'In His holy place'
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"Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart...."
In his Sunday morning address, Elder David A. Bednar posted these questions from Psalm 24:34, and then added: "Brothers and sisters, it is possible for us to have clean hands but not have a pure heart. Please notice that both clean hands and a pure heart are required to ascend into the hill of the Lord and to stand in His holy place."
Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve began his remarks recalling fond childhood memories of his mother reading to him Book of Mormon stories, through which "the first flames of faith in the Savior and in His latter-day Church" were kindled.
Among his favorite accounts was the Savior's appearance in the New World and His three-day ministry during which He summarized the fundamental principles of the gospel, including teaching how people come unto Him through sacred covenants. "Repenting and coming unto Christ through the covenants and ordinances of salvation are prerequisite to and a preparation for being sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost and standing spotless before God at the last day."
Hence, Elder Bednar continued, "as we are born again and strive to always have His Spirit to be with us, the Holy Ghost sanctifies and refines our souls as if by fire. Ultimately, we are to stand spotless before God.
"The gospel of Jesus Christ encompasses much more than avoiding, overcoming and being cleansed from sin and the bad influences in our lives; it also essentially entails doing good, being good and becoming better.... Our spiritual purpose is to overcome both sin and the desire to sin, both the taint and the tyranny of sin."
Elder Bednar continued: "Let me suggest that hands are made clean through the process of putting off the natural man and by overcoming sin and the evil influences in our lives through the Savior's Atonement. Hearts are purified as we receive His strengthening power to do good and become better. All of our worthy desires and good works, as necessary as they are, can never produce clean hands and a pure heart. It is the Atonement of Jesus Christ that provides both a cleansing and redeeming power that helps us to overcome sin and a sanctifying and strengthening power that helps us to become better than we ever could by relying only upon our own strength. The infinite Atonement is for both the sinner and for the saint in each of us....
"Our sincere desire should be to have both clean hands and a pure heart — both a remission of sins from day to day and to walk guiltless before God."
For those who feel such spiritual progress is not attainable in their lives, Elder Bednar counseled: "The Lord's pattern for spiritual development is 'line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little' (2 Nephi 28:30). Small, steady, incremental spiritual improvements are the steps the Lord would have us take. Preparing to walk guiltless before God is one of the primary purposes of mortality and the pursuit of a lifetime; it does not result from sporadic spurts of intense spiritual activity.
"I witness that the Savior will strengthen and assist us to make sustained, paced progress."
