108. God's people are a covenant making people.
110. Baptism is an everlasting covenant between God and a new member of His Church.
108. God's people are a covenant making people.
Traditionally, God's people have been known as a covenant people. The gospel itself is the new and everlasting covenant. The posterity of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob is the covenant race. We come into the Church by covenant, which we enter into when we go into the waters of baptism. The new and everlasting covenant of celestial marriage is the gate to exaltation in the celestial kingdom. Men receive the Melchizedek Priesthood by an oath and covenant. CR1962Apr:17
Everyone who receives an ordinance must make a covenant, else the ordinance is not fully satisfactory. He who is baptized covenants to keep the law of the Church; he who is administered to for sickness, and the administrators, covenant to use their faith to secure the desired healings; he who receives the temple endowment covenants to use in his life that which he has been taught; he who is ordained to the priesthood agrees to honor it, and so on with every ordinance.
That places covenants high, as they should be. Knowledge of itself has little saving power. Only as it is used does knowledge become of value. The man who learns and promises to use that knowledge is of value to society. ("What Is the Need of Ordinances?" IE1948Feb:97) TLDP:117-18
All Latter-day Saints enter the new and everlasting covenant when they enter this Church. They covenant to cease sustaining, upholding and cherishing the kingdom of the devil and the kingdoms of this world. They enter into the new and everlasting covenant to sustain the Kingdom of God and no other kingdom. They take a vow of the most solemn kind, before the heavens and earth, and that, too, upon the validity of their own salvation, that they will sustain truth and righteousness instead of wickedness and falsehood, and build up the Kingdom of God, instead of the kingdoms of this world. (At Bountiful, Utah, May 17, 1868, JD12:230) TLDP:118
We are a covenant-making people. These eternal blessings are for all who wish to worthily receive of them, both the living and the dead. In the mercy of God we are privileged to receive these blessings by proxy for our deceased ancestors who did not have this privilege in life. They, of course, may choose whether to accept these blessings. Our duty is to search out our forebears and give them the opportunity to accept and receive these blessings. As the Prophet Joseph Smith said, “The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead.” (CR 1997Apr; Eternity Lies before Us, Ensign, May 1997, p.18)
Related Witnesses:
A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties. An oath is a sworn attestation to the inviolability of the promises in the agreement. In the covenant of the priesthood the parties are the Father and the receiver of the priesthood. Each party to the covenant undertakes certain obligations. The receiver undertakes to magnify his calling in the priesthood. The Father, by oath and covenant, promises the receiver that if he does so magnify his priesthood he will be sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of his body; (see D&C 84:33) that he will become a member of ". . . the church and kingdom, and the elect of God," (D&C 84:34) and receive the ". . . Father's kingdom; therefore," said the Savior, "all that my Father hath shall be given unto him." (D&C 84:38) CR1962Apr:17
All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity . . . are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead. (Revelation relating to the new and everlasting covenant, July 12, 1843, [1831]) D&C 132:7
The Holy Priesthood is accepted by an oath and covenant and is binding upon those who receive it. They obligate themselves to keep faithfully all the commandments of God and to magnify their callings by honoring and exercising the priesthood in righteousness for the benefit and blessing of mankind. CR1959Apr:109
Author's Note: Ordinances are covenants, writes Joseph Fielding Smith: "Each ordinance and requirement given to man for the purpose of bringing to pass his salvation and exaltation is a covenant. Baptism for the remission of sins is a covenant….
"Keeping the Sabbath day holy is a covenant. . . . All of the Ten Commandments are everlasting covenants. The law of tithing is a form of an everlasting covenant . . . although some day we shall be given a higher form of this law known as consecration.
"Marriage is an everlasting covenant, but not as some believe, the new and everlasting covenant." (Church News, May 6, 1939; Doctrines of Salvation, 1:152-53)
109. The fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ is the new and everlasting covenant between God and members of His Church.
The new and everlasting covenant is the fulness of the gospel. It is composed of "All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations" that are sealed upon members of the Church by the Holy Spirit of promise, or the Holy Ghost, by the authority of the President of the Church who holds the keys. The President of the Church holds the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood. He delegates authority to others and authorizes them to perform the sacred ordinances of the priesthood.
