THE FIVE WISE VIRGINS
Lesson #2 RECEIVED THE TRUTH
by Barbara Wilkinson
[10b] And
at that day when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which
I spake concerning the ten virgins;
1. for they that are wise
2.
and have received the truth,
3. and have taken the Holy Spirit for their guide,
4. and have not
been deceived,…
The
1829 Webster’s Dictionary defines receive/received as: To take or obtain intellectually;
to retain; to be endowed with; to embrace and believe in. That suggests a lot more
than just owning the Scriptures and having them on the coffee table to collect
dust. When Satan tempted Christ, he
challenged Christ to turn stones into bread. Christ quoted Scripture by saying:
… It is written, that man shall NOT live by bread alone, but
by every Word of God.
That
means you can’t pick and choose the words we want to LIVE BY, you must LIVE BY ALL OF THE WORDS OF GOD, the
parts we like and the parts we DON’T like.
In fact, it is a commandment:
And I will give unto you
a commandment,
§
that ye shall forsake all evil and cleave
unto all good, [be
righteous]
§
that ye shall live by every
word which proceedeth forth out of the mouth of God;
§
for he will give unto the faithful, line upon line, precept upon precept;
Sec. 95:3a
Even
Christ had to learn one precept at a time until he knew in full. He learned the
precepts and he DID WHAT THEY
SAID. If we live by EVERY WORD OF GOD, we are exercising our faith in Christ:
… by every word … out of the mouth of God, men began to exercise
faith in Christ …
There is a BIG DIFFERENCE between
FAITH
is a noun. “ I have faith in the Word of God,” is a
statement only without any action.
Faith, the noun is easy, you don’t have to prove. But you believe
in the Word when you put that faith into action by experimenting on the word.
So BELIEF is the action form of FAITH.
BELIEF IN THE WORD, [putting your faith into action]
is a requirement for receiving an
outpouring of the Spirit:
[161] And
thus we see that the Nephites did begin to dwindle in unbelief, and grow in wickedness and
abominations, while the Lamanites began to grow [an action word]
exceedingly in the knowledge of their God; [because they] … did begin to keep his statutes and commandments, and
to walk in truth and uprightness
before him. [Actions, which support their faith in God’s Word.]
[162] And thus we see that the Spirit of the Lord began to withdraw from the Nephites, because of the wickedness and the hardness of their hearts. [Because of no faith in action.]
[163] And
thus we see that the Lord began to pour
out his Spirit upon the Lamanites,
because of their easiness and willingness to believe in his word. [Because according to verse
162 they put their faith into action.]
Heleman
2: 161-163
So
we need to understand that FAITH plus works [believe and put it into action]
brings about an outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Principles with a promise are Scriptures we can have faith in and prove
by our actions. Here is a good example that we should all have faith in and
believe enough to try it:
Bring ye all
the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house,
and prove me now herewith, saith
the Lord of hosts, if I will not
open you the windows of heaven, and pour
you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Malachi 3:10
In the late 40’s I had FAITH that God would bless
people who paid their tithing; but I wasn’t sure, because I’d never paid my
tithing. When I was 15 years old, a
friend said my allowance would go further if I paid my tithing. I had faith in
what she said, and believed
enough to try to pay my tithing and see if it would work.
It worked! I
was only receiving 50 cents allowance per week, but I was able to do as much as
my friends that were receiving $5.00 per week. Is that impressive? Then I went
through 12 years of college [8 years out of state] and came out debt free. Max and I bought a house without even a down
payment, and had it paid off in 8 years instead of 30 years. Max had Alzheimer's and I was sure we would
be street people before he died. We weren’t, I am not wealthy but I have enough
income to meet my needs, and my house and car are paid for and I’m debt
free. That’s a blessing that there isn’t
room enough to receive it, since Max retired 10 years early! We had FAITH in this one Scripture and
turned that FAITH INTO belieF when
we paid our tithing in full each year.
Just having faith alone in something doesn’t do anything for us. James told us how to test our faith in a
Scripture when he said: “ But be ye
doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” [James
1:22] I have a
friend who regularly preaches on Malachi
The following Scripture talks about
the Jews who loved to hear Ezekiel’s talks:
[31] And they come unto thee [Ezekiel]
as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them;
for with their mouth they show much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness. [materialism?]
[32] And, lo, thou art unto them
as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, … for they hear thy words, but they do them not.
