Hey there everybody welcome back to another episode of Redeem Through His Blood. Scott and David Durfey here as always. How are you Dave? I'm excited. Excited to talk about this Scott. This is one of the maybe least understood, least appreciated manifestations of repentance is restitution which we're going to talk about today.
Yeah so the first couple of manifestations that we've talked about have been to confess and forsake maybe one in the same but we've kind of broken them up also to be individually approached as well but and again today we're going to get right into restitution, making restitution. This is a pretty important one Dave when we are dealing with recovery. This is a big one and it can be one that kind of gets us tripped up.
It's interesting how the laws of the gospel and the principles of recovery are pretty closely aligned, pretty closely related. Really interesting. I love that Scott. And again I keep saying this but I guess review, I feel like I have to review this like seven times before everybody really remembers it is that we're talking about the evidences of repentance. Now they're an important part of the process. Critical, critical confession, forsaking, restitution, forgiving yourself and others.
Those are the four evidences of repentance or manifestations as we call them. But the real heart of repentance is not confessing, forsaking, making restitution or forgiving yourself. The real heart of repentance is crying out to God, offering your whole soul and your sins to him. Being your savior, everybody I think recently studied Mosiah and that crying out with one voice, confessing their sins to God and to cry out for repentance and forgiveness to him.
That's the heart of repentance and yet I don't know why but so many people are doing all these things all the way around it, they're dealing with all these spokes of the wheel and they never really get to the core of repentance which is crying out to God and offering our whole soul and sins to him. So again and there's conditions before that. The broken heart, contrite spirit, the recognition of sin. Faith in Jesus Christ.
Faith in Jesus Christ is the power behind it, that's the foundation of repentance, being honest and understanding the doctrine of Christ. Those are all the kind of the foundations, maybe prerequisites of repentance. But anyway, so I just again wanted to quickly review kind of where we're at. So we talked about forsaking sins last time and now we're into restitution. I think restitution is really critical.
The chapter in Elder Anderson's book on this was fun to work with him on and we had some really some of our most serious long discussions that we had. We're based on this piece, this evidence of repentance. I know that in the book we use the word reveal quite a bit in this. I see and I know Elder Anderson does as well, sees restitution as revealing our sincerity, revealing our faith.
Restitution is a process, but restitution, I'll just read this one part, wanting to generously make restitution to those who have been hurt or wrongly treated by our sins reveals, it reveals our sincere desire and intent to repent and receive forgiveness. Well, so I just think it's really important, Scott, that we understand what restitution is. Restitution means, right, let's just talk about the word for a minute, it means to pay back or to restore what was lost, right?
Is there anything else I should say about that definition? No, I think that's it, to restore what's lost, yeah. You try to restore what was lost and the truth is, Scott, we can't ever restore everything that was lost.
We can do everything, you can't always restore all the integrity that was lost, you can't always restore the trust that was lost, you can't restore virtue, you can't restore, I guess you can restore monetary things, you can restore things that perhaps you've stolen that are physical, but I don't know how you restore emotional, you know, what was lost emotionally, what was lost spiritually, what was lost mentally, what was lost socially, there's so many other things that can not be restored.
And this is where our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and our understanding of the Atonement comes in. And on that note, you know, I've shared this before, but in our Elder Anderson and I, when we went to the prison to meet with a prisoner and 80 prisoners showed up, what an experience to have an apostle, prophet, seer and revelator ask the prisoners if they have any questions after he bore testimony of the Savior.
And I'll never forget the serious look on this one prisoner's face as he raised his hand, setting on the aisle about halfway back and he asked Elder Anderson, so Elder Anderson, really what hope is there for us? Some of us have lost everything. We've lost everything. And I remember Elder Anderson coming up on his toes and his voice raising as loud as I've heard him speak and bearing testimony that everything can be restored through Jesus Christ and his Atonement. Everything can be restored.
So while it's true, Scott, and I knew that that was by way one of the most spiritual electrical spiritual experiences that I've had in my lifetime was to hear a prophet bear testimony to to that man and to all the prisoners that were there about the power, the scope, the depth and breadth of the power of Jesus Christ because of his Atonement, that all things could be restored.
