Do we really believe in Christ?

Do You Believe Christ?
 
Doctrine and Covenants 1:31
“For I the Lord cannot look up on sin with the least degree of allowance”
 
That is kind of a bleak way to start out a talk I know, but this scripture is the reason that we should all be very thankful for Easter and the event that it commemorates.  The resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.  
 
Some of us think that our judgment will someday involve a large scale and balancing our good deeds on one side of the scale and our sins and transgressions on the other side of the scale.  We think sometimes that if our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds and if our heart is generally good then we will be admitted in to the presence of God.  
 
This idea Brothers and Sisters is false!
 
Heavenly Father has told us that he cannot tolerate any sin.  He has a celestial standard.  Complete innocence is his prerequisite to be admitted in to his presence.  
 
This is a big problem for all of us because we all sin everyday.  None of us are innocent in terms of the celestial standard.  
 
Romans 3:23 states
“For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
 
All of us, even the best among us will come up short of the required perfection that is necessary to return to our Heavenly Father.
 
So here is the problem.  On one hand we have God’s requirement for us to be sinless and perfect and on the other hand we have our incapability to live up to God’s standard.
 
Most of us tend to assume that everyone else is doing better than us or that others don’t struggle with the temptations and shortcomings that we struggle with.  We in the church sometimes think that Brother and Sister so and so seem to have this perfect family that never fights or that never miss Morning Prayer never miss scripture study.  Brother so and so never forgets to do his home teaching or Sister so and so always gets her visiting teaching done.  They go to the temple every month and write the missionaries.  They have their food storage filled to the brim and all of these other things that we are supposed to be doing.  
 
The truth is that we all fall short in some areas.  None of us are perfect.  That is why we are in church today.  Church is not for the perfect among us.  It is for us the imperfect who are trying to learn and grow and become better.  If we WERE perfect we would have no need to come to church.  We could just sit at home and watch baseball or football on Sunday.  If we were perfect we could make it back to our Father in Heaven all on our own.  We would have no need to take the sacrament and renew our covenants.
But we are all imperfect and its okay. I guess it’s a great thing that we are here.
 
The apostle Peter struggled with feelings of inadequacy just like many of us.
 
In Luke 5:8 we read about when Peter was in Jesus presence for the first time.  Peter said to Jesus “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O lord.”  Peter had those same feelings that all of us have.  He felt like he was unworthy and inadequate to be in the presence of the Lord. He knew what the Lord expected of him and he knew that he had fallen short of the requirement. We sometimes feel this way and keep ourselves from feeling the influence of the spirit because we feel like we are not worthy to feel it.
 
This is where our big brother comes in to help us.  Jesus Christ and his atonement and resurrection are the “good news” of our Heavenly Father’s plan.  
 
He is able to take and imperfect you or I and make up for our short comings.  He can make perfect our imperfect lives.  
 
In Isaiah1:18 the Lord helps us understand what he can do for us through our faith in him.  “Come now, and let us reason together saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson they shall be as wool.
 
It doesn’t matter what we have done in our lives. Whatever it was or is, no matter how horrible, mean, or wrong our actions or desires have been.  
 
Whatever it is he can erase it.  
 
He can and He will clean us up and make us as innocent and pure and as worthy as we were the day we were born or the day we were baptized in his name.  He can and he will do this for us through our faith in him.  
 
Let me ask you a question.
 
“Do we really believe in Christ?  This may seem like a ridiculous question to ask people who are sitting in a church building with his name on it, but I’ll ask it again. “Do we really believe in Christ?
 
Most of us have a testimony of Jesus Christ and his ministry, but a lot of us struggle to gain a personal testimony or witness that he is not just A savior or THE savior but that he is MY savior or YOUR savior.  
 
A lot of us think that he can save others, maybe he can save people in our families, or save our neighbors or he can save our friends.  We sometimes think that we however have some how already punched our ticket wrong, or that we have already gotten too far off of the path to be able to get back on track. We think that we have messed up to the point where there is nothing that can be done, nothing that he can do to save us.  
 
Some of us Believe in Christ, but we don’t actually believe Christ.  
 
Let me say that again so that you can understand the difference.  
 
All of us believe in Christ, but a lot of us don’t believe Christ.  We accept the messenger, but reject his great message.  We need to believe in Jesus’ identity and also believe in his ability and power to cleanse us and make us pure and worthy.  
 
A bishop once heard a member say this when the question of exaltation came up in an interview.  The member said “Oh no I don’t expect to be exalted. I’m a nobody. I’m just an ordinary average member.  I’m just an attender.  I’ve always had little jobs in the church. I’ve never been a leader and I don’t have any talents.  I’ll certainly never be bishop or relief society president.  I just don’t have very much to contribute so I don’t expect to receive much in the resurrection.”  The man went on to make the statement “ Look bishop, I’m just not celestial material.”  The bishop finally lost it and told the man “So what’s your point?”  “Of course your not celestial material. Neither am I! neither is any of us. That’s why we need the atonement of Christ.”  The bishop went on to add “The real problem here is that you don’t have faith in Jesus Christ.”  This made the man very angry.  He had been a member his whole life.  The man responded to the bishop by saying “how dare you question my faith.  I know that Jesus is the Christ, the son of god.”  The bishop said yes you believe in Jesus Christ you just don’t believe Christ.  Jesus Christ says he can make you celestial material and you say no you can’t.  You believe all right.  You believe Christ makes promises that he cannot keep”  
 
With out obeying the first principle of the gospel we cannot enjoy the power and blessings that are available to us through the atonement and resurrection of the lord.  
 
If we only believe in Christ with out believing Christ then we are like people sitting in cold dark homes surrounded by unused lamps and heaters.  We are like people who believe in electricity but who never throw the switch to turn on the power.
 
Believing in electricity does not give us light or make us warm.  We need to turn on the power to make it useful.
 
In order to utilize the Saviors power we must covenant with him.  He makes up for our mistakes he compensates for our shortcomings.  
 
We want to be on Jesus’ team.  He is our Heisman trophy winning quarterback.  Even though we may fumble the ball or miss a tackle he is perfect.  He makes all the difference.  If we are on his team we will not lose.  He asks us to do our best and he takes care of the rest.  I think I may put that on a T shirt.
 
The good news of the gospel is not that perfect people can be reunited with Heavenly Father.  The good news is that imperfect people can be reunited with Heavenly Father.
 
Listen to Nephi’s words from 2nd Nephi Chapter 4.
 
“Oh wreched man that I am.  Yea my heart sorroweth because of my flesh.  My sole grievieth because of mine inequities.  I’m encompassed about because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me and when I desire to rejoice my heart growneth because of my sins.  Never the less, I know in whom I have trusted he hath filled me with his love even to the consuming of my flesh.
 
Even though Nephi was discouraged and depressed by his inability to live perfectly he trusted that the Lord could still help him get in to the kingdom anyway.  
 
When we covenant with Christ and become one with him we gain access to his perfection.
 
Parable of the Bicycle.  
 
Testimony
 
Neighbors, Bishop and counselors, primary teachers, nursery leaders, wife.