Ezekiel 33:31,32
Unfortunately,
they didn’t do what he said. Does that
sound familiar? We have the same problem
today. People come to all sorts of
classes, but they are not doing what is being taught, so they are not fruitful
as the parable of the sower says. [Mat
One of my favorite examples is the
transformation of Amulek. In his first
recorded sermon, he describes himself before an angel visited him and told him
to go home as he would feed a prophet that day:
[1] … I am Amulek; I am the son of Giddonah,… who was a descendant of Aminadi … who interpreted the writing … on the wall of the temple, written by the finger of God. … [I’m a] descendant of Nephi, [He is giving his pedigree] …
[4] And behold, I am also a man of no small
reputation … I have many … friends, and
I have also acquired much riches, by the hand of my industry; [He admits he was
materialistic, but he doesn’t seem to realize yet, that the Lord gave him the
power and ability to become wealthy, Deu 8:18]…
[6] Nevertheless, after all this, I
never have known much of the ways of the Lord, and his mysteries and
marvelous power. [7] I said I never had known much of these things; but behold I mistake, for I have seen
much of his mysteries and his miraculous power; yea, even in the preservation
of the lives of this people;
[8] Nevertheless, I did harden my heart, for I was called many times, and I would not
hear; therefore I knew concerning
these things, yet I would not know;
[9] Therefore I went on rebelling against God, in the
wickedness of my heart, even until the fourth day of this seventh month, which is in the tenth year of the reign
of the Judges. [
[17] … and the blessing of the Lord hath rested upon us according to the words which he spake.
Amulek had a heritage in the church, so he KNEW the
history, mysteries of the kingdom, and miracles of the Lord, but he HARDENED
HIS HEART, was indifferent, towards it all.
I
THINK he
was probably in the priesthood because we are not
told of his baptism OR ordination by
Amulek was just such a man until he saw an angel, that alone would be a SIGNIFICANT SPIRITUAL
EXPERIENCE, but then he housed a highly favored prophet of the Lord, that is,
Shortly thereafter, the town’s people cast out of
the city all the men who believed
This gives me HOPE. IF we obey and are taught
under endowed ministry, we too could be endowed in less than a month. If
we desire to see such a manifestation, we need to work harder at OBEYING and
DOING GOD’S WORK. When Amulek finally
accepted the responsibility to preach the Gospel, he was Spirit filled.
“Receiving the word” is not
just reading it. The Israelites were told to HEAR and OBSERVE TO DO the Word and they
would receive the promises. [Deu 6:3 (The promises are given in verses
Is Hearken
a synonym
of RECEIVE the truth? If we just hear the Word
and don’t do it, we really aren’t RECEIVING it.
You are NOT living by the Word, therefore it has NO effect on your life,
and so you are no better off than the people who never heard it.
I like Deuteronomy. Moses is about to die and is
reminding the people all the things the Lord has called them to do and to be as
they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. The following is some of the
things they were told; remember what God says unto one He says unto all. Moses assures them their choices will
determine if they are blessed or cursed of God:
[26] Behold, I set before you
this day a blessing and a curse;
[27] A blessing, IF YE OBEY the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day;
[28] And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the
Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this
day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
Would you/we receive a blessing or a curse right now if the Lord decided to do this to us? God told the Nephites:
… Inasmuch as ye shall keep my
commandments ye shall prosper in the land;
but inasmuch
as ye will not keep my commandments ye shall be cut off from my presence.
2 Ne 1:34
Inasmuch is a quantitative word meaning to the
extent that you do it. So the more
commandments you keep the more prosperous you will be; and the less you keep,
the further you will be from God. Do we
see this correlation in the lives of people today? When you are less diligent at keeping God’s
commandments, do you find yourself afar from God? This understanding was repeated 22 times
throughout the Book of Mormon. It’s important that we understand it. If you
want to be near God, you MUST keep the commandments.
Moses told the people to NOT listen to false
prophets who say to worship other gods, instead:
Ye shall
Moses continually told his people HOW TO live close to the Lord. Ponder these thoughts daily, trying to diligently do each one and expect to walk closer to the Lord. Unfortunately, Moses realized the people weren’t even aware that they weren’t doing these things. Are we any different? Like the Israelites, are we doing what is right in our own eyes?
Ye shall not do after all
the things that we do here this day, every man whatsoever is right
in his own eyes.
They were about to go into the Promised Land and God warned them what was REQUIRED to receive the greater blessings:
[4] … for the Lord shall greatly bless thee in
the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it; [For us, that’s
[5] Only if thou carefully
hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee
this day.
Deu 15:4-5
We are already in our
promised land. Will we miss being GREATLY BLESSED because we are not:
§
CAREFULLY HEARKENING to the voice of the Lord, and
§
OBSERVING TO DO all the commandments given?
