Many are called but few are chosen.
D&C 121:45-46I have been given as the topic of my talk D&C 121:45-46. These verses are some of a series of verses concerning how one can be not only called of God but Chosen of god as well. I would like to speak today concerning:
- Being Called vs. Chosen (Focus on Chosen)
- The Principles upon which the powers of heaven are activated
- Being Chosen
- How to be chosen
- The benefits of being chosen
Background: D&C 121-123 are all extracted from a single letter written by Joseph Smith from Liberty Jail. A full reading of the letter in its entirety gives a much greater understanding and knowledge about these sections! Joseph Smith and several companions had been months in prison and their petitions for redress had failed to bring them relief.
D&C 121:34-39
34 Behold, there are many called, but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen?
What does it mean to be called?
- We have all been called from the world
- We have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and have accepted it as truth
- We know his voice and follow his word and are the sheep of God.
- Truly all members of the church have been called unto salvation and unto a receipt of exaltation!
Have we then all also been chosen?
D&C 121:35-40
We see then why some of us are not chosen.
- Cover our sins
- Gratify our Pride
- Gratify our Vain ambition
- Exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon souls of men
How then can we be the chosen and elect of God?
D&C 121:41-45
- Persuasion
- Gentleness
- Meekness
- Love unfeigned
- Kindness
- Knowledge
- Without hypocrisy
- Without Guile
- Reprove betimes with sharpness
- Increase of love toward him whom thou has reproved
- Charity towards all men and the household of faith
- Virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly
Charity - pure love of Christ – Moroni 7:45-47
Virtue - conformity to a standard of right (morality) a beneficial quality or power of a thing
- Purity in mind body and spirit
- Power in the priesthood - physical, mental, emotional strength!
Mosiah 9:17,Alma 56:56 (sons of Helaman)
- Luke 8:43-48 – Woman healed virtue is gone out of him
How does one loose charity and virtue?
Charity – Anger & Pride
Pride is the comparison in enmity of one individual to another
Anger is the emotional outburst born of selfishness
Virtue - Impure Thoughts and Actions
Exercising Unrighteous dominion upon others
Covering our Sins
Physical Contamination – Drugs, Alcohol, Addiction
The Result:
45 … then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.
46 The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.
- Confidence in presence of God
- Doctrines of priesthood distil upon thy soul - Read Ensign Article
- Holy Ghost constant companion
- Scepter of righteousness and truth
- Dominion shall be everlasting
- Without Compulsory means it shall flow unto thee
- Forever and ever
Surely the doctrines of the priesthood, the doctrines of exhalation, the doctrines of God will distill upon the saints of God. It will not be all at once, and it will not be complete knowledge in a day.
Elder Gordon B. Hinckley said: “It has been my privilege on various occasions to converse with Presidents of the United States and important men in other governments. At the close of each such occasion I have reflected on the rewarding experience of standing with confidence in the presence of an acknowledged leader. And then I have thought, what a wonderful thing, what a marvelous thing it would be to stand with confidence—unafraid and unashamed and unembarrassed—in the presence of God. This is the promise held out to every virtuous man and woman” (Improvement Era, Dec. 1970, 73).
D&C 88:67-68
There will come a day when our whole bodies will be filled with light and he will unveil his face unto us… whether it is in this life or in the world to come!
It should be our goal and our calling and our quest to come to this level, to seek the face of God. These promises are sure, and it is merely our lack of faith or weakness that drives us from him. He desires us to come, and partake of his goodness and become like him! Will we do so? It is my prayer that we will…
D&C 50:24 - he that receiveth light and abideth receiveth more
D&C 82:3 - much given much required
D&C 93:36-37 - Glory of god is intelligence, light and truth
D&C 93:39 - taketh away light and truth through disobedience
D&C 93:28-31 - Agency and condemnation of man
Alma 34:34-36 - That same spirit etc.