Now while we cannot restore everything, it's important that we understand that Jesus Christ does restore everything if we are faithful, if we will seek to access the power of his Atonement. And there's there's two different kinds of people that will listen to this podcast and that that is those who have sinned, Scott, right, and who need repentance and who need to make restitution. And then there's a second group of people who will be listening to this.
And that's the group that have been sinned against and their concern about restitution and their concern becomes not how can I pay it back, but how can I get back what was lost, not what I stole, not what I took, but how can I receive back what was lost, innocently lost. These are victims of sin. These are those who have been in an evil way acted upon. So restitution is affects both of these groups to understand the principle and the manifestation of restitution in the process of repentance.
I think can be can be not only uplifting, but can be really healing. One of the things that as sinners, when we really truly come to this godly sorrow and contrite spirit experience, right, which is the opposite of the Elder Anderson as he calls him the twin bullies fear and pride, right, which keeps us from repenting.
Yeah. But when we think of this, when I think of the the harm that I've caused in my sinning and I may be an invitation to all of us to just kind of go through this exercise mentally right now as we talk about it. But as I think about all that I've caused in loss towards other people. And even if I hadn't David been raised or not raised, I wasn't raised an alcoholic.
But if I hadn't become an alcoholic and if I hadn't chosen a path that led me down really dark alleys and stuff like that, I would still be having this experience. There would still be those that had been affected by sins that I had, I had, you know, caused or brought upon them. We've all heard people. Exactly. And that's my point. And that isn't just because Scott's an alcoholic and he had this experience.
I think this is part of the human experience for us, you know, that we do we do hurt people and we hurt people's feelings and we cause others to see themselves in ways that they that are that are inaccurate. They see themselves as being less than I think about maybe some of the ways that, you know, I've handled kids and my own children, you know, when have they felt like they weren't important to me and how did that affect them?
And, you know, and even when I was trying and doing my very best as a dad, I can still have those experiences. I I'm still subject. I'm still prone. I'm still exposed to sinning. Well, let me let me just say, Scott, no sin. Yeah. No sin can be acted out in a bubble. Yeah. Just like we talked about every sin last week, every sin affects everybody we know.
Yeah. And you don't any sin you commit in a closet affects everybody that you know, even if they don't know about the sin, because you are not the individual with the spirit of the Lord that you need to be or need to have. So every sin affects others. It's just it's just wrong to think that any major sin that we commit or major crime that we commit are the only sins that affect others. Every sin we commit affects others. And so this will apply to all of us.
And that's my point, you know, because if we're able to just sidestep the twin bullies fair and pride for a minute and take it our own lives through the lenses of honesty and integrity and through the spirit, we will see. And if we do it through the lenses of integrity and honesty and through the spirit, then we will then have a desire to make that which we have wronged. Right. And and Dave, there's going to be a lot of times when we just can't make those wrongs. Right.
Yeah. Well, and and Scott, the person that we've negatively hurt the most. Yeah. Is the individual who suffered for them. Yeah. And the really important critical part of restitution and understanding sin and our role in in repenting and making restitution is is confessing the pain and the suffering we have caused Jesus Christ, our savior and our Redeemer. I mean, we hurt him every time we sin. So there's restitution that needs to be made there as well. It's a huge part. Yeah. Of what rest.
Maybe the biggest part. Yeah, for sure. So I know that again, an addiction recovery member, people who are not even members of the church, restitution plays an important role in them. I'm excited for you to share that with our listeners. But it also as members of the church and the covenants that we've made when we break when we break covenants and we sin, there must be there must be restitution.
And let me just say now early on for all of those who have been abused, who have been sexually or emotionally or physically or verbally or any other kind of abuse that that individuals have suffered that number one, it's important to understand the ultimate victim was Jesus Christ that he was hurt by all of that abuse to cumulatively.
And number two, that even though he paid for the sins that were committed against you, us, all of us, that no individual gets off scotch free, that even though Jesus suffered for the sin, that he paid the demands of the just of justice for all sin, that he covers all sin, he suffered for the sins of the world. That's some that's stated many times in the doctrine, covenants only once in the Bible, but other places in the Book of Mormon, doctrine, covenants.
So even though he paid for all the sins of all the world, that met the demands of justice that did not let others off the hook. It did not mean they would not pay the consequences of their sins and that there would be punishment. There will be punishment Alma chapter 42. There must be punishment.
