Mormon 1–6 | October 28–November 3 | Scripture Study Insights | A Come Follow Me Resource

hello there my name is Tyler Griffin and this is scripture study insights by scripture Central today Mormon chapters 1 through6 and for those of you who are familiar with the Book of Mormon this particular set of chapters the these six chapters in that little book called The Book of Mormon they are not the the happiest part of the history of the Nephites and lamanites this is this is the sad ending to the geopolitical group that that neite nation and there's there's not a lot of of positive and and happy moments in these six chapters which

brings up this incredible opportunity for us for a a lifelong learning overlay before we dive in and it is this what do you do when everywhere you look around you you just see trouble you see uh despair you see opposition you see setback you you may even see death and loss and significant negative negatively impacting events taking place all around you everywhere you look that is the story that we see facing Mormon and his family at this time when the nephite nation is in such serious decline heading to its its end the the power of

these chapters for me is to see Mormon show us an example this Christlike example of noticing what's happening around him horizontally but keep in his Focus fiercely fixed heavenward on the lord it's it's as if he's showing us this pattern that the darker the night the brighter his capacity to see the light becomes and the more closely connected to the Lord he becomes even as everything around him is sinking in in destruction and despair now you and I don't live in a time like Mormon where everything is headed to to destruction we live in the

dispensation of the fullness of times when the Gospel of Jesus Christ is going to continue to roll forward the kingdom is going to spread and there are going to be incredible Miracles but that doesn't mean that individually and collectively we we might not experience some major setback and some major loss at times loss can come from a variety of sources you can lose a job you can lose your health you can lose loved ones you can lose a home you can lose a uh a friend you can have loved ones lose Faith you can can

lose uh love and relationships with people that there are a variety of things that can come in the form of of this setback the the reality is is all of those situations provide for us many many opportunities to turn heavenward and as Mormon shows this example repeatedly in these six chapters of how to more profoundly root our faith and our testimony and our trust in God and his eternal plan for our happiness and in Jesus Christ and His Infinite atonement and in his profits and in the Church of Jesus Christ as we move forward trusting

that things will work out in the end and and if things haven't completely worked out a and there's still trouble and concern it simply means there's more opportunity for us to keep exercising our faith because we haven't made it to the end yet we know that in the final final events of this dispensation the kingdom of God is going to Prevail but it doesn't mean that we aren't going to have to face some pretty major uh struggles and deal with loss in major proportions at times and so as you as you study these chapters instead

of having it be a a depressing oppressive kind of section of the Book of Mormon my invitation is to keep looking for the light amidst all of the darkness that keeps spreading here and the downward Decay as the Society of the Nephites does this watch Mormon do this in his faith and in his trust watch him climb and grow and develop and as an add-on to that another thing that you can do when you're studying your scriptures is try to allow the original author to have more of a voice to picture what they would say

and how they would say it if they were present with you or if they were uh with you in a teaching setting to allow your students or your children an opportunity to contemplate and Ponder why did the the author say it this way and what would he want us to learn from that and how would he teach this lesson or how would they share this story with us what would they want us to focus on seeking for that author's intent will help us often get closer to the uh inspiration that they receed from the Lord

on why to include these particular details in the scriptures because we know that they're giving us less than a hundredth part of all the things they could have said and so focusing on that question why did the author write this why would the Lord have inspired him or her to include this in the story is a powerful place to begin in in your preparation for teaching ing or in your own individual study to be able to glean more principles from the story then maybe would would naturally come off of the page without doing so so

with that Foundation let's jump in we begin at the height of the nephite lonite population in in this time period that is right after fourth Nephi they are coming out of 200 years of the perfect society and one of the things that was uh a feature of that perfect Society was that they not only prospered financially and physically but they prospered from in a family way they Multiplied on on the face of the land and and they grew in numbers incredibly and so now the book begins here with Mormon the this abridger of the Thousand-Year

history leading up to this point telling us now I Mormon make a record of the things which I have both seen and heard and call it the Book of Mormon and about the time that amaron hit up the records unto the Lord he came unto me I being about 10 years of age and I began to be learned somewhat after the manner of the learning of my people and Amron said unto me I perceive that thou art a sober child and art quick to observe so here you have this 10-year-old Mormon in a society that

