36 And now, I say unto you, my brethren, that after ye
have known and have been taught all these things, if ye should transgress and
go contrary to that which has been spoken, that ye do withdraw yourselves from
the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you to guide you in wisdom’s
paths that ye may be blessed, prospered, and preserved—
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. (Mosiah 2:36-37)
King Benjamin continues.
Having been taught gospel truths, if they sin and withdraw
themselves from the Spirit of the Lord, they will have no guidance from the Lord
to be blessed, prosper, and preserved.
“But if ye will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel
against the commandment of the Lord, then shall the hand of the Lord be against
you” (1 Samuel 12:15).
“And say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel;
Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant” (Jeremiah 11:3).
“Behold, I, the Lord, command; and he that will not obey
shall be cut off in mine own due time, after I have commanded and the
commandment is broken” (D&C 56:3).
“And they saw that
they had become weak, like unto their brethren, the Lamanites, and that the
Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve them; yea, it had withdrawn from them
because the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples-
“Therefore the Lord
did cease to preserve them by his miraculous and matchless power, for they had
fallen into a state of unbelief and awful wickedness; and they saw that the
Lamanites were exceedingly more numerous than they, and except they should
cleave unto the Lord their God they must unavoidably perish” (Helaman 4:24-25).
“And there were no gifts from the Lord, and the Holy Ghost
did not come upon any, because of their wickedness and unbelief” (Mormon 1:14).
“To have the continuous companionship of the Holy Ghost is the
most precious possession we can have in mortality. The gift of the Holy Ghost was conferred upon us by the authority
of the Melchizedek Priesthood after our baptism. But to realize the blessings
of that gift, we must keep ourselves free from sin. When we commit sin, we
become unclean and the Spirit of the Lord withdraws from us. The Spirit of the
Lord does not dwell in ‘unholy temples’ and no unclean thing can dwell in
His presence.” (emphasis in
original)[1]
“We should also endeavor to discern when we ‘withdraw
[ourselves] from the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in [us] to
guide [us] in wisdom’s paths that [we] may be blessed, prospered, and preserved.’ Precisely
because the promised blessing is that we may always have His
Spirit to be with us, we should attend to and learn from the choices and
influences that separate us from the Holy Spirit.” (emphasis in original)[2]
He warns against rebellion against God. “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” (Mosiah
3:12).
“And now, seeing ye know these things and cannot deny them
except ye shall lie, therefore in this ye have sinned, for ye have rejected all
these things, notwithstanding so many evidences which ye have received; yea,
even ye have received all things, both things in heaven, and all things which
are in the earth, as a witness that they are true.
“But behold, ye have rejected the truth, and rebelled
against your holy God; and even at this time, instead of laying up for
yourselves treasures in heaven, where nothing doth corrupt, and where nothing
can come which is unclean, ye are heaping up for yourselves wrath against the
day of judgment.” (Helaman 8:24-25)
The Lord has no place for those who listen to the devil and
become an enemy of righteousness. “Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that
causeth to err from the words of knowledge” (Proverbs 19:27).
He makes it clear, The Lord will no dwell in an unholy
temple.
“And he doth not dwell in unholy temples; neither can
filthiness or anything which is unclean be received into the kingdom of God;
therefore I say unto you the time shall come, yea, and it shall be at the last
day, that he who is filthy shall remain in his filthiness” (Alma 7:21).
“And this I know, because the Lord hath said he dwelleth not
in unholy temples, but in the hearts of the righteous doth he dwell; yea, and
he has also said that the righteous shall sit down in his kingdom, to go no
more out; but their garments should be made white through the blood of the Lamb”
(Alma 34:36).
“And they saw that they had become weak, like unto their
brethren, the Lamanites, and that the Spirit of the Lord did no more preserve
them; yea, it had withdrawn from them because the Spirit of the Lord doth not
dwell in unholy temples” (Helaman 4:24).
“Benjamin’s people would naturally have wondered, as he
described the workings of the promised atonement, whether its efficacy would
cover all categories of sin or only certain types of transgressions. They were
told that Christ’s atonement would automatically cover the fall of Adam and
sins committed in ignorance. Although modern theologies would think of
inadvertent sins as being only marginally significant, they stood at the crux
of the concept of expiation and atonement in the ancient system of sacrifices.
At the same time, Benjamin also pronounced a resounding eternal wo upon the
unrepentant who transgress the law of God knowingly, who come out ‘in open
rebellion against God’ (Mosiah 2:37; see Mosiah 2:33; 3:12). Forgiveness for
intentional misconduct depends on a full change of heart.”[3]
[1] The
Aaronic Priesthood and the Sacrament, President Dallin H. Oaks, October
1998 General Conference.
[2] Receive
the Holy Ghost, Elder David A. Bednar, October 2010 General Conference.
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