There must be consequences of sin in order for individuals to be able to complete the process of repentance, then if an individual dies having committed terrible sins that he was never convicted of by our laws, that individual will make restitution for that in the next life. Again, that's, we'll read that again from the book here in a moment. So it's just really, I think important for all of us to understand that restitution cannot be escaped. It cannot just be ignored.
And even those who go to the celestial kingdom and elder Oaks taught this in last conference, so that would be in October of 2023 that individuals who go to the celestial kingdom will suffer for their sins. Now that's not to pay for the sin, but they will suffer the consequences of their sins. And then they'll go to the celestial kingdom. They don't just go there, pass like the monopoly game. You don't just go to jail, pass, go, don't collect $200.
No, there are consequences and there is punishment and restitution must be fulfilled before those individuals go to the celestial kingdom, Scott. So I, this is just such an important part of what repentance is, and I think all of us need to really consider as you invited us to do, you know, where am I at in this process? Am I making restitution?
And even though, even though we cannot restore virtue, we can't restore life, we can't restore emotional pain or trust lost or there's so many things we can't restore. The truth is, Jesus Christ can and he becomes our creditor. Jesus Christ can restore all things. He had told them Jesus Christ suffered for all things and Jesus Christ becomes our creditor. So important part of restitution is not on how we repay or we get back or we restore this or that, but how can we pay back Jesus Christ?
How can our focus should be on after we've done everything that we can to restore what was lost? And even though we can't restore anymore, how can I repay Jesus Christ as my creditor? This important part, I think, of discipleship and giving our whole souls and sins to him is that we focus on how can we repay him. So I think that's some of the ways in which we need to, how we need to see and live, really, how we live restitution.
In fact, you used the term, as we were talking about this morning, what did you call it? All that living amends. Darrell Bock Living amends. That's restitution. What is that? When we think of sins, when we think of the things that we do to sin against God or against others and I think about restitution, there's just certain things that I'll never be able to restore to those that I've sinned. And it's not because, again, not because I've been gone down a bad path. It's because I'm human.
This is true for all of us. There's just certain things that I've done. Darrell Bock Absolutely. John M. That I've perpetrated against others unintentionally or intentionally that I'll just never be able to restore. No matter what I do, I can't restore it no matter what I do. Darrell Bock True for all of us. John M. But he can and he's the creditor and he will restore that. And so I have to remember that there are things that I can't do that for.
So what I'm doing is paying the creditor, he who will and can restore them, I need to align with him and that's through that. Now there are certain things though. We call it cash register honesty sometimes. So you know there are certain things where maybe I've stolen something or somebody has created a situation in somebody's life that has created an equality or an inequity for them and there are things that I could do or one could do to pay that back. They could make an amends with money.
They could make an amends with work. They could make amends many, many, many different ways. Well there are certain things and I'm living in amends to many people in my life because there's just getting back to my first example. You know I just wasn't a great dad all the time. And there are certain things that my kids are dealing with, certain characteristics that they have in their lives that they have carried on because of me. And that's true for all of us again. Darrell Bock For sure.
John M. But they are carrying it on because of me. No matter. They are carrying it on because of me. They are carrying it on because of me. And I'm living in amends and sins of their fathers. Darrell Bock There's no matter what I do no matter how much money I were to pay, no matter how I could set them up, it would never emotionally heal that in and of itself. And so and not only that, but how do I put a, how do I quantify the amount of damage that was done on any of them?
So was Dakota, was his damage a hundred dollars? If I gave him a hundred dollars will he be okay? And I know I'm being flippant here. But the point is, and it was Kirby's five hundred dollars and do I need to pay her five hundred dollars? And with that there's no amount. And so the only thing I can do today is to live my life like I should have then, like I wish I would have then, and teach them how to also be that way with their children. John M. Yeah. Help them to avoid it.
Darrell Bock That's a living amends. John M. I would say that restitution in, in, if you've robbed someone of their virtue, and there's lots of different ways to do that. If you've robbed someone of their virtue, then perhaps making amends or perhaps the principle of restitution would be to try to help others not make the same mistake that you made. I mean, maybe that's why I taught seminary and institutes, Scott.