is filled with all these people he's living in the land northward with his family so amaron is in charge of this complete set of Records the repository of all of the nephite and lonite history on plates and and other things in it tells us in verse three in the land ANTM hidden in the hill shim and so he comes to this young 10-year-old Mormon and he notices those two things he's a sober child and he's quick to observe two attributes that would set him up to be the perfect candidate for taking care of these records

and adding to them in his day and notice what command Amron gave to this young 10-year-old Prophet to be he says therefore when you are about 20 and4 years old I would that you should remember the things that you have observed concerning this people and when you're of that age go to the land ANM unto the hill which Shall be Called shim and there have I deposited unto the Lord all the sacred Engravings concerning this people so we have all the records of the Kings and the the large plates and the small plates and the

brass plates and the 24 jedite plates and all of the the letters that have been sent back and forth and the the liahona and the sword of Laban all of the repository is there and then he goes on to say and behold ye shall take the plates of Nephi unto yourself and the remainder shall you leave in the place where they are and you shall engrave on the plates of Nephi all the things that you have observed concerning this people it's interesting to me to note that amaron did not tell Mormon I need you to

go and I I need you to read through all of the history of the Nephites and lamanites and make an abridgment on a single set of plates that can then be buried strategically for the latter days for it to be translated to come forth and become this incredible instrument in the hands of the Lord to gather the house of Israel for the final time he didn't he didn't tell him that he simply said you do what every Prophet up to this point has done which is record the events of your day on the the plates

of Nephi in this ction you just add to it what's happening here which seems to imply we don't know for sure but it seems that Mormon is going to do that and then at some point in his life he recognizes this Decline and this decay of his society and the Lord then gives him this instruction to go and do this incredible work of abridgment of taking all of the the history of the Nephites and the plates the large plates of Nephi and abridging them so that we have the the bigger Book of Mormon today so

he he gives us some more details about himself in verse five I Mormon being a descendant of Nephi and my father's name was Mormon I remembered the things which Amron commanded me and it came to pass that I being 11 years old was carried by my father into the land Southward even to the land of zarahemla so this family migrates from the land northward down to the land Southward and he describes that land the whole face of the land had become covered with buildings and the people were as numerous almost as it were the sand

of the sea so we're probably at the height of nephite lonite population numbers in the history and yet we're quickly heading to the depth of wickedness and Abomination in the history of the people of Lehi it says it came to pass in this year there began to be a war between the Nephites who consisted of the Nephites and the jacobites and the josephites and the zoramites and this War was between the Nephites and the lamanites and the Lites and the ishit so he's listed off the seven major groups within those two classifications of Nephites and

lamanites so this is the beginning of the this war that he mentions in verse 8 and so he says verse 11 it came to pass that the Nephites had gathered together a great number of men even to exceed the number of 30,000 and it came to pass they did have in the same year a number of battles in which the Nephites did beat the lamanites and did slay many of them but notice the added detail that Mormon gives you here in verse 13 but wickedness did Prevail upon the face of the whole land in so

much that the Lord did take away his beloved disciples and the work of Miracles and of healing did cease because of the iniquity of the people you can be surrounded by loss you can be surrounded by death by struggle and by setback but if we keep our faith rooted in the Savior we'll have moments of struggle we'll we'll experience weakness here and there but if we generally keep moving forward to the best of our ability putting our faith and our trust in the Lord we will continue to have access to his miracles and to his

his power through his infinite atonement these people collectively have turned away from the Lord and have now turned to wickedness leading to this lack of Miracles and lack of healing because of their iniquity and he goes on to say there were no gifts from the Lord and the holy ho ghost did not come upon any because of their wickedness and unbelief notice the two two parts there it's not just what they're doing wrong it's what they're believing wrong it's it's what they're it's both external and internal in both cases they've turned away from the Lord

and turned toward the natural tendencies of the Flesh and the desires appetites and passions of this Fallen World in which we live which is very easy trap to fall into if we're not careful and he goes on to say in verse 15 I being 15 years of age and being somewhat of a sober mind therefore I was visited of the Lord and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus you see this pattern the world around him is getting darker and more wicked and more unbelieving and he didn't follow the truth friend Mormon didn't excuse

