Sunday Talk

I would like you all to picture the many people that perform the act of saving people in our lives every day. Doctors save us from illness and disease. Firefighters save us from burning countrysides and houses. The police save us from thieves and other criminals. Lifeguards save us from drowning.  Soldiers save us from those who would want to hurt us. Our Best Friends save us from ridicule. Even our parents save us from hurt and troubles in our lives. But there is only one that saves us from all of the above and more and helps us through the most important part, helps us through the gate to the eternities: Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is the one who saves us from our imperfectness. I found a poem that helped me sum it up by Alon Dy entitled Lord Jesus, You are the one.

Lord Jesus, You are the one

Who gives me strength and hope
When doubts and fears arise.

Who stands alone for me
Overcoming life’s adversaries.

Who protects me from devastation
And helps me resist life’s temptations.

Who leads me the right path to choose
In most difficult situations of my life.

Who saves me when I become frail
To fight the forces of evil.

Who gives me this gift so that
Others may see the light – Your light.

Who takes away my pain and sufferings
All throughout the days of sorrows.

Who is my Lord, my King,
And The Creator Of Everything.

Who I will always love and serve
For the rest of my life.

Lord Jesus, You are the one.

The Church has stated that,

“Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world and the Son of God. He is our Redeemer. Each of these titles points to the truth that Jesus Christ is the only way by which we can return to live with our Heavenly Father.  

Jesus suffered and was crucified for the sins of the world, giving each of God’s children the gift of repentance and forgiveness. Only by His mercy and grace can anyone be saved. His subsequent resurrection prepared the way for every person to overcome physical death as well. These events are called the Atonement. In short, Jesus Christ saves us from sin and death. For that, He is very literally our Savior and Redeemer….”

Many have felt His saving ordinance from sin throughout their lives and our greatest examples are in the scriptures.

One example is Alma the Younger. In Alma 36:6 & 14, Alma first tells us his sin:

 “For I went about with the sons of Mosiah, seeking to destroy the church of God” (Alma 36:6). “Yea, and I had murdered many of His children or rather led them away unto destruction ;…”(Alma 36:14).

Alma was then “struck with great fear and amazement” and “was racked with eternal torment, for (his) soul was harrowed up to the greatest degree and racked for all (his) sins.”

While Alma was racked with all his sins for three days and nights, a thought overcame him of his father preaching of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the one who will atone for the sins of the world and he caught hold on to it. He cried within his heart saying: “O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death” (Alma 36:18).

He continues to explain, “And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more. And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did, behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!” (Alma 36:19-20)

How wonderful is that just the simple thought of the Savior brought such relief and joy to Alma in his darkest need.

President Spencer W. Kimball talked about Alma’s need to rely on Jesus Christ and how it compares to our own need:

“In Alma’s account the sensitive reader can in a measure identify with him, feel his pains, experience his great sense of horror at the recognition of the depth of his sin. The reader can then share also in the great relief which Alma was to find. How did he gain this relief? In the same way every transgressor does – by partaking of the miracle of forgiveness through genuine repentence and by casting himself wholly on the mercies of Jesus Christ….

“And never, until I did cry out unto the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy, did I receive a remission of my sins. But behold, I did cry unto him and I did find peace to my soul.”

Another great example of Jesus saving someone from sin is found in Luke chapter five, which I am going to just read …..(Luke 5:17-25)

“17 And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judæa, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

 18 ¶And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was ^ataken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him.

 19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

 20 And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are ^aforgiven thee.

 21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh ^ablasphemies? Who can ^bforgive sins, but God alone?

 22 But when Jesus ^aperceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?

 23 ^aWhether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk?

 24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to ^aforgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.

 25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, ^aglorifying God.”

This man who, like all of us, had made mistakes in his life, was able to receive forgiveness for his sins and a restoration of his body by putting his faith in Christ.

We all need Christ to be able to make it back to our end goal, eternal life with our Heavenly Father. We have the opportunity to remember him and his sacrifice every Sunday as we take the sacrament as we just did. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland described several ways for us to remember Him and his saving ordinance during the sacrament:

“We could remember the Savior’s premortal life and all that we know Him to have done…

We could remember the simple grandeur of His mortal birth to just a young woman….

We could remember Christ’s miracles and His teachings, His healings and His help….

We could remember that Jesus found special joy and happiness in children and said all of us should be more like them…

We could remember that Christ called His disciples friends……

We could – and should- remember the wonderful things that have come to us in our lives and that all things which are good cometh of Christ…..

On some days we will have cause to remember the unkind treatment He received, the rejection He experienced, and the injustice…He endured….

….We can remember that Jesus had to descend below all things before He could ascend above them, and that He suffered pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind that He might be filled with mercy and know how to succor His people in their infirmities.”

As this Easter season close approaches us, I would like to challenge everyone to remember who Christ is to you. What sacrifices did he make for you personally so far in your life and who has he become to you. Is he your policeman, your firefighter, your solider, your lifeguard, your best friend, your parent , your Savior? Remember Him throughout your day as you enjoy this life.

In closing, I would like to end with a quote by Thomas S. Monson that I agree with whole heartedly:

“With all my heart and the fervency of my soul, I lift up my voice in testimony as a special witness and declare that God does live. Jesus is His Son, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He is our Redeemer; He is our Mediator with the Father. He it was who died on the cross to atone for our sins. He became the first fruits of the Resurrection. Because He died, all shall live again... May the whole world know it and live by that knowledge.”

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.