Maybe I taught seminaries and institutes to try to make amends and try to make restitution for, for my sins. I think that all of us should be trying to help others. I think ultimately in this life and in the life to come, that trying to help under, help others to understand the love of God, the gift of his son, the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, his pain, his suffering, his atonement, that helping others to understand that is, is part of what it means to make restitution.
Helping others to feel the love of God and the love of the Savior is such an important part of restitution. So every day we should ask ourselves, just think, think how this would change your life. How would change your repentance is to, how can I help others today to feel the love of God and the love of Jesus Christ? That would be, that would change our intentional living. Anyway, how can I increase someone's faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement? That's rest, that's making restitution.
How can I increase my faith? Even increasing my faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement is a form of restitution. Helping myself, anyway, that's what it means. Think about a child or a person who has been abused as a child or whatever the case may be. And then, you know, they are just unable to, from their abuser, to receive any kind of complete restoration. It's just impossible. And it was never intended for it to be that way. Thus enters the atonement of Jesus Christ into our lives.
Where through his power, through his merits, through his sacrifice, through his blood spilt, an extremely important component, in fact, the important component to this, through his blood spilt, that person can be restored regardless of the efforts of the other. Now, I know that that's not easy.
I know that there are people in my life that I love, people in your life that you love, and people in each of our lives that we love, because this is just that permeating throughout our entire society, that there are those who have been hurt by others. And sometimes this pain can cause all kinds of separation from the spirit. It can create all kinds of anxieties and depressions and many... Well, it's like dropping a huge boulder in the middle of a lake. And you just don't know. No waves.
And you don't know how high they're going to be, and you don't know when they're going to come up next. It can be a tsunami. Yeah. And it just goes on and on and on. Sometimes it can get bigger and bigger and bigger. But the point I'm making here is that if I'm waiting for the person who has caused harm to me to restore me, or if I'm waiting for their penalty to be sufficient... Or their punishment. ...to be sufficient for me, I may be seeing it the wrong way. Well, your focus is on who? On me.
On them. You know? Yeah. And so I have... I can't restore what was lost. No, I have a horizontal focus. My focus needs to be vertical. I need to look to him for restoration against... In all things. So I need to look to him for restoration against my abuses, and I need to look for him for restoration against my abuses towards others. Healing. It's healing. It's healing. And only he can heal us. But it is also important, Scott.
I think for individuals who have been hurt, offended, abused by the sins of others, to recognize and understand the justice of God. Absolutely. And that individuals, abusers, sinners, all of us are not going to just confess Jesus and it's over. We're not just going to die and it's over, that there will be a reckoning. That's I think really critical. We all understand that. For myself, that I understand that for myself, there'll be a reckoning for my sins and a restitution demanded from me.
And again, many different forms of that. But that if we understood that, I think that it would be easier for us to let it go. To let go and let God. Let God demand that. Why do I have to demand that? Again, I'm not discounting that the laws of men should be ignored. And if crimes or acts of abuse are against the law, then we should get the law involved. We should ignore that. That there should be justice and that there should be payment and penalty for sins in this life, civilly.
But there are so many. Again, you can't put somebody in jail for the rest of their life and think that that makes restitution for taking a life. No. That's punishment. But God will. There will be restitution. I don't, you know, the jails in the court system and the government laws that we have only go to a certain point. The justice of God will demand that there be a restitution made. And again, I'm not talking about meeting the demands of the law of justice.
I'm talking about making restitution to the individuals who have been hurt or for the for the damage done. There will be restitution that is demanded and that is made. So we can't ignore this and think that it just goes away is when I confess and my sins and love Jesus and think and say I'm sorry. Restitution is so much more than just saying I'm sorry. Now that may be a small part of it. But it's so much deeper than that.
It's how can I restore what was lost and the acknowledgement that I can't really restore very much when it comes to serious sins and then Jesus's atonement has to kick in for us and we realize that he suffered for it. It's important. I think for individuals who have been hurt, damaged by the sins of others to also also have faith in the compensatory powers of the atonement of Jesus Christ that he will compensate them.
Not only will he demand restitution from their offender, but that he will through the compensatory powers of the atonement of Jesus Christ that he will compensate them that there will be some things in their life where they receive greater mercy, grace and gifts from the experiences that they've suffered innocently. So anyway, understanding the atonement of Jesus Christ and the justice and mercy of God is an important part to understanding restitution.