himself in doing wickedness or in unbelieving patterns he chose to take this high road to to draw closer to the Lord and because of that the Lord visited him and he tasted of the goodness of Jesus at the age of 15 um something very beautiful connecting Mormon this great a Bridger Prophet with Joseph Smith the great translator Prophet who would bring his work out of the the ground and and the Lord would would guide him through the gift and power of God to translate these words and Joseph at the age of 14 years of of

age saw God and tasted and knew of the goodness of Jesus there there are all kinds of connections between Mormon and Joseph that you can see throughout the story so watch what he does in response to this this outpouring from Heaven I did Endeavor to preach unto this people but my mouth was shut and I was forbidden that I should preach unto them for behold they had willfully rebelled against their God and the Beloved disciples were taken away out of the land because of their iniquity so there's this time when Mormon has so much that

he has to give with the to these people to share with them but he's forbidden to do it he can't because of their unbelief and their iniquity that brings up an interesting question to what degree do you and I limit what we receive from prophets because of our own unbelief or iniquity either individually or collectively the Lord is so willing to reveal the secrets of the universe we've been told by prophets and yet sometimes be because of our use of agency sometimes we limit what we're able to receive from the prophets who who want to

give us more but maybe we aren't acting appropriately with what we've already been given and so they're not allowed to give more it's a it's a gentle reminder to us here from these pages to maybe spend more time focusing on what we need to change rather than what the church needs to change or what the prophets need to change in verse 17 it says but I did remain among them them but I was forbidden to preach unto them because of the hardness of their hearts and because of the hardness of their hearts the land was

cursed for their sakes or for their sake and he goes on to tell us that their Treasures became slippery all these things that the world would offer them the money the riches the power the glory the the kingdoms of this world that are offered to them they all become very slippery they can't hold on to them which is a perfect metaphor for every everything today that the world has to offer to us even if we become the richest person in all the world in either money or land or Prestige or honor or popularity whatever it

may be we can't hold on to any of that forever none of that is eternal and yet that which the Lord offers us if we think Celestial never need be taken away from us chapter two opens with him describing it came to pass in that same year there began to be a war again between the Nephites and the lamanites isn't that interesting the more we turn our lives and our thoughts and our behaviors over to the natural tendencies over to the devil the more contentious and the more warlike we become the more fighting there is

and it says notwithstanding I being young was large in stature therefore the people of Nephi appointed me that I should be their leader or the leader of their armies and then he gives you the timestamp therefore it came to pass that in my 16th year I did go forth at the head of an army of the Nephites against the lamanites therefore 326 years had passed away so we know that Mormon was born sometime around 312 311 ad somewhere in there and so as we watch his life proceed through these six chapters we can very quickly

follow along with him and see him age and see the different experiences he has and how old he is at each of those phases he's only he's in his 16th year which means he's 15 years old when he's put in charge of the nephite armies he must have been very large in stature indeed very similar to Nephi in this context and for the first time ever you see something happen to the Nephites in verse three and it came to pass that in the 320 and7th year the lamanites did come upon us with exceedingly great power

in so much that they did frighten my armies we've never seen that before now we've seen we've seen the Nephites not do well in battles but we've never seen them use the phrase frighten my armies they've they've never run away in fear the Nephites isn't that fascinating that as they've cut themselves off from Miracles and from the power of God and the Miracles that that heaven had in store for them they're left to their own their own strength and their own abilities and at this point they're being overpowered and they're frightened fear is a fruit

of the devil's influence the the Holy Ghost never comes with this feeling of oh no you should be scared to death you should be afraid the spirit can constrain you from going into C situations but not using fear he might he might uh warn you and constrain you from doing things but never with fear it'll always increase your faith and your trust and your confidence so now as a result of that you get the Nephites who Retreat towards the nor North countries and they go from place to place and it says notwithstanding all our fortifications

the lamanites did come upon us and did drive us out of the city and they did also drive us forth out of the land of David so now they're being driven out of what used to be considered fortifications and they would feel very confident and even cocky in their maintaining of those those cities and fortifications and lands and now they're overpowered they're on their own and you would think okay well in the pride cycle once you're you're destroyed and you're you're in Despair and sorrow then you're you get humble and you repent and you you

turn to the Lord right and he forgives you and then He blesses you and prospers you and and things start to go well again notice verse six behold the land was filled with robbers and with lamanites and notwithstanding the great destruction which hung over my people they did not repent of their evil doings therefore there was blood and Carnage spread throughout all the face of the land both on the part of the Nephites and also on the part of the lamanites and as it was one complete Revolution throughout all the face of the land so

