Week 73 Talk - Coming Unto Christ

Logan gave this talk on February 11, at the Neah-kah-nie Branch: 

Good morning brothers and sisters, I'm grateful to have this opportunity to speak to you guys today. I am also very grateful for the topic I was assigned. My topic is coming unto Jesus Christ.  Now when I first got this topic I was not sure exactly what to talk about. My mind went to all sorts of places like do I talk about his atonement Or do I talk about his life and ministry here on the Earth, Or do I talk about his attributes and his example.  But to start I wanna talk about the Book of Mormon, as Missionaries this is what we teach about first, it's the Keystone of our religion and it is a great way to come unto Christ. I mean Joseph Smith says in the introduction to the book " I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book." That's pretty cool isn't it? I mean who doesn't want to get nearer to God and Jesus Christ right? Anyways before we can come unto someone, we kinda gotta know who they are right. So I went and found a talk called Come unto Christ by Ezra Taft Benson, and in this talk he talks alot about how the Book of Mormon truly helps us come unto Jesus Christ. He starts by saying that over one half of all the verses in the Book of Mormon refer to our Lord, he also says that Jesus Christ is given over 100 names in the Book of Mormon isn't that pretty cool?! Anyway he then goes on to list a lot of attributes found in the Book of Mormon, that show that Jesus is the Christ. 

He is the Exemplar: He “set the example. … He said unto the children of men: Follow thou me” 

He is Generous: “He commandeth none that they shall not partake of his salvation. He is Good: “All things which are good cometh of God”

He is Gracious: “He is full of grace”  He is the Healer: The “sick, and … afflicted with all manner of diseases … devils and unclean spirits … were healed by the power of the Lamb of God”

He is Humble: “He humbleth himself before the Father” 

He is Joyful: “The Father hath given” Him a “fulness of joy” 

He is Kind: He has “loving kindness … towards the children of men” 

He is the Light: “The light … of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened” 

He is Loving: “He loveth the world, even that he layeth down his own life” 

He is Merciful: There is a “multitude of his tender mercies”

He is Mighty: “Mightier than all the earth”

He is Miraculous: A “God of miracles” 

He is our Redeemer: “All mankind were in a lost and in a fallen state, and ever would be save they should rely on this Redeemer” 

He is the Resurrection: He brought to pass “the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise” 

He is Righteous: “His ways are righteousness forever”

He is our Savior: “There is none other name given under heaven save it be this Jesus Christ … whereby man can be saved”

I love all these attributes because they truly show who Jesus Christ is. 

Now I want to touch on what he went through for us. As I was trying to put what I wanted to say into words, I found a talk from Elder Holland called none were with him. It is an amazing talk and it really helps you appreciate the Atonement. This quote is a little long but I think it is necessary, I hope that the spirit can testify to what I learned when I first heard this.

“I speak of the loneliest journey ever made and the unending blessings it brought to all in the human family. I speak of the Savior’s solitary task of shouldering alone the burden of our salvation.we know from scripture that Jesus’s messianic arrival in Jerusalem on the Sunday preceding Passover, a day directly analogous to this very morning, was a great public moment. But eagerness to continue walking with Him would quickly begin to wane.

Soon enough He was arraigned before the Israelite leaders of the day—first Annas, the former high priest, then Caiaphas, the current high priest. In their rush to judgment these men and their councils declared their verdict quickly and angrily. “What further need have we of witnesses?” they cried. “He is [worthy] of death.”2

With that He was brought before the gentile rulers in the land. Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee, interrogated Him once, and Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor in Judea, did so twice, the second time declaring to the crowd, “I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man.”3 Then, in an act as unconscionable as it was illogical, Pilate “scourged Jesus, [and] delivered him to be crucified.”4 Pilate’s freshly washed hands could not have been more stained or more unclean.

Such ecclesiastical and political rejection became more personal when the citizenry in the street turned against Jesus as well. It is one of the ironies of history that sitting with Jesus in prison was a real blasphemer, a murderer and revolutionary known as Barabbas, a name or title in Aramaic meaning “son of the father.”5 Free to release one prisoner in the spirit of the Passover tradition, Pilate asked the people, “Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you?” They said, “Barabbas.”6 So one godless “son of the father” was set free while a truly divine Son of His Heavenly Father moved on to crucifixion.

