment, “Keep the Sabbath day holy.” Ponder that for a
bit: How do we in fact keep something Holy? For
myself
the answer is this:
by creating an atmosphere in which the Spirit of the Lord may be
freely maintained, and is welcomed.” If we then go home after
church and begin to do things that immediately chase the Spirit away,
then I would ask of you, is the day still a Holy one? But again that
is how I keep this law. It can be hard, because if you simply take
the words of the law which simply state, “Keep the sabbath day
holy,” then it really does feel unclear and leaves room for
interpretation.
The
letter of the law can be summed up briefly as this: Do not shop or go
out to eat on Sundays, avoid worldly things, spend time with family,
go home or visiting teaching, that Sunday is from 12am to 12am the
next morning, and so forth. And that is also something I try to do,
but one of the very things Christ was trying to teach the Jews during
His own ministry was the deadness of the law if it was kept without
doing so to make use of the atonement of Christ, and the need for
believing on the Son of God. To Nicodemus the Lord taught in John 3,
“He that believeth in him is not condemned: but he that believeth
not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of
the only begotten son of God. And this is the condemnation, that
light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than
light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should
be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his
deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.” Evil
here does not simply mean evil, it means worldly. It means choosing
the things of the ways of the world over the way God has asked us to
do things.
If
we want to Spirit to testify to our Father that we do indeed love
Him, we need to keep the laws which He has given us, and observe them
in the manner He meant for us to observe them. The letter of the law
was always meant to be observed, but in the way God meant for us to
observe them, and not as man meant for us to observe them.
To the Samaritan lady Jesus taught:
“The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshipers shall
worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh
such to worship him... and they that worship him must worship
him in spirit and in truth.”
Brothers and Sisters, let us remember
to keep the truth of the law, or the letter of the law, that we may
receive the Spirit and keep the Spirit of the law. And let us not
interpret the laws to our own condemnation. Think about your habits,
and your lives, and what you can do to change to better choose
to be a follower of Christ, and to maintain His spirit always in your
lives. Cut out the things you need to, and add to your lives the
things you need to. If the Father seeketh such
to worship Him, then let us choose
– to – be such a
people. So think about these things, and think about the “For the
Strength of Youth” talks which have been given, and about the Honor
Code which you have agreed to, and do those things so the Lord can
guide you and give you His Spirit, and do them in the Lords way.
I
know that as I have worked to keep the commandments of God in my life
that I have felt His spirit, and He teaches me how to better keep His
laws and be as He is. I know I have felt an increased presence of His
spirit in my life as I have learned, and continue to learn how to
follow Him. I know that Jesus Christ lives, and that if we do these
things, we shall draw closer to Him.
In
the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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