instead of their destruction and sorrow causing them to become humble and to repent and turn to God it caused them to become even more prideful more sinful more Angry more vengeful and fight even more thus leading to Greater destruction and you get down to verse 10 here in Chapter 2 and it says and it came to pass that the Nephites began to repent of their iniquity and began to cry even as had been prophesied by Samuel the prophet for behold no man could keep that which was his own and you're thinking okay well good so

they didn't repent back in verse 8 and so worse destruction came but now they repented and verse 11 continues thus there began to be a Mourning and a lamentation in all the land because of these things and more especially among the people of Nephi and it came to pass that when I Mormons saw their lamentation and their mourning and their sorrow before the Lord my heart did begin to Rejoice within me knowing the mercies and the longsuffering of the Lord therefore supposing that he would be merciful unto them that they would again become a righteous

people so here's this optimistic leader this Prophet looking at this situation thinking oh good finally they're mourning and they're turning to the Lord in sorrow and and in humility and meekness willing to change and do his will instead of their own you'll notice the very first word of verse 13 the word is but it implies despite what I just told you uh an opposite effect took place but behold this my joy was vain for their soring was not unto repentance because of the goodness of God but it was rather the soring of the Damned because

the Lord would not always suffer them to take happiness in sin so this is an incredibly painful Turning Point Mormon assumed that they were now going to turn and repent but instead it wasn't the repentance of humility and meekness it was rather The Sorrowing of the Damned and from this day forward you'll notice he says it came to pass that my sorrow did return unto me again and I saw that the day of Grace was passed with them both temporally and spiritually for I saw thousands of them heun down in open Rebellion against their God

and heaped up as dung upon the face of the land and thus 34 in three years had passed away so you can keep tracking his age 343 he'd be about uh 30 31 years old right here in this story and it came to pass that in the 340 and fth year the Nephites did begin to flee before the lamanites and they were pursued until they came even to the land of Jaan before it was possible to stop them in the retreat and it's here that Mormon tells us that he went to get the deposited records

that amaron had left for him and he says behold I had gone according to the word of amaron and taken the plates of Nephi and did make a record according to the words of Amron he's already recorded what Amron told him to do which is observe what happens and record it on the the plates where amaron left off in this large collection of the the plates of Nephi and he's done that but then he goes on to say in verse 18 a the plates of Nephi I did make a full account of all the wickedness

and Abominations but upon these plates so now he's he's working on the plates where he's he's making this abridgment and he's giving us the the shorter version of this massive collection of plates he says I did forbear to make a full account of their wickedness ab and Abominations for Behold a continual scene of wickedness and Abominations has been before mine eyes ever since since I've been sufficient to behold the ways of man if Mormon were standing here today I think he would say I know what it's like to try to be a disciple of Christ

in a very very degenerate and wicked society and it's not impossible you don't need to be a victim of the circumstances surrounding you as long as you keep your faith and your trust in your belief rooted in Jesus Christ and and you see that as he now kind of laments a little bit his his situation in that particular setting he says woe is me because of their wickedness for my heart has been filled with sorrow because of their wickedness all my days nevertheless I know that I shall be lifted up at the last day some

of you might find yourself in a home setting or a family sit situation or a work setting with colleagues or or in other uh Circles of influence that you find yourself where you you may feel like it's not ideal and if Mormon were to give you any any counsel or advice in those settings whatever whatever those situations may be I think he would say don't don't Focus as much on the problems of the setting and of the present day or of the past but focus on the Glorious light and the hope and the promise of

the future as he did here I know that I shall be lifted up at the last day somehow he's able to get through up to the final battle the final battle is going to take place when Mormon is around 73 years old he his father was probably a military general or a chief Captain um so he's he's probably been raised in this military setting and with this gross wickedness going on all around him for 73 years of his life down to the very end watching the the the complete destruction of his nation and yet somehow

he's able to hold on to that Faith to The Bitter End um it's fascinating what he does when he's when he tries to Rally his troops look at verse 203 once the lamanites come upon them again it says it came to pass that I did speak unto my people and did urge them with great energy that they would stand boldly before the lamanites so let's list the things that he he encourages them to fight for he says fight for your wives for their children for their houses and their homes want you could cross reference this

