Need of Repentance
Romans 3:23 boldly and plainly states that "all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." similarly King Benjamin declares "For behold, are we not all beggars? (Mosiah 4:19) And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins" (Mosiah 4:20). These two scriptural examples among countless others undeniably mark us as sinners unworthy of the Eternal Glory of our Heavenly Father.
Now we may ask "what constitutes sin?" and again the word of God provides a clear answer. Sin as described by John is "all unrighteousness" or "the Transgression of the Law (or commandments)" (1 John 5:17). The demands of justice require that, as sinners, a penalty much be paid for our sins, that each sin has an infallible consequence. Jesus Christ in his role as Savior satisfied these demands (Alma 34:16) and provided all of his children the opportunity to escape sin's awful bindings. In moments of extraordinary agony, both spiritual and physical, our Redeemer acted as our surrogate and endured the consequence for each individual sin committed. The penalties for our mistakes were erased by his infinite act of compassion and mercy. Willingly the Lord accepted this role and provided us an unfathomable gift of Mercy. Christ, however, asked that in return, as a token of our appreciation and love, we would repent for our wrong doings, and change our worldly mannerisms and actions. Repentance is not a repayment of the atonement, nor is it a penalty of our mistakes. We will never be able to repay the Lord for his gift, nor can we bear the penalty. We can do nothing of ourselves to make up for that which is done, we can only seek forgiveness and mercy.
Tyler's Weird Pathway Analogy
By this infinite Grace we are able to learn and grow, since the demands of Justice are paid we can use repentance as a tool for our spiritual advancement. I imagine myself often on a pathway through the woods, the way is rocky and narrow, the end of the path is far from visible. This pathway represents the pathway to Eternal life, and as we reach the end we will find an enormous abyss bridged by the atonement of Christ. However along the path we will find obstacles as well, I often imagine large pathways branching off the main path all along the way. These larger pathways will be wide, downhill pathways that appear easy and relaxing, at the end we see pools of cool water or large feasts, things that entice us, things that seem fun or pleasurable. Friends, co workers, media, and even family members will often try to persuade us down the downhill paths, to convince us that what we are doing is false and will lead us to nothing, they try to tell us to enjoy ourselves and not waste our time on the difficult way that is the strait and narrow. Each and every one of us will, at certain points in our life, heed to the temptation of straying down a wayward path.
In the movie Star Wars, the protagonist Luke Skywalker heads through the desert in pursuit of the droid R2-D2, along his way he is attacked and knocked unconscious by the savage and animal like Sand-people. In similar fashion, Satan and his fallen followers await us on these easy and incorrect pathways, to ambush us. Metaphorically they will knock us out, bind us in their chains and drag us as far away from the truth as possible. What before seemed like a dream will become a nightmare, and the only way to return is through the steps of repentance.
Lehi's Counsel (The Steps of Repentance)
In counsel to his sons, Lehi uses powerful wording, (as well as wording that I fit into my analogy) to implore his sons to repentance. portions of 2 Nephi 1:13,14&23 read "Oh that ye would awake; awake from a deep sleep, yea, even from the sleep of hell, and shake off the awful chains by which ye are bound, which are the chains which bind the children of men........ Awake! and arise from the dust.......Awake, my sons; put on the armor of righteousness. shake off the chains with which ye are bound, and come forth out of obscurity, and arise from the dust." This scripture outlines to his sons the steps by which they must follow to complete the repentance process
Awake
Awake! Lehi exhorts his sons with this word at least three times in this chapter. The word awake in the dictionary means "to rouse from sleep or to an action, to come or to bring to an awareness" and is is used by Lehi to teach the first two steps of repentance: recognition of sin, and remorse. Repentance is impossible without first acknowledging that we have indeed transgressed. While we may be able to hide sins from all of those around us but we cannot hide them from ourselves nor the Lord. the Lord knows us and knows our sins. He views justification and dishonesty of sins as an abomination (Luke 16:15) and requires us to recognize and admit our wrongs. Along with recognition comes remorse. A sincere sorrow and desire to forsake sin are required to really come to full repentance. Regret is not a good enough form or sorrow, often people will regret that they were caught or regret the consequences of sin, without remorse for the sin. While regret is a part of remorse, simply regretting an action is not adequate in the path to repentance. As we have been knocked unconscious by our enemy, we must awake, and recognize that we did stray down the wrong path, we must feel remorse for stumbling away from a truth we knew to be correct and in our hearts desire to return to the true path.
