My Dear Brethren And Sisters We Are...

My dear brethren and sisters, we are living in a great age of the Church. I thrill when I think about the tremendous growth that is taking place, and especially when I meditate on the development of the various phases of church activity. This unusual growth and development has taken place primarily during the past few years since President David O. McKay became leader of the Church. ¶

As President Henry D. Moyle said yesterday, truly the stone has been cut out of the mountain without hands, and it is destined to roll forth and fill the whole earth. (See Daniel 2:34-35, 45.) As I travel throughout the Church and meet with the stake presidencies, the other officers, and the people in general of the various stakes, I thrill with their devotion. Thousands and thousands of them have an eye single to the glory of God and to the upbuilding of the kingdom. They bear solemn testimonies that Jesus is the Christ and that this is his true Church. I marvel how devoted to the cause of righteousness many Latter-day Saints are. ¶

On the other hand, when I look at the reports of the various stakes and observe how many members have their names on the records who are not keeping the commandments, it causes my heart to sadden. It causes me to want to do all I can to help change that condition. I strongly desire that all Latterday Saints work out their eternal exaltation now while the opportunity is ours. ¶

It seems that many in the Church do not appreciate the gospel. They do not realize that if they attain the greatest amount of joy in this life and eternal life in the world to come, they must prove faithful now. This life is our opportunity. Yes, our chance to serve God is now! Today is the day for us to prepare to meet God. We cannot put it off until the next world. ¶

Some 2,500 years ago, Nephi, looking down through the stream of time, saw our day and prophesied about it extensively. He said that in the last days the God of heaven would proceed to bring forth a marvelous work and a wonder. He described this work and the great effect it would have upon the people of the world. ¶

Nephi also proclaimed that many Church members in our day would not be faithful. He said that they would be influenced by the Evil One; that they would be deceived and dragged down to hell. Let me read one of Nephi's statements: ¶

"And there shall also be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God — he will justify in committing a little sin; yea, lie a little, take the advantage of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is no harm in this; and do all these things, for tomorrow we die; and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God. ¶

"Yea, and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false and vain and foolish doctrines, . . ." (2 Nephi 28:8-9.) It seems to me that the principle theme of this conference has been obedience to God's commandments. I have a strong feeling in my heart this afternoon to say something to cause some of us to recognize the importance of keeping God's commandments at the present time while the opportunity is ours. ¶

I remember that a few years before President Grant died, he came to a general conference one day and said that while preparing his mind for conference he had wondered what great blessing he could give to the Latter-day Saints. He pondered on what good thing he could do for them. And then he remarked, "Under the inspiration of the Lord I have come to conference with the one simple idea, 'Keep God's commandments!' " ¶

Many Latter-day Saints think that they can reject temple marriage, fail to pay their tithes and offering, commit various sins here in mortality and that they will have another chance to make all of this up in the life to come. I desire to emphasize the point that now is the time for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to render obedience to all of the Master's laws and ordinances. It is required that we keep God's commandments now, because we have taken upon ourselves the name of Christ. We are members of his Church, and so we are having our opportunity to render obedience to all of his commandments now. We should perform our own ordinances in the temple and keep all of the Lord's commandments while the day lasts, because for us the night may come wherein we cannot work. That would be terrible if we had not proved faithful. ¶

In the account of the grand council of heaven we read: "And there stood one among them that was like unto God, and he said unto those who were with him: We will go down, for there is space there, and we will take of these materials, and we will make an earth whereon these may dwell; "And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them, . . ." (Abraham 3:24-25.) Thus, in the very beginning — even in the spirit world — we were informed that mortality was to be a state of probation, a proving ground, to see if we would keep all of God's commandments. That same idea was verified in a modern revelation through the Prophet Joseph Smith to the Latter-day Saints. Jesus Christ, our Lord, declared: ¶

"And I now give unto you a commandment to beware concerning yourselves, to give diligent heed to the words of eternal life. ¶

"For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God." (D&C 84:43-44.) A little later another revelation came to the Prophet which warned the Saints as follows: ¶

"For if you will that I give unto you a place in the celestial world, you must prepare yourselves by doing the things which I have commanded you and required of you." (Ibid., 78:7.) Jesus Christ is the great Lawgiver and Judge. He is the one that will give us our rewards and blessings for righteousness, and, on the other hand, withhold blessings or give us the punishments for failing to live righteous lives. He judges on a very fair basis by eternal law. He cares not whether one is rich or poor, bond or free, male or female. ¶

Jesus judges by what is in one's heart: ¶

". . . for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," (Matt. ¶

12:34), and, "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: . . ." (Proverbs 23:7.) And so the Lord's judgment will be based upon law. We shall receive exactly what we merit. We read in the Doctrine and Covenants: ¶

"There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated — "And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated." (D&C 130:20-21.) As we learned in the Mutual theme a few years ago, the Lord also said: ¶

"I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." (Ibid., 82:10.) I think, my brothers and sisters, that we should not only avoid committing sins, but we should also avoid doing things that appear to be sinful. ¶

When I was a young man, I heard a good woman say several times, "Don't do anything wrong. Don't do anything that even appears to be wrong." ¶

Of course, at that time I thought that that statement was somewhat foolish; but as I have become older and have observed human nature, I have come to know that the example we set causes many people to do wrong. Our example may also cause them to do right. And so now I think that that statement is a very wise one. ¶

Let me illustrate with a little personal experience. A few years ago, accompanied by a welfare man, I was on the way to Seattle to a stake conference. The train stopped at Portland for the passengers to eat breakfast. As we ordered our breakfast, as usual the waitress asked if we would care for coffee. ¶

Of course, as always, we replied, "No, thank you." But when she brought the breakfast, she set two cups of coffee beside our plates and left quickly. ¶

I said to the welfare man,"I am not going to leave this coffee beside our plates while we eat." ¶

He replied, "We could push them aside a little distance from our plates, and I think it will be okay." ¶

The waitress returned about then. I asked her to remove the coffee, stating that we had not ordered it. No sooner had she got away from the table with the two cups of coffee than the door opened and in walked the stake president of the Portland Stake. He spied us immediately, came over and sat down by us, and conversed with us all the time while we ate breakfast. ¶

When we got back on the train, the welfare man said, "My, that was a narrow escape. If we had had that coffee on the table, we could not have convinced that stake president that we had not ordered it and that we had not intended to drink it." ¶

Brothers and sisters, all of us who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have entered into a covenant with the Lord to keep all of his commandments now while here in mortality. In the words of the Preacher: ¶

"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. ¶

"For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14.) I humbly pray that as members of the true Church, we will strive hard "to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God." (See Micah 6:8); and after mortal life has closed, may we find a glorious home prepared for us in his mansion on high. ¶

In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