Remember God says, “I, the Lord, am bound
when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise.”[Sec
81:3b] So
understand, God is only bound by what He says, IF we
do what He says.
§ Zion waits for an obedient people that DO ALL THE COMMANDMENTS. [Gen 9:21]
§ The kingdom waits on a people who will CAREFULLY HEARKEN TO THE VOICE OF THE LORD.
§ The Lord waits for a righteous people, which is defined as: “And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, … [Deu 6:25]
Moses really harps on the
importance of keeping the commandments because he KNEW how important it was to
their salvation. In fact, the complete
28th chapter of Deuteronomy says:
§
if you will keep His commandments,
you will receive these blessings. [Deu 28:1-14]
§
BUT IF you do NOT keep His commandments you will receive these
curses. [Deu 28:15--]
Read it and see how many
of the blessings and curses we see in the lives of the people today are because
they are or are not keeping the commandments.
Remember: What He says unto one He says unto all!!!
The Book of Mormon tells one of the best blessings
we will receive IF we hearken to the Word of God:
[39] And I said unto them,
… [that]
whoso would hearken unto the Word of God,
and would hold fast unto it, they
would never perish;
[40] Neither could the
temptations and the fiery darts of the adversary, overpower them unto
blindness, to lead them away to destruction.
[41] Wherefore, I, Nephi, did exhort them
to give heed unto the word of the Lord; …
[42] … and remember to keep his
commandments always, in all things.
1 Nephi 4:39-42
Do you RECEIVE this truth? Do you believe it? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the TEMPTATIONS
of Satan could not OVERPOWER US
AND CAUSE US TO SIN? The Word of God
even tells us HOW TO BRING THAT ABOUT:
§
The Lord’s
prayer says, “suffer us not to be led into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” That is,
ask God to help you.
§
This is
just one example of how well things go if we “… hearken to the Word of God and hold fast to it.” [1 Ne 4:39]
Unfortunately, modern revelation says that the day will come that the
people will not hold fast to the Word of God. Do you think that day has arrived
in this nation, AND even among His people?
and
the day cometh that they who will
1. not hear the voice of the Lord, [reject the Lord’s words by not obeying Mosiah 1:79-82]
2. neither the voice of his servants, [not doing what His priesthood is calling us to do.]
3. neither give heed to the word of the prophets and apostles, [reject prophecy and revelation by not doing what they say to do.]
shall be cut off from among the
people, for they have strayed from mine ordinances, and
have broken mine everlasting covenant [Gen 9:21, they are not keeping all the commandments];
they seek not the Lord to establish his righteousness [which is to keep all His
commandments], but every man
1.
walketh
in his own way, [do your own thing] and
2.
after
the image of his own god, whose image is in the likeness of the world, [we make God in our image,
with our limited ability and finite understandings]
…and shall perish…
Notice if you aren’t keeping His commandments, you will be affected in this life and life eternal:
§ In this life they will be cut off from among the people who are keeping His ordinances and His everlasting covenant, that is keeping all His commandments.
§ They will PERISH; they will NOT receive a part in the kingdom.
When I look at these things and my/our lives, I see we are in a precarious, insecure position. In some areas we make no effort to do what we have been taught; in others we struggle to do what we have been taught. In a few areas we have heard and are doing what we have been taught. I’M A HARSH JUDGE; do I see it like it is?
An honest self evaluation is ESSENTIAL. Satan tells us we are doing just fine! The only way to KNOW THE TRUTH is to evaluate your life in relationship to the Word of God, listen to what His servants are calling us to do and prophets like Moses tell us we should be doing. Liken ALL Scriptures to yourself and your time.
I always thought we were ‘more righteous’ than the
Jews at the time Lehi left… time of Zedekiah, but now I don’t think so:
[Jer 16:10] And it shall come
to pass, when thou shalt show this people all these words, and they shall say
unto thee, Wherefore hath the Lord pronounced all this
great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the Lord
our God?
[Jer 16:11] Then shalt thou
say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the Lord, and have
walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and
have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;
[Jer 16:12] And ye have done worse than your fathers; for,
behold, ye walk everyone after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may
not hearken unto me;
And he …fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, … that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of the Lord doth man live.