Marriage for eternity is a new and everlasting covenant. Baptism is also a new and everlasting covenant, and likewise ordination to the priesthood, and every other covenant is everlasting and a part of the new and everlasting covenant which embraces all things. (Answers to Gospel Questions, 1:65) DCSM:46
What is the new and everlasting covenant? I regret to say that there are some members of the Church who are misled and misinformed in regard to what the new and everlasting covenant really is. The new and everlasting covenant is the sum total of all gospel covenants and obligations. (Doctrines of Salvation, 1:156) TLDP:118
Traditionally, God's people have been known as a covenant people. The gospel itself is the new and everlasting covenant. The posterity of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob is the covenant race. We come into the Church by covenant, which we enter into when we go into the waters of baptism. The new and everlasting covenant of celestial marriage is the gate to exaltation in the celestial kingdom. Men receive the Melchizedek Priesthood by an oath and covenant. CR1962Apr:17
receiving the Word of the Lord
Verily I say unto you, blessed are you for receiving mine everlasting covenant, even the fulness of my gospel, sent forth unto the children of men, that they might have life and be made partakers of the glories which are to be revealed in the last days, as it was written by the prophets and apostles in days of old. (Revelation for several elders in the Church, Oct. 25, 1831) D&C 66:2
Related Witnesses:
receiving the Word of the Lord
And as pertaining to the new and everlasting covenant, it was instituted for the fulness of my glory; and he that receiveth a fulness thereof must and shall abide the law, or he shall be damned, saith the Lord God.
7. And verily I say unto you, that the conditions of this law are these: All covenants, contracts, bonds, obligations, oaths, vows, performances, connections, associations, or expectations, that are not made and entered into and sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise, of him who is anointed, both as well for time and for all eternity, and that too most holy, by revelation and commandment through the medium of mine anointed, whom I have appointed on the earth to hold this power (and I have appointed unto my servant Joseph to hold this power in the last days, and there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred), are of no efficacy, virtue, or force in and after the resurrection from the dead; for all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead. (Revelation relating to the new and everlasting covenant, July 12, 1843, [1831]) D&C 132:6-7
All Latter-day Saints enter the new and everlasting covenant when they enter this Church. They covenant to cease sustaining, upholding and cherishing the kingdom of the devil and the kingdoms of this world. They enter into the new and everlasting covenant to sustain the Kingdom of God and no other kingdom. They take a vow of the most solemn kind, before the heavens and earth, and that, too, upon the validity of their own salvation, that they will sustain truth and righteousness instead of wickedness and falsehood, and build up the Kingdom of God, instead of the kingdoms of this world. (At Bountiful, Utah, May 17, 1868, JD12:230) TLDP:118
It was with no ordinary feelings that we took our departure from the Saints in Herefordshire on this occasion; for, less than four months since, I proclaimed the fullness of the Gospel in this region for the first time; but now, we were leaving between five and six hundred Saints, who were rejoicing in the new and everlasting covenant, and hundreds of others who were wishing to hear and obey. (Letter to Millennial Star, July 9, 1840) HC4:153
Shall I, who have heard the voice of God, and communed with angels, and spake as moved by the Holy Ghost for the renewal of the everlasting covenant, and for the gathering of Israel in the last days,—shall I worm myself into a political hypocrite? Shall I, who hold the keys of the last kingdom, in which is the dispensation of the fullness of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy Prophets since the world began, under the sealing power of the Melchizedek Priesthood,—shall I stoop from the sublime authority of Almighty God, to be handled as a monkey's cat's-paw, and pettify myself into a clown to act the farce of political demagoguery? (Letter to James A. Bennett, Nauvoo, Ill., Nov. 13, 1843) HC6:78
My humble advice to all such is, that they repent and cast far from them these wicked traditions, and be baptized into the new and everlasting covenant, lest the Lord speak to them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure. (Letter from Trieste concerning his journey to Jerusalem, Jan. 1842) HC4:497
receiving the Word of the Lord
And even so I have sent mine everlasting covenant into the world, to be a light to the world, and to be a standard for my people, and for the Gentiles to seek to it, and to be a messenger before my face to prepare the way before me. (Revelation March 7, 1831) D&C 45:9
The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. (Isaiah prophesies, 740-659 B.C.) Isaiah 24:5
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (He speaks of the last days) Jeremiah 31:31-34