I think the ultimate scripture for this Scott, since we really can't pay back very much is to understand our indebtedness to the Lord Jesus Christ and to make him our creditor. And this seems to be, I think on the Tuesday of the last week of his life, Scott, he saved maybe his best parables. I think these and these weren't produced just impromptu. I think he'd been thinking about these parables, last three parables that he teaches on Tuesday.
I think he had prepared them in his entire ministry and saved them to the very last. And maybe he taught them over and over again throughout his ministry. But we have these these parables about the the talents and the 10 virgins and the sheep and the goats. This parable on the sheep and the goats, Scott, is really, I think, powerful in the way we should see restitution and really how we should how we should live our lives.
So why don't you read that for us, Matthew, Matthew 25, beginning with 31. What 31? Yeah, let's start in 31. We'll go through 40. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, he shall sit upon the throne of his glory. And before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.
Then shall the king say unto them, On this right hand come ye, blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was unhungered and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed me, and I was sick and ye visited me. And I was in prison and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee unhungered and fed thee? Or thirsty and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger and took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or imprisoned and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily, I say unto you, In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. When we serve each other, we serve him. That's the only way, Scott. We can't, we can't. That's the only way we can. And it's so sweet that that's how he sees it.
That's how he sees us repaying him is by blessing others. Well, he gave us the perfect pattern of that. His service to us is the perfect service. He's asking us to come follow me, do what ye have seen me do. You know, when you think about, when I think about the temple and going to the temple to serve others who cannot perform ordinances for themselves, I think of that vicarious sacred service as being another form of restitution.
I'm trying to help save others because of the sins that I have, I have committed. I think one of the great examples of it really in the scriptures is Alma the Younger. Enos is also an example of it. Enos, as soon as he gets forgiven of sins, what does he do? Well he prays for his brethren. And then what does he do? Well, he prays for his enemies.
And then we have this, this classic example in Alma chapter 36 that after, after Alma cries out, oh Jesus, the Son of God have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness and am circled about by the everlasting chains of death. And he's forgiven of his sins, right? That's the heart of repentance right there when he cries out, oh Jesus. But look at what he says. Here's restitution. You can see the whole process of repentance, I think, in the Alma chapter 36. And here's restitution.
Today, this is verse 24, yeah, and from that time, even until now, I have labored without ceasing that I might bring souls unto repentance, that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste, that they might also be born of God and be filled with the Holy Ghost. That is an ultimate statement, an example of restitution, Scott. And until we all feel that, I'm not sure we can do much to make restitution. So again, how would our lives change if that became our purpose?
Was to help others to feel the love of God and the exceeding joy and to receive the Holy Ghost in their life. Anyway, that's in the recovery room, Scott. Talk about how it works and what you shared with me earlier before we started this about how restitution works in recovery. This part of recovery and part of the, this part of the recovery process, I guess I should say, is so important.
This is the one, and there are probably others too, and I can say anecdotally, but after 25 years of observation, and it's never been different than this, I'm not sure that I should use the word anecdotally. I think this is just a fact. But it's my experience, and I don't speak in behalf of any recovery program or anything like that.
However, there are a couple of steps in the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, and when I say the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, these are the same 12 steps that have been adopted by virtually every other addiction recovery program, including the one from the church.
Steps four and five, we've talked about those when we talked about confess and forsake, because step four is made a list of all persons, no, step four is, is I took a seeking and fearless moral inventory of myself, and I looked at everything in my life that was just out of whack.
And then step five is, as I confess that I have this conversation, I get it off my chest, I talk to somebody else, you know, in our tradition and in our faith, that could be part of the confession process of repentance, but it doesn't have to be. You know, this is more than just confessing to repent. This is talking about a lot of stuff, a lot more than that.
And I think I mentioned this last time when I did talk about that, that this is where, in my experience of not just sponsoring others, but observing others who are being sponsored, this is where when, if one gets tripped up, it's almost inevitable that they will again drink or drug or whatever the case may be. So that's form five. And why is that, Scott? I mean, why does it drive them to drink if they don't complete these things? Well, this is what we call untreated alcoholism.