verse chapter 2: 23 with Elma 46 verse 12 the the list of those incredible items on Captain moroni's Title of Liberty on the title of Liberty he says in memory of our God our religion our freedom our peace our wives and our children those are the six items on Captain maron's Title of Liberty and and I I could be wrong but I see those as ordinal the most important thing or the the lead element is memory of our God if you turn your back on God it's just a matter of time before you will turn

your back on religion which is the connect religion comes from this uh Latin root of legari this this reconnect like a ligament so we lose our connection which then causes us to lose our freedom which we live in a world that's preaching the opposite doctrine that religion causes you to lose Freedom the the LIE being do whatever you want not what other people are telling you to do that's true Freedom when in reality that's when you then will lose this next element your peace and you you become like the Nephites and the lamanites that we're

reading about here in Mormon 1-6 so notice this Captain moroni's list in memory of our God our religion our freedom our peace our wives and our children well the Nephites have long ago turned their back on God they've lost all desires for religion they've completely lost their freedom there is no peace they're running for their lives all they have left is their wives their children their houses and their homes and they're about to lose all of those and ultimately the last thing is their own life in the end in chapter six so as we as

we read this sad tale I think if Mormon were here he would say I encourage them to fight for the only things left that they had because they've already given up on these but if they would have repented if they would have turned to God and reestablished those connections God would have over time blessed them once again with freedom and peace true Freedom true agency true Liberty but you're going to see their Liberty decrease even as they do less and less of what God would have them to do and more and more of what their

natural tendencies LED them to do so then you come down into chapter three and Mormon cries repentance unto them he says in verse two repent ye and come unto me and be ye baptized and build up again my church and ye shall be spared he promised them and there was no question that's what would happen but what was the response they did Harden their hearts against the Lord their God they they refuse to turn heavenward and to turn upward and they continue to turn inward and outward in anger and in unbelief and so now you

get these these final phases of the Nephites trying to negotiate the best they can to spare and extend their lives as much as possible notice it says in verse 12 behold I had led them these Nephites not withstanding their wickedness I had led them many times to battle and had loved them so notice he says here I had loved them according to the love of God which was in me with all my heart and my soul had been poured out in prayer unto my God all the day long for them nevertheless it was without faith

because of the hardness of their hearts verse 14 when they had sworn by all that had been forbidden them by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that they would go up under their enemies to battle and avenge themselves of the blood of their Brethren behold the voice of the Lord came unto me saying vengeance is mine and I will repay and because this people repented not after I had delivered them behold they shall be cut off from the face of the Earth choices have consequences there is the law of the Harvest you can't keep planting

weeds and expect to grow fruit and these people have refused to turn their lives to the Lord and so now they're going to reap the Harvest of what they have of those seeds that they have sown before and so now Mormon shifts away from his time period for a for a few verses here and addresses Us in the latter days directly as if to say you don't have to wonder what I'm thinking as the author you don't have to wonder what my intent is because I'm going to tell you so he's taking the situation that

he's surrounded by and he's saying let me now teach you the lessons that I that I want you to learn in the latter days which makes the Book of Mormon so unique in scripture it's it's this incredible book that keeps reaching up through the pages and grabbing Us by the shirt lapels and pulling us in saying I'm talking to you so notice what he says therefore I write unto you Gentiles and also unto you House of Israel so this is everybody in the latter days Gentiles or House of Israel when the work shall commence that

ye shall be about to prepare to return to the land of your inheritance ye behold I write unto all the ends of the Earth ye unto the unto you 12 tribes of Israel who shall be judged according to works by the twel whom Jesus chose to be his disciples in the land of Jerusalem so the Jews judged by the the original 12 and the scattered tribes judged by the the 12 whom Jes Jesus chose in this land verse 19 and he goes on to say and these things doth the spirit manifest unto me therefore I

write unto you all and for this cause I write unto you here's his here's his lesson that ye may know that you must all stand before the Judgment seat of Christ ye Every Soul Who belongs to the whole Human family of Adam and you must stand to be judged of your Works whether they be good or evil so if you're teaching a class or if you're you're guiding your family and your children through a scripture study here a a fun little uh exercise you could you could do with them would be to have them imagine