110. Baptism is an everlasting covenant between God and a new member of His Church.
Baptism is also a new and everlasting covenant, and likewise ordination to the priesthood, and every other covenant is everlasting and a part of the new and everlasting covenant which embraces all things. (Answers to Gospel Questions, 1:65) DCSM:46
In the waters of baptism, we make a covenant with the Lord. We adopt, as individuals, all the terms and conditions of the new and everlasting covenant. This plan of salvation which was ordained in the counsels of eternity, which is the gospel of Christ, is an everlasting, eternal covenant. . . . In other words, we in effect sign the everlasting covenant by the ordinance of baptism, and we make its term and conditions binding upon us. . . . ACR(Brisbane)1976:15
receiving the Word of the Lord
Behold, I say unto you that all old covenants have I caused to be done away in this thing; and this is a new and an everlasting covenant, even that which was from the beginning.
2. Wherefore, although a man should be baptized an hundred times it availeth him nothing, for you cannot enter in at the strait gate by the law of Moses, neither by your dead works.
3. For it is because of your dead works that I have caused this last covenant and this church to be built up unto me, even as in days of old.
4. Wherefore, enter ye in at the gate, as I have commanded, and seek not to counsel your God. Amen. (Revelation received April 1830, given in consequence of persons desiring to join the Church without rebaptism) D&C 22:1-4
We come into the Church by covenant, which we enter into when we go into the waters of baptism. The new and everlasting covenant of celestial marriage is the gate to exaltation in the celestial kingdom. Men receive the Melchizedek Priesthood by an oath and covenant. CR1962Apr:17
When baptized by an authorized servant of God, we covenant to do God's will and to obey his commandments. CR1965Oct:14
The sequence of His pattern is significant. Faith, repentance, baptism, a testimony, and enduring conversion lead to the healing power of the Lord. Baptism is a covenant act—a sign of a commitment and a promise. (Jesus Christ—the Master Healer, CR October 2005)
At baptism we make a covenant with our Heavenly Father that we are willing to come into His kingdom and keep His commandments from that time forward, even though we still live in the world. We are reminded from the Book of Mormon that our baptism is a covenant to “stand as witnesses of God [and His kingdom] at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life” (Mosiah 18:9). (CR 2000Oct; The Covenant of Baptism: To Be in the Kingdom and of the Kingdom, Ensign, November 2000, p.6)
111. The oath and covenant of the priesthood is an everlasting covenant between God and each man who receives the Melchizedek Priesthood ordination.
receiving the Word of the Lord
Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved. (Revelation on priesthood with six elders, Sept. 22/23, 1832) D&C 84:40
The Holy Priesthood is accepted by an oath and covenant and is binding upon those who receive it. They obligate themselves to keep faithfully all the commandments of God and to magnify their callings by honoring and exercising the priesthood in righteousness for the benefit and blessing of mankind. CR1959Apr:109
The Father has promised his sons who receive the Holy Priesthood and faithfully abide by the conditions of its oath and covenant that they are to share in all that which the Father hath. The Father possesses kingdoms, thrones, principalities, powers, dominions, and exaltations. These the faithful will receive of him as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. CR1961Apr:67
also quoting Joseph Smith
Traditionally, God's people have been known as a covenant people. . . . Men receive the Melchizedek Priesthood by an oath and covenant.
