Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - "Does the Lord really want to forgive me?" follow HIM Favorites • Oct. 24 - 30

Episode Date: October 20, 2022

Hank Smith and John Bytheway answer a question from this week's Come, Follow Me study.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/old-testament/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive Producers, SponsorsDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-piano

Hello, my friends. Welcome to another Follow Him Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I'm here with the incredible John, by the way. If you've been following Follow Him Favorites this year, you know that we take a single question from each week's lesson. John, the lesson we're on this week is Ezekiel, the whole book, the whole book of Ezekiel, and there's a point in the manual where it makes a very simple statement. It said, the Lord wants to forgive. And then it points us to a couple of verses in Ezekiel like Ezekiel 33 where the Lord says, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways. And it also points us to Ezekiel 36 right in the middle of verse 26. He says, I can give you a new heart and a new spirit. I will put my spirit in you. And going back to the manual, the Lord wants to forgive.

So John, the question is, does the Lord really want to forgive us? It says it right here in the manual that he does. He says it, but how do I convince a young person, a young single adult, someone that the Lord does want to forgive you? Wow, such a good question. It's so hard to miss in the scriptures. I don't think the Lord would invite us to repent

unless he intended to forgive. Every time he asks us to repent, it's, I want to forgive you, but you just need to ask and acknowledge that. And I want to forgive you. I you just need to ask and acknowledge that. And I want to forgive you. I think the fact that the sacrament table is there every week is evidence that he wants to forgive us. Anybody reading the scriptures will see the Lord is inviting us to repent. The first principles of the gospel faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, second, what?

Repentance. If it's the second thing talked about, I'm pretty sure he assumed we were going to need it. Right. And I remember last year Hank when we were studying the doctrine and covenant, seeing just a sermon and a sentence, five words, section 64, I think, I the Lord forgive sins. That's what he does. And that's one of those verses to write in your heart and to let, you know, what he's like, what God is like, he is a forgiving God. In fact, John, Joseph Smith taught that God's chief characteristic, not one of his chief characteristics, not one of many,

but his one chief characteristic is mercy. That God is merciful when we go to him and in sincerity ask for forgiveness. I think he is quick to forgive. I think Elder Holland called it a satanic sucker punch to think that it takes eons and eons to be forgiven of your sins. No, you can repent as quickly as you can sincerely pray. That quick to be forgiven of your sins. The Lord wants to forgive you. He wants to be able to bless us. Now he says, I can't save you in your sins, but I can save you from your sins. I want to save you from your sins. And Hank, we're both dads of children and one of the things that for I learned so quickly

you have a child come to you with their lower lip quivering and dad, I made a mistake. I spilled something, I did something wrong. I'll tell you, it melts your heart. You are so eager to, oh, it's okay. It's so eager to forgive in that moment. Now, somebody tries to hide something from you. It's a little different, but when a child comes and says,

that I did something stupid, I made a mistake. You don't even care what it is at that point here. So eager to forgive. And I think that being a dad taught me a lot about what you just called his chief attribute there. And John, I think we need to remember that the Lord likes to forgive over and over and over again. Because sometimes, as we've talked about previously, we backslide.

We go back to our sins and we think, you know, I repented once, but now that I've gone back to it, he doesn't want to forgive me. No, he wants to forgive those sins too, the ones that you accidentally fall back into. So even if you're returning to a sin over and over and over and you want to get out of it, keep going to the Lord for forgiveness. It doesn't mean you're not repenting. You're just repenting relentlessly and he is forgiving delightfully along the way and eventually you're going to get to where you want to be. I think if the Lord counsels us to forgive seven times seventy, then that teaches us that he is equally forgiving again and again and

again. And I think that sometimes we sin, we make a mistake, we're not wanting to, but we sin again, but I love to remember that he is forgiving, he asks us to forgive seven times seventy. He's probably really good at that trait. He's asking us to have. Yep. I noticed last year in the doctrine, Covenant's hell often he said, your sins are forgiven you. He just wanted to put that to the same people. Yeah, no matter what question they ask. He's like, by the way, have I told you you're forgiven today? You're forgiven of your sins. Yeah. And it's that idea, John, that if we are sincerely wanting to be like

him, which I'm sure that our audience is thinking, John, that if we are sincerely wanting to be like him, which I'm sure that our audience is thinking, yes, that's what I truly want. I truly want to be like him. I just make so many mistakes. Then you just keep trying and he'll keep forgiving and eventually you're going to get to where you want to be. It's going to happen for you. We hope you'll join us on our full podcast.

We're with Dr. Jan Martin covering the book of Ezekiel. You're going to love her and you're going to love the lesson she brings out. So come find us wherever you get your podcasts or find us on YouTube. And then come join us next week for another Follow Him Favorites. Thank you.