Deu 8:3
We don’t have trouble with this if we are reading
only our favorite Scriptures. But start reading EVERY WORD OF GOD. Start at
Genesis 1 and read to DC 155 etc., and you will begin to struggle continually
to believe EVERY WORD OF GOD. For
example, you will struggle with the belief in the wrathful God portrayed in the
Old Testament. YOU will struggle to
believe that all we have to do is keep all the commandments and
This last requirement was a problem in the early
restoration church because they came from many different religious, all with
different understandings that they were sure were right. Thus they were told:
49:1a Hearken unto my word, …
49:1b Behold, I say unto you, that they desire to know the truth in part, but not all, for they are not right
before me, and must needs repent;
Think of teachings/practices you have seen in the church or among His people that you don’t believe are correct. Look up ALL THE SCRIPTURES YOU CAN FIND ON THE SUBJECT. Determine what all those Scriptures say, so you know EXACTLY WHAT THE LORD SAYS IS THE TRUTH, IN THAT AREA! Do this with every area you
§ Have trouble understanding,
§ Are frustrated by what is being taught, or
§ What you THINK the Scripture is saying.
IF God wants me to search out the truth of some teaching,
He makes me be irritated by what it says, or what someone else says it says,
etc. My best recent example is the term, to bring about the CAUSE of
… when men should keep all my
commandments,
Gen 9:21
So when you see a Scripture that irritates you and you
can’t accept it, instead of rejecting it, ASK God to
lead you to understand it. Then, look for EVERYTHING you can find on the
subject. My testimony is that as you do
this, God will open up your understanding on the subject and you will RECEIVE
THE TRUTH.
God told Nephi EXACTLY why it is important:
And MY WORDS shall hiss forth unto the ends of the
earth, FOR A STANDARD UNTO MY PEOPLE, which are of the house of
If you are reading only part of God’s Word you have
But if you are READING ALL OF GOD’S WORDS you become aware
that the worldly standards are far below God’s standards. We are told that: “… my [God’s]
ways [are] HIGHER THAN YOUR WAYS, and my
thoughts THAN YOUR THOUGHTS.” [Isa 55:8,9]. We are called to walk on the higher
ground or God’s higher way.
You would think it would be easy to recognize that
God’s Words and ways are higher than the world’s ways, but that isn’t
necessarily true because worldly understandings
sound so logical, until they are
compared with God’s Word. If you are not
regularly reading God’s Word, you do not realize His ways are higher than the
worldly ways. How many people do you
know that diligently, regularly, daily read ALL of God’s Words? How regularly and diligently do you read all
of God’s Word? Many people only study
the Scriptures when they need something for worship or for a sermon etc. Therefore, most people don’t know much about
God’s laws, statutes, ordinances, or commandments.
A glaring example is God’s truth that sex is only
for marriage. But worldly wisdom says it
is okay to have sex out of marriage today because we have the pill and you
won’t get pregnant. Since that worldly
theory was accepted, the number of pregnancies out of marriage has sky
rocketed. which required accepting abortion. Now
Congress is voting on partial birth abortions. None of this would be a problem
IF we follow God’s laws and keep sex as an exclusive function in marriage.
Another problem with sex out of wedlock is sexually
transmitted disease. There were only 5 in the 1950’s; today there are over
50. God’s ways are higher than man’s
ways, and certainly less heart breaking.
When we reject God’s Word and “do our own thing,” by choosing the lower
worldly standards, we must suffer the consequences.
We have been told we will be
judged by two things 1) the Word, and 1) by our works:
For out of the books which shall be written, I
will judge the world, Every man
ACCORDING TO THEIR WORKS, ACCORDING TO THAT WHICH IS WRITTEN [the Word of God].
So
if we are smart we will read all 3 Scriptures regularly, so we know the
STANDARD we will be judged by. If we know the Word of God and rebel against
it, that is, don’t do it, we will suffer the consequences:
…wo, wo unto him who KNOWETH THAT HE REBELLETH AGAINST GOD;
for salvation cometh to none such, except it be through repentance and faith on
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Mos 1:108-109, also see Mos 1:79-84
That is, on judgment day you
can’t say, ‘I didn’t now that,” and be excused from the punishment
affixed. WE KNOW THAT WE ARE CALLED TO
OBEY AND DO or receive the curses affixed. We have our agency and CHOOSE daily
whether we will obey and live, or disobey and suffer the consequences.
If we were only interested in our own salvation, it
wouldn’t matter so much if we obeyed or not because only one life would be at
stake. But since we are responsible for
teaching our children, as well as others, it is essential that we DO WHAT WE
HAVE BEEN TAUGHT, so we set a good example. How many of our church children have
been lost to the Lord because of our collective bad example?
Yes, many have had good examples in their parents
and church family but have CHOSEN to reject God and His teachings. For those we
all need to pray diligently that the day will come when they will remember the
good examples, not the bad examples that were before them as a child, and will
return to the Lord.