This was also a telling time among those who knew Jesus more personally. The most difficult to understand in this group is Judas Iscariot. We know the divine plan required Jesus to be crucified, but it is wrenching to think that one of His special witnesses who sat at His feet, heard Him pray, watched Him heal, and felt His touch could betray Him and all that He was for 30 pieces of silver. Never in the history of this world has so little money purchased so much infamy.  Of course others among the believers had their difficult moments as well. Following the Last Supper, Jesus left Peter, James, and John to wait while He ventured into the Garden of Gethsemane alone. Falling on His face in prayer, “sorrowful … unto death,”8 the record says, His sweat came as great drops of blood9 as He pled with the Father to let this crushing, brutal cup pass from Him. But, of course, it could not pass. Returning from such anguished prayer, He found His three chief disciples asleep, prompting Him to ask, “Could ye not watch with me one hour?”10 So it happens two more times until on His third return He says compassionately, “Sleep on now, and take your rest,”11 though there would be no rest for Him.

Later, after Jesus’s arrest and appearance at trial, Peter, accused of knowing Jesus and being one of His confidants, denies that accusation not once but three times. We don’t know all that was going on here, nor do we know of protective counsel which the Savior may have given to His Apostles privately,12 but we do know Jesus was aware that even these precious ones would not stand with Him in the end, and He had warned Peter accordingly.Thus, of divine necessity, the supporting circle around Jesus gets smaller and smaller and smaller, giving significance to Matthew’s words: “All the disciples [left] him, and fled.”15 Peter stayed near enough to be recognized and confronted. John stood at the foot of the cross with Jesus’s mother. Especially and always the blessed women in the Savior’s life stayed as close to Him as they could. But essentially His lonely journey back to His Father continued without comfort or companionship.

Now I speak very carefully, even reverently, of what may have been the most difficult moment in all of this solitary journey to Atonement. I speak of those final moments for which Jesus must have been prepared intellectually and physically but which He may not have fully anticipated emotionally and spiritually—that concluding descent into the paralyzing despair of divine withdrawal when He cries in ultimate loneliness, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”16

The loss of mortal support He had anticipated, but apparently He had not comprehended this. Had He not said to His disciples, “Behold, the hour … is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me” and “The Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him”?17

With all the conviction of my soul I testify that He did please His Father perfectly and that a perfect Father did not forsake His Son in that hour. Indeed, it is my personal belief that in all of Christ’s mortal ministry the Father may never have been closer to His Son than in these agonizing final moments of suffering. Nevertheless, that the supreme sacrifice of His Son might be as complete as it was voluntary and solitary, the Father briefly withdrew from Jesus the comfort of His Spirit, the support of His personal presence. It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel when we did commit such sins. For His Atonement to be infinite and eternal, He had to feel what it was like to die not only physically but spiritually, to sense what it was like to have the divine Spirit withdraw, leaving one feeling totally, abjectly, hopelessly alone.

But Jesus held on. He pressed on. The goodness in Him allowed faith to triumph even in a state of complete anguish. The trust He lived by told Him in spite of His feelings that divine compassion is never absent, that God is always faithful, that He never flees nor fails us. When the uttermost farthing had then been paid, when Christ’s determination to be faithful was as obvious as it was utterly invincible, finally and mercifully, it was “finished.”18 Against all odds and with none to help or uphold Him, Jesus of Nazareth, the living Son of the living God, restored physical life where death had held sway and brought joyful, spiritual redemption out of sin, hellish darkness, and despair. With faith in the God He knew was there, He could say in triumph, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”19

Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said: “I will not leave you comfortless: [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].”

Now I wanted to share that with you guys for a couple of reasons. First it helps us truly understand what the savior went through for us,  and because of his sacrifice we never ever have to be as completely alone as he was that night. As we come unto him, have faith in him, trust him, and allow him into our life he will be able to show us countless miracles, and we will truly be able to say Jesus Christ is my brother, my friend, and my savior. 

Now I want to share a personal experience with you guys. 

Life story 

Maybe tractor story 

Coming unto Jesus Christ is going to be a different experience for everyone. That's part of the beauty of it, Jesus Christ loves us so much that he wants to make each and everyone of our Journeys personal to us and to him. The one thing he does ask of us is that we try our best. Now this next little story  We've shared with alot of you its what my mom likes to call the parable of the push ups 

Tell story 

As missionaries we love giving invitations, so I want to invite you all to eat that donut, to use Christ's Atonement to help make sure that he is never alone again, and come unto him 

I just want to end with a scripture from Moroni. Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.

Testimony