this moment of judgment in front of the Savior as the perfect judge who knows everything everything we've done all of our intents all of he knows more about us than we know about us so as you have them picture that moment of judgment and the kinds of of emotions that that they could imagine experiencing there you could you could have them list all of the the maybe fears or apprehensions or anxieties they may experience as they try to anticipate a moment of judgment then you could ask them to imagine what might the look on the

the savior's face be at the moment of judgment does he get great Delight in punishing people or in in revealing wickedness and in showing where we've messed up does he does he get some sort of of pleasure out of that or does it cause Tears Could It Be even painful which brings up a very interesting opportunity for us to then discuss wait a minute the Savior Jesus Christ has experienced all of our pains all of our all of our sins he he was judged according to our works and he was found guilty and punished to

the full extent of the law when he suffered his infinite atonement and the reality is is you and I can accept his suffering can turn our hearts to him and seek to do his will and to connect with him so that on that day of judgment we don't have to relive all of that pain again it can be swallowed up in his in that infinite price that he paid in his atonement and we can cause tears of joy to to be shed on that day of judgment rather than More Tears of Sorrow for both us

and him I guess the point being the Lord Jesus Christ has already suffered and already shed tears of pain in our behalf that we should do everything in our power to live our life in such a way that this can be a glorious event not another moment with more tears of pain and sorrow and sadness which now brings us to his second intent for why he's writing all of this he says verse 21 and also that ye may believe the gospel of Jesus Christ which he shall have among you and also that the Jews the

Covenant people of the Lord shall have other witness besides him whom they saw and heard that Jesus whom they slew was the very Christ and the Very God and I would that I could persuade all ye ends of the Earth to repent and prepare to stand before the Judgment seat of Christ did you notice what just happened Mormon has been trying to do this with his own people and it's not working and so what did he do he turned to us through his writing through the prophetic Corridor of time and he's now focusing his prophetic

invitation on us I sure hope and pray that I'll be more receptive that we'll all collectively be more receptive to his invitation than his own people were in his day so now as you as you follow this through the the increasing decay of his Society in chapters four and five you can look for these these pivot Points where at each point they could have turned heavenward but instead they kept turning further and further downward thus accelerating their decline a couple of verses I wanted to point out in chapter 5 it says in verse 8 Now

Behold I Mormon do not desire to Harrow up the Souls of men and casting before them such an awful scene of blood and Carnage as was laid before mine eyes but I knowing that these things must surely be made known and that all these things which are HID must be revealed upon the housetops and also that a knowledge of these things must come unto the remnant of these people and also unto the Gentiles who the Lord hath said should scatter this people and this people should be counted as not among them therefore I write a

small abridgment daring not to give a full account of the things which I have seen because of the Commandment which I have received and also that you might not have too great sorrow because of the wickedness of this people so if it feels really heavy if it feels dark if it feels almost uh too too much too hard to Bear keep in mind Mormon saying no I I'm holding I'm I'm significantly holding back I'm only giving you a portion just so you can see what the The Human Condition has the capacity to become when you

choose that route that they did so that you can learn from their their negative example in fact often a a non-example can be just as powerful if in some cases not even more powerful than than positive examples of what to do or what not to do as we see in this part in these particular chapters so then he he goes on to now focus on the Savior look at what he says in verse 11 for I know that such will sorrow for the Calamity of the House of Israel ye they will sorrow for the destruction

of his people they will sorrow that this people had not repented that they might have been clasped in the arms of Jesus he's saying good people it in in the future are going to have a really hard time with these chapters he's he's acknowledging that because of what what might have been and then he says now these things are written under the remnant of the House of Jacob and they are written after this manner because it is known of God the wickedness will not bring them forth unto them and they are to be hid up

unto the Lord that they may come forth in his own due time and he goes on to describe in verse 14 behold they shall go unto the unbelieving of the Jews and for this intent shall they go that they may be be persuaded that Jesus is the Christ the son of the Living God that the father father may bring about through his most beloved his great and eternal purpose in restoring the Jews or all the house of Israel to the land of their inheritance which the Lord their God hath given them under the fulfilling of

his Covenant I find it significant that at the end of his own civilization Mormon is putting all of his focus on the latter day Gathering effort in the latter days bringing both Jew and Gentile into this Covenant House of Israel connection with Christ and he he focuses on that look again in verse 16 for behold the spirit of the Lord hath already ceased to strive with their fathers and they are without Christ and God in the world and they are driven about as chaff before the wind now did you catch that they're driven about as