This is what we call, you know, we could transfer that from a secular, we could transfer that. Unrepentant sin. We call this untreated, fallen life. We treat our fallen life through what? Untreated alcoholism is the same thing as unrepented sin. 100% accurate. And so this untreated alcoholism, we treat alcoholism through the spirit, first three steps by taking a personal inventory, cleaning up our side of the street and then helping others.
And so, you know, as we clean up our side of the street, that's so important that it includes four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. Those are the same. Those six, those, yeah, six steps, half of the steps are involved in our claim on our side of the street. Well, if we don't, and then six and seven give us the ability through our faith and through our relationship to ask God to remove all of our defects of character. And then we move into eight and nine and eight.
We make a list of all persons we had harmed. We began to prepare, we begin the preparation process to make restitution, which we do in nine. In step nine, make restitution to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them and others. And we don't make that decision on our own. We take that to God. We work that through a sponsor, et cetera, because I think I mentioned before that that can be the loophole that others see. Well, I don't want to hurt somebody else.
Yeah. And use that as an excuse. When, when, when I've had people that I've been associated with closely through that sponsor relationship or others that I've loved in recovery, which is everybody and, and they struggle, it's oftentimes that there's not an eight and nine that's complete.
In fact, I'll ask, you know, if I, if I talk into somebody and they're new to me and in a sponsor relationship and they're struggling with their ability to fill the spirit or their ability to stay sober, I'll ask them, how's your form five or how's your eight and nine? You know, the eight and nine in the nine is that restitution. And this is where I learned to David that I can't restore everything that was lost because of me. Very little. I just can't.
And this is where, and this is also I make the encouragement. This is where I live a living immense. Now if you'll remember a few weeks ago when we had Nick on as we did the interview and we asked him, so Nick, when did you begin to really, and I'm paraphrasing, but he said that he really began to fill the spirit at work in his life when he began the immense process. Yeah. Right. It's not important. It's just that important.
If we have one skips it or doesn't give it an all out effort, the best effort that we are available to give in the given moment, and it may be never perfect, but if we don't give our best effort in that moment that we're able to give, we're likely not to stay sober. Well, a man says one part of it, but I know that another part of restitution in their addiction recovery program is to serve others. Well, and what steps that will end. So that's the third part, right?
Take inventory, clean house, help others, serve others, and so that's that's that's 1011 and 12. So we've gone through eight and nine. Now 10 is I take personal inventory when I'm wrong personally admit it. Where am I mostly wrong in my relationships with others? So I need to promptly admit that. And then 11 is sought through prayer and meditation to maintain a conscious contact with God with Heavenly Father.
And then 12 is the crowning jewel of all of the steps is that we continue to help others. Give back. We have to. That is so restitution such a huge part of addiction recovery. And it's such a huge part of repentance and your life's got I think is an amazing example of that. You know, and I think I've heard you say so I don't want to put words in your mouth.
I think you've told me that you know that that your service I mean how many groups you have spoken to how many people you have sponsored has probably kept you sober. There's no doubt. There's no question. In fact, I tell people and you know, and I and I say it somewhat flippantly. I mean it a little bit.
But even my spot, you know, people will I'll have a sponsor who's struggling and I'll maybe somebody will hear about and they'll say I'll bet that each you up and I and it does, you know, because I love them, but I have to remember I'm doing this for me, you know, from a selfish standpoint. I'm not going to stay sober if I don't help somebody else stay sober. That was the first thing that Bill and Bob found it out. That's the first thing they realized.
That's how Bill got sober was helping Bob get sober. And that was there's just no possible way we can do it without the help from each other. That transfers also to our spiritual and our religious experience, David. For sure. I mean, we think about ministering in the church, right? And ministering in the church. There's no different is a form of restitution is it's a form of service for sure.
But but I I think we just do not understand the power of ministering and serving others and the blessings that come back to us. And we I don't think see it as we should that it is part of our making restitution of making amends and of serving. So all of that is is an important part. I think of restitution, Scott. I think it's just really critical. Number one kind of review here that we understand that Jesus Christ is the punishment. He is the penalty.
He is the payment and he is the propitiation of all sin. Period. All sin. We can't pay back one millionth of one percent of any sin we commit. Jesus paid for all of it for all sin for all the sins of all the world. He is all of that. Our responsibility, which God takes seriously is that we grow, we progress, we repent, we receive mercy, we receive grