Amazing Conversation With a Latter Day Saint

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Well, if you've never read the Bible before, man, there's a verse, I don't know if you've heard it, maybe you could, might even be able to finish it for me.

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In John 1, 1 it says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the

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Word was God. He was in the beginning with God, all things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing has been made that's been made.

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And then it says in verse 14 that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

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Who could that be talking about? Jesus. Jesus, that's right. So in verse 3 of John 1, it tells us that Jesus made all things in existence.

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Nothing has come into being unless it's come into being through Him. So do you know what that means?

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Is that Jesus is the creator of all things. It says that, I'm so sorry, one moment.

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I know, we'll go check it out, okay? Afterwards, okay? Yeah, we'll ask your dad.

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Kids love ice cream. But think about that verse for a second because I asked you, who is

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Jesus, right? That's really definitional to how we have a relationship with God. Who is He?

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Because if the Bible's true in that there are other Jesuses, right?

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The apostle Paul talks about this. He's worried, he's writing to the church, and he's saying, I'm stressed out,

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I'm worried for you guys because there's people out there teaching different gospels, they're teaching different Christs, and this was in the first century, so the church is, this is a baby church, a baby

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Christian church after Jesus is risen, you know, Easter. And then he says to them, I'm nervous for you, you're going to be led astray, and so there are different Christs out there and it's important.

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Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except through me.

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And so, would you agree with Jesus that He's the only way to Heavenly Father?

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Okay, so there's no other ways, you're sure? Okay, He's the only way to God. Alright. So, that's really important.

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I agree. I'm a Christian, obviously, by the way. My name's Zach. What was your name? Allen. Nice to meet you,

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Allen. So, if we don't have the Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life, then we don't have a

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Jesus who can save us. Now, I don't know how familiar you are with the teachings of your church, but Joseph taught that Jesus was what you just articulated to me, that He's not the eternal

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God. He is Lucifer's brother. Is that what you believe?

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Yes. Okay. So, here's just something to take with you as you go tonight and think about what

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I've said. Colossians chapter 1 in the Bible, it says, for by Him, Jesus, were all things created in Heaven and on Earth, visible, invisible, thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities, all things were made through Him.

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That would include Satan. So, here's the thing. If Jesus created all things, then that would include

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Lucifer. And if He's the creator of Lucifer, then the question is, how can He be His brother, right?

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That's a different Christ than we see taught in the Bible, right? And that matters to me because I have a concern and a burden for Latter -day

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Saints and your guys' community. I love you guys. I think you guys are some of the sweetest, kindest people. I'm actually set to meet with some missionaries next week.

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They're going to come over and hang out and we're going to talk. But I just want to share this with you, man, Alan. If we don't have the

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Jesus of Scripture, Jesus says, unless you believe that egoe me, I am, right? Unless you believe that I'm the eternal

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God, then you're going to die in your sins. And the reason that should be weighty for you and me is we don't want to die in our sins.

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Because if we die in our sins, then we're going to be under God's condemnation and His justice.

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But the good news is that that's what Easter is about, is that God has provided a sacrifice for you and I, and that only comes through the true

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Christ. And so what did God do? Have you ever heard the gospel before as taught by the Bible?

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If I were to ask you, what is the good news? What's the good news that I'm supposed to be believing if I'm a

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Christian? What's that? The gathering of Israel. The gathering of Israel.

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Okay. Explain that. What does that mean? It means that we're starting to get everybody in it.

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I see what you mean. Thank you for filling that out a little bit more. So you mean that we want to get people into a relationship with God, right?

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We want them to be saved. Yes. Okay. I see. So, you know,

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I would agree with that fundamentally as a Christian. That's what we're trying to do is tell people about Christ so that they can have peace with God, have fellowship with Him.

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And that's really the heart of the gospel, right? You and I are sinners. We're not righteous.

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We're not good. The Bible teaches that there's no one good, not even one, right? There's no fear of God before our eyes.