Shake off the chains
Next Lehi tells his sons to shake off the chains and to put on armor of God. Along with all the other words used by the great Book of Mormon prophet, these statements denote action. We cannot idly repent, we cannot plead for forgiveness and do nothing to change and expect the Lord to forget our sins. To Shake off the Chains of the adversary we must act against our sin, we must first forsake it, we cannot repent, return to the pathway towards God and then as soon as the next opportunity arises return down the path of sin, to do so is not true repentance. Yet so many of us do, all too often we sin, repent and then proceed to immediately make the same mistakes, luckily for us, we are allowed a lifetime to change, and to forsake our sins. We must use the time we have wisely and strive to forsake all sins. Confession, restitution, and forgiveness are all the next actions we must take. Confession to the Lord is required in all instances, confession to anyone we have sinned against, and in serious cases, confession to our priesthood leaders. Confession should be full and sincere. Restitution is the act of making right our wrongs. While restitution is not available in all cases of sin, we should do all we can to fix what we have broken. In some cases such as stealing and lying, restitution is as simple as returning or paying for what we have taken, and making the truth known, however many sins cannot be taken back nor a full restitution made, in such cases we can work with the Lord and church leaders to make the best amends possible. Forgivees must be Forgivers, in order to be forgiven by the Lord we cannot be so hypocritical as to refuse to forgive those whom have wronged us. In the parable of the Unmerciful Servant Jesus teaches this principle, He like the Master forgives us of Ten Tousand Talent sins, and in return we must forgive our brethren of all hundred pence sins less we be subject to the penalty of our own debt. When we have acted and done all we can to forsake, confess, to make a restitution and forgive, then are we free from the chains of the adversary. Then can we put on the armor of God to defend ourselves from his future ambushes along the way.
Arise from the dust
Finally Lehi invites his sons to "arise from the dust" arise, like awake, constitutes that we make an active decision, and only once we have awoken and removed our chains can we stand up of the ground and return to the path we started on. The paths of least resistance will always be on either side of us beckoning us to give up our fight and stroll down their way. We must not be deceived into thinking that any of these paths will provide the rest and joy they promise, every time we decide to venture their way, we will undoubtedly be ambushed and bound by Lucifer's hellish chains. Because of and with Christ, we will always have the strengths to awake, shake off the chains, arise from the dust, and return to the path.
Conclusion
We will always have the privilege and gift of repenting. and if we arrive at the end of the rugged path of the gospel, having fought the good fight and free of the chains of Satan, crossing the bridge of the atonement we will arrive to a state of peace and glory that we cannot imagine. Alma the Younger gives one of the most beautiful and eloquent descriptions of the feelings of a repentant soul. in Alma 36:17-21 he says:
"17 And it came to pass that as I was thus racked with torment, while I was harrowed up by the memory of my many sins, behold, I remembered also to have heard my father prophesy unto the people concerning the coming of one Jesus Christ, a Son of God, to atone for the sins of the world.
18 Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: 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.
19 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.
20 And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!
21 Yea, I say unto you, my son, that there could be nothing so exquisite and so bitter as were my pains. Yea, and again I say unto you, my son, that on the other hand, there can be nothing so exquisite and sweet as was my joy.
I bear testimony, that I have experienced the joy and blessing of repentance and it is sweet, it can be intimidating, and is almost never the easy thing to do, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives. I know Christ atoned for our sins, and that we can partake of this glorious gift through the steps of repentance. I invite all to repent and come to feel the exceeding joy of God.
