KNOWING AND DOING

Knowledge May Help to Condemn of Save

BY way of summary and climax to His lofty yet simple, and withal unparalleled discourse, since named The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ thus spake: "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." (Matt. 7:24-27; compare Luke 6:47-49.)

This Sermon has stood through the centuries in a class of its own. The address is before us as a living preceptor thrilled with the spirit of sincerity and action as opposed to wordy profession and careless neglect. The closing sentences quoted above express, in language suited alike to child and sage, a generalization of deep import—that actions not words alone, works not empty belief, doing not merely knowing what to do, are conditions indispensable to the salvation of the soul.

Many of those who were so signally privileged and blessed as to personally hear the Master were astonished at His doctrine and deeply moved by the simple and convincing presentation: "For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." (Matt. 7:29.) Our Lord was qualified to teach as He did, not only, by reason of the sufficing fact that He bore the Father's commission, but because He had done and was doing just what He required of others. The authority of Divine precept was united in Him with that of unimpeachable example. The burden of all scriptural direction relating to the attainment of a place in the Kingdom of God is: Do the works that are prescribed.

Ever consistent, unchangeable as the Father Himself, our Lord affirmed the same necessity of works when He ministered among the Nephites on the American continent soon after His ascension from the Mount of Olives in Palestine. Having declared that His doctrine was the doctrine of the Father, the Resurrected Christ thus proclaimed:

"Whoso believeth in me, and is baptized, the same shall be saved; and they are they who shall inherit the kingdom of God. And whoso believeth not in me, and is not baptized, shall be damned. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and I bear record of it from the Father; and whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also, and unto him will the Father bear record of me; for he will visit him with fire and with the Holy Ghost. . . . And again I say unto you, Ye must repent and be baptized in my name, and become as a little child, or ye can in no wise inherit the kingdom of God. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that this is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this, buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. And whoso shall declare more or less than this, and establish it for my doctrine, the same cometh of evil, and is not built upon my rock, but he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, and the gates of hell standeth open to receive such, when the floods come and the winds beat upon them." (Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 11:33-40.)

The accumulated experience of the world sustains the soundness of the principle thus emphasized in the Savior's teachings. An alien immigrant to our shores may desire to attain the full status of citizenship; but desire alone will never enfranchise him. He must first learn the legal requirements, and then comply therewith in every detail.

A student of the Scriptures may have learned, and that to his own complete conviction, that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance of sin, baptism by water and of the Spirit, are the prescribed conditions of citizenship in the Kingdom of God; but that knowledge serves only to make him the more blameworthy if he fails to act. Even a letter-perfect memorization of all Scripture if unaccompanied by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel is invalid as title to salvation, and does but intensify the guilt incident to wilful neglect.

Opportunity to avail one's self of the saving provisions of the Gospel may not always be within individual reach, for neglect may forfeit the ability to repent. The Word of the Lord to the world today is thus proclaimed: "I the Lord cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance. Nevertheless, he that repents and does the commandments of the Lord shall be forgiven, and he that repents not, from him shall be taken even the light which he has received; for my Spirit shall not always strive with man, saith the Lord of Hosts." (D&C 1:31-33.)