. . . . In the covenant of the priesthood the parties are the Father and the receiver of the priesthood. Each party to the covenant undertakes certain obligations. The receiver undertakes to magnify his calling in the priesthood. The Father, by oath and covenant, promises the receiver that if he does so magnify his priesthood he will be sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of his body; (see D&C 84:33) that he will become a member of ". . . the church and kingdom, and the elect of God," (D&C 84:34) and receive the ". . . Father's kingdom; therefore," said the Savior, "all that my Father hath shall be given unto him." (D&C 84:38) CR1962Apr:17
Baptism is also a new and everlasting covenant, and likewise ordination to the priesthood, and every other covenant is everlasting and a part of the new and everlasting covenant which embraces all things. (Answers to Gospel Questions, 1:65) DCSM:46
Every man who is ordained to an office in the Melchizedek Priesthood should realize fully just what that ordination means. He receives the Priesthood with an oath and covenant that he will magnify his calling and be faithful therein. This oath and covenant when received in the fullness will entitle a man to become a member of the Church of the Firstborn, and the elect of God. He receives the fullness of the Father's kingdom and is entitled, if faithful to the end, "to all that the Father hath." This oath and covenant cannot be treated lightly, and if broken and altogether turned from, the man thus guilty has no forgiveness, that is to say, he will not again have these privileges granted to him which bring exaltation, or "all that the Father hath." He will stand aside without these blessings, but does not become a son of perdition because of this serious offense. The oath and covenant belonging to the Priesthood, pertains to the Melchizedek Priesthood and not to the Aaronic, although it is also a serious matter to turn away or violate that blessing. CHMR1:339
The covenant which a man makes when he receives an office in the Melchizedek Priesthood is threefold:
1. That he will receive and make a part of his life and being the Holy Priesthood and that he will honor it as the holy power and authority which it is;
2. That he will magnify his calling in the priesthood; that is, that he will minister in the duties of the office, that he will do the work assigned; and
3. That he will live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God; that is to say, he will keep the commandments and work righteousness.
The covenant which God makes is that he on his part will give the faithful all that his Father hath. In other words, he will give eternal life to those who keep their priesthood covenants.
Now we have mentioned both an oath and a covenant where the Melchizedek Priesthood is concerned. The oath is the solemn promise of the Lord that all those who keep the priesthood covenant shall gain exaltation. That is to say, the Lord swears with an oath that his adopted and obedient sons shall be high priests forever after the order of Melchizedek (see D&C 76:57); they shall be joint heirs with his natural Son, who is Christ our Lord. ACR(Lima)1977:18
We need to know the oath and covenant of the priesthood because it pertains to all of us. To those who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, it is a declaration of our requirement to be faithful and obedient to the laws of God and to magnify the callings which come to us. To those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood, it is a pronouncement concerning future duty and responsibility, that they may prepare themselves here and now. (CR 2006Apr; Our Sacred Priesthood Trust, CR April 2006)
The oath and covenant of the priesthood pertains to all of us. To those who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, it is a declaration of our requirement to be faithful and obedient to the laws of God and to magnify the callings which come to us. To those who hold the Aaronic Priesthood, it is a pronouncement concerning future duty and responsibility, that they may prepare themselves here and now. (CR 2005Apr; The Sacred Call of Service, Ensign, May 2005)
As part of the oath and covenant of the priesthood, the Lord makes several promises to His faithful sons “which he cannot break.” First, the priesthood holders “are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.” I think President Hinckley is a great example of this. He has been renewed in body, mind, and spirit in a most remarkable manner. Second, “they become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of Abraham.” Third, they become “the elect of God.” As His agents, they carry forth this holy work in our time on the earth. Fourth, “all they who receive this priesthood receive [the Lord].” Fifth, those who receive the Lord’s servants receive Him. Sixth, those who receive the Savior receive God the Father. Seventh, they also receive the Father’s kingdom. Eighth, they also shall be given all that the Father hath. Those who receive all that the Father hath can receive nothing more. (CR 2004Oct; The Key of the Knowledge of God, Ensign, November 2004, p.52)
Related Witnesses:
This makes [D&C 84:33-41a very serious matter of receiving this covenant and this Priesthood; for those who receive it must, like God himself, abide in it, and must not fail, and must not be moved out of the way; for those who receive this oath and covenant and turn away from it, and cease to do righteously and to honor this covenant, and will to abide in sin, and repent not, there is no forgiveness for them either in this life or in the world to come. CR1898Apr:65
And with reference to the priesthood, when the Lord discusses in the 84th section the oath and covenant, exactly the same principle is implied. By the laying on of hands we get the promise of power and authority, but it will not be ours—worlds without end—unless we keep our part of the covenant. (Stand Ye in Holy Places, pp. 51-52) TLDP:333
One breaks the priesthood covenant by transgressing commandments—but also by leaving undone his duties. Accordingly, to break this covenant one needs only to do nothing. (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 497) TLDP:501
112. The sealing ordinance of marriage is an everlasting covenant between God and those who are sealed.
Marriage for eternity is a new and everlasting covenant. (Answers to Gospel Questions, 1:65) DCSM:46
The new and everlasting covenant of celestial marriage is the gate to exaltation in the celestial kingdom. . . .
A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties. An oath is a sworn attestation to the inviolability of the promises in the agreement. CR1962Apr:17
In the celestial glory there are three heavens or degrees;
2. And in order to obtain the highest, a man must enter into this order of the priesthood [meaning the new and everlasting covenant of marriage]; (Instructions given by the Prophet, May 16 and 17, 1843) D&C 131:1-2
Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be married for eternity, while in this probation, by the power and authority of the Holy Priesthood, they will cease to increase when they die; that is, they will not have any children after the resurrection. But those who are married by the power and authority of the priesthood in this life, and continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost, will continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory. (Instructions given Brother and Sister Benjamin John son, in presence of several elders, Ramus, Ill., May 16, 1843) HC5:391
For remember, brethren, that only those who enter into the new and everlasting covenant of marriage in the temple for time and eternity, only those will have the exaltation in the celestial kingdom. That is what the Lord tells us. CR1973Oct:120
& George Q. Cannon
(First Presidency)
The Lord has revealed to us by His special revelations, as clearly and positively as He ever did to any of the ancient Prophets, certain principles associated with the eternity of the marriage covenant, has given definite commands pertaining thereto, and made them obligatory upon us to carry out. He has made manifest to us those great and eternal principles which bind woman to man and man to woman, children to parents and parents to children, and has called upon us in the most emphatic and pointed manner to obey them. These glorious principles involve our dearest interests and associations in time and throughout the eternities that are to come. We are told that this is His everlasting covenant, and that it has existed from eternity; and, furthermore, that all covenants that relate only to time shall be dissolved at death and be no longer binding upon the human family. He has, moreover, told us that if we do not obey those principles we shall be damned. Believing these principles to be of God and from God, we have entered into eternal covenants with our wives under the most solemn promises and in the most sacred manner. (General conference, April 4, 1885) MOFP3:9-10
Marriage covenants authorized and sealed by that God-given power, endure, if the parties thereto are true to their troth, not through mortal life alone, but through time and all eternity. Thus the worthy husband and wife who have been sealed under the everlasting covenant shall come forth in the day of the resurrection to receive their heritage of glory, immortality, and eternal lives. (Young Women's Journal, Oct. 1914, p. 604) DGSM:77
In connection with all ordinances pertaining to the temples of our God, men and women accept covenants and obligations which relate to the endowment and to the eternity of the marriage and family relationship. CR1965Oct:14
Related Witnesses:
receiving the Word of the Lord
Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph, that inasmuch as you have inquired of my hand to know and understand wherein I, the Lord, justified my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as also Moses, David and Solomon, my servants, as touching the principle and doctrine of their having many wives and concubines—
2. Behold, and lo, I am the Lord thy God, and will answer thee as touching this matter.
3. Therefore, prepare thy heart to receive and obey the instructions which I am about to give unto you; for all those who have this law revealed unto them must obey the same.
4. For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory.
5. For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world. (Revelation received 1831, recorded at Nauvoo, Ill., July 12, 1843, relating to the new and everlasting covenant, including the eternal nature of the marriage covenant, as also plurality of wives) D&C 132:1-5
Author's Note: Marriage is not the only new and everlasting covenant: "Each ordinance and requirement given to man for the purpose of bringing to pass his salvation and exaltation is a covenant. Baptism for the remission of sins is a covenant. . . .
Keeping the Sabbath day holy is a covenant. . . . All of the Ten Commandments are everlasting covenants. The law of tithing is a form of an everlasting covenant . . . although some day we shall be given a higher form of this law known as consecration.