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We're not righteous in and of ourselves. We'll never do good enough to be accepted by God. Our own righteousness, the

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Bible says, is as filthy racks. So what we have to offer to God is nothing more than the stench of our own sin.

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We're violators of God's law. We've broken His law. And God being a just judge has to be just, and He has to condemn us.

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And so do you think that you've done enough good to get into the presence of Heavenly Father?

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Well, if we're honest, I mean, none of us have, right? Have you loved God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength?

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Have you loved your neighbor just like you love yourself? Yeah, no,

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I understand what you're saying. But the point is this. God says in His Word that there's only one way to be reconciled with Him.

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And that is by grace through faith. Grace is unmerited favor.

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So the difference between salvation by grace and something else, which is what this church teaches, this church teaches that you're saved by grace, yes.

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But it's also in combination with the good that you do. So your goodness, your good works before God, and the grace of God together, that commingled together.

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Your effort and God's effort is actually what saves you. What leads to you being welcomed, right?

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Following the, being obedient to the ordinances and commands of this church, right?

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But the gospel is far and away different than that. It's not good news if it depends in any way on you and I.

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Why? Because we're fallible, sinful people, right? It's bad news, right? Whoever tries to keep the whole law and yet breaks it at one point is guilty of all of it.

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That's what James says. For by works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

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All the law does, all the commandments do is show us how far we fall short, right?

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Now we should be feeling hopeless right about now. Well, if that's true, how can I be, how can I be justified?

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How can I be saved? How can I know God and have a saving relationship with him? Okay, just a moment.

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So how do you think that happens, right? Biblically. Biblically. What does it mean for us to have peace with God and actually be reconciled to him, right?

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We have to have a resurrection. We have to have a resurrection.

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We have to be raised from spiritual death, which is what the Bible teaches all of us. We're dead in trespasses and sins.

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We're by nature children of wrath and God actually has to raise us from death to life.

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And so how does that happen? The call goes forward. Jesus is the eternal

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God. He lived righteously. He died for sinners and he rose again. He's the king reigning and ruling on his throne right now.

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And one day, Alan, you and I will stand before him. We'll stand before him as judge and we're going to give an account for every careless word we've ever spoken, for every illicit thought we've ever had, and for every action that we've ever committed that violated his law.

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How do you think you're going to do on that day? Not so good, right?

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And me neither. But that's why it doesn't depend on me and it doesn't depend on you. You need a righteousness that is not your own.

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You need a perfect righteousness. And that's the good news of the gospel is that God made him,

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Jesus, sin to be sin on our behalf so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

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So here's the beautiful part of the gospel. It's an exchange. When you turn from sin and you trust in Christ by faith and by faith alone, apart from any works of law,

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God gives you, he credits to your account, a righteousness that is not your own.

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And it is a perfect righteousness. And it's the only righteousness that will avail before a holy

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God. And that's the righteousness that you need to be saved. And so I just want to leave you with this as you go.

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Read that on your own tonight. Open it up. Take a look at it. Look at the verses.

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Do you have a Bible? You have a Bible, huh?

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Open it up and go to the book of Romans, okay?

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It's in the New Testament. And just read Romans 1 through 5. And this will make a little bit more sense about what

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I'm saying about how someone can possibly be saved and reconciled to God, okay? So that's what

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I want to leave you with tonight is this, this good news, what this is all about being raised from spiritual death to spiritual life.

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It's about so much more than heaven one day, right? Just waiting to go to heaven one day. It's about new life with God now.

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Jesus says, truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my voice and believes in him who sent me has eternal life right now and does not come into judgment but is passed out of death and into life.

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That's what I want for you, bro, okay? So I know you're on your way somewhere right now, but thank you for talking with me. And I mean it.

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Look into those verses tonight and yeah, so good to meet you.

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Can I shake your hand? Good to meet you, okay? Take care and be safe where you're going, okay?