chaff chaff doesn't have freedom chaff doesn't have peace there's there's no choice it's it's a victim of the the wind taking it where wherever the wind will take it verses verse 17 they were once a delightsome people and they had Christ for their Shepherd yay they were LED even by God the Father the difference between a sheep being led by the Good Shepherd and chaff being driven by wind that's ultimately the choice Mormon is putting on the table for us saying you get to decide do you want true Liberty do you want true Freedom or

do you want to give all that up and be driven about to places you you don't want to go and you have no control anymore and then he finishes chapter 5 with this strong invitation to the Gentiles verse 22 then oh ye Gentiles how can you stand before the power of God except you shall repent and turn from your evil ways he's speaking to us as if he's looking at us in our day know ye not that ye are in the hands of God know ye not that he hath all power and his great command

the Earth shall be rolled together as a scroll therefore repent ye and humble yourselves before him lest he shall come out in Justice against you lest a remnant of the seed of Jacob shall go forth among you as a lion and tear you in pieces and there is none to deliver and now that brings us to chapter six the Final Chapter where we lose the Nephi Civilization now we don't lose L all the Nephites keep in mind there there have been promises given way back in the beginning of the book to for instance Jacob and

his seed that they would not utterly be destroyed you get many Nephites who at the time of this 200-year period of of peace and Zion back and forth Nephi there's so much intermarrying between the Nephites and lamanites there's no manner of Hees and then they start distinguishing themselves and and now we get the end of the geopolitical group called Nephites but you you would have many Nephites who back in Elma 63 have migrated northward and Scattered upon the face of land you had many migrations back in Helman chapter 3 so there there's so much spread

and intermarrying that I think it would be very difficult to say all the Nephites died it's the the group called Nephites is no more here uh in in chapter 6 when we lose 230,000 plus of these people and keep in mind at this point Mormon's about 73 years old he spent his whole life with these people and now he's going to die uh in shortly after this final battle he's going to be one of 24 remaining soldiers he and Moroni as you see that unfold in chapter 6 look at verse 16 after describing this this

massive destruction he says and my soul was rent with anguish because of the slain of my people you'll notice he's not getting great joy he he's he's not loving seeing these Wicked people destroyed it hurts him it hurt him to see them making these poor choices and it now hurts him with intense anguish to see them destroyed he's reflecting these Christlike tender feelings for people for this charity is coming through look at verse 17 oh ye Fair ones how could you have departed from the ways of the Lord oh ye Fair ones how could you

have rejected that Jesus who stood with open arms to receive you his arms were open and we closed ours he's basically saying to these people you you turn your back on him as he turns his arms open wide toward you behold if you had not done this you would not have fallen but behold you are fallen and I mourn your loss oh ye Fair Sons and Daughters ye fathers and mothers ye husbands and wives ye Fair ones how is it that you could have fallen behold you are gone and my sorrows cannot bring you return

and the day soon cometh your mortal must put on immort ality and these bodies which are now moldering in corruption must soon become Incorruptible bodies and then you must stand before the Judgment seed of Christ to be judged according to your works and if it so be that you are righteous then you are blessed with your fathers who have gone before you so to conclude in in seeking to stay true to the the original author's intent and and trying to figure out why did he tell us what he told us and why did he include

the things that he did include my my best understanding is Mormon is taking his situation and and the terrible circumstances of of his nation and his people and his culture and he's looking at us in the latter days and looking between the two saying can you see it can you see how clearly these same things can happen both individually and and even collectively for you if you follow the pattern that these people followed and I think he would followed up with an invitation to trust more than ever before and to have more faith than ever

before in the Lord Jesus Christ in his miracles his Mercy his grace his power even if everything around you seems like it's it's dark and dismal and setting you back if you can keep your faith rooted in Christ you will come out on top you will prevail and God will deliver you because he is mighty to save as he had promised these people which now sets the stage for Mormon's Final Chapter which will begin next week with Mormon chapter 7 when he bids us his final farewell with his last invitations so in closing rather than

focusing on the negative let's finish by focusing on the positive God Lives we do live in a fallen world we do have setback we do have opposition but there's always hope if that hope is rooted in Christ and that is my testimony in the sacred name of Jesus Christ amen know that you're loved [Music]