Marriage is an everlasting covenant, but not as some believe, the new and everlasting covenant. The law of marriage to the Church, like the covenant of baptism, is new because it is not the marriage of the world, but for time and for all eternity." (Doctrines of Salvation, 1:153)
Elder Joseph Fielding Smith also wrote that the new and everlasting covenant is all of the covenants: "What is the new and everlasting covenant? I regret to say that there are some members of the Church who are misled and misinformed in regard to what the new and everlasting covenant really is. The new and everlasting covenant is the sum total of all gospel covenants and obligations. . . ." (Doctrines of Salvation, 1:156)
113. We are to keep the sacred covenants we have made with God if we are to merit entrance into the celestial kingdom.
The fate of the covenant breaker was most severe. "And the soul that sins against this covenant, and hardeneth his heart against it, shall be dealt with according to the laws of my church, and shall be delivered over to the buffetings of Satan until the day of redemption." The breaking of any covenant that our Father in heaven makes with us, is a dreadful thing. We make a covenant in the waters of baptism. Many have broken it, and hence lose the promised blessings. All through our lives we are called to enter into covenants and many members of the Church seemingly fail to realize the seriousness of a violation or to understand that punishment must inevitably follow. Solemn covenants are taken by members of the Church in the Temples. These covenants are to prepare us for an exaltation. Yet there are many who receive them who utterly fail to heed them, but presumably, they think the Lord has a short memory, or that he is so extremely merciful that he will break his promises and the punishment mentioned for the violation will not be inflicted. In this manner many deceive themselves. CHMR1:322-23
Perhaps we should define the meaning and significance of a covenant. In a spiritual application a covenant is a solemn, binding compact between God and man whereby man agrees to keep God's commandments and serve him in righteousness and in truth unto the end. The gospel covenants and obligations bind Church members to obedience to laws and principles given of God which lead to happiness, love, and eternal joy. A covenant then is an agreement which includes obligations and is given as a principle with promise of blessings for obedience. . . .
Perhaps in Church assemblies today we do not stress sufficiently the importance of gospel covenants and the Saints' obligation to them. It is our duty to learn and understand the sacred and binding nature of the covenants we accept at baptism and the covenants and obligations associated with all other ordinances of the gospel found along that narrow path which leads to life eternal. CR1959Apr:107-08
receiving the Word of the Lord
For if ye will not abide in my covenant ye are not worthy of me. (Revelation received Aug. 6, 1833, in consequence of the persecution of the Saints) D&C 98:15
receiving the Word of the Lord
I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise. D&C 82:10
receiving the Word of the Lord
The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which shall not be forgiven in the world nor out of the world, is in that ye commit murder wherein ye shed innocent blood, and assent unto my death, after ye have received my new and everlasting covenant, saith the Lord God; and he that abideth not this law can in nowise enter into my glory, but shall be damned, saith the Lord. (Revelation relating to the new and everlasting covenant, July 12, 1843 [1831]; law given relative to blasphemy against the Holy Ghost) D&C 132:27
For in membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we have assurance of deliverance from sin here, and we have the promise of eternal life now and evermore, and if we are faithful to our covenants, there is no power beneath the Celestial kingdom that can take from us the crown of glory that awaits those who are faithful before the Lord. (CR 1910Oct; Afternoon Session., p.129 - 130)
Related Witnesses:
Everyone who receives an ordinance must make a covenant, else the ordinance is not fully satisfactory. He who is baptized covenants to keep the law of the Church; he who is administered to for sickness, and the administrators, covenant to use their faith to secure the desired healings; he who receives the temple endowment covenants to use in his life that which he has been taught; he who is ordained to the priesthood agrees to honor it, and so on with every ordinance.
That places covenants high, as they should be. Knowledge of itself has little saving power. Only as it is used does knowledge become of value. The man who learns and promises to use that knowledge is of value to society. ("What Is the Need of Ordinances?" IE1948Feb:97) TLDP:117-18
When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.
5. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. (Reflections of a son of David the king) Ecclesiastes 5:4-5
Father in Heaven, We Do Believe
HYMNS:180
Father in Heav'n, we do believe
The promise thou hast made;
Thy word with meekness we receive,
Just as thy Saints have said.
We now repent of all our sin
And come with broken heart,
And to thy covenant enter in
And choose the better part.
O Lord, accept us while we pray,
And all our sins forgive;
New life impart to us this day,
And bid the sinners live.
Humbly we take the sacrament
In Jesus' blessed name;
Let us receive thru covenant
The Spirit's heav'nly flame.
We will be buried in the stream
In Jesus' blessed name,
And rise, while light shall on us beam
The Spirit's heav'nly flame.
Baptize us with the Holy Ghost
And seal us as thine own,
That we may join the ransomed host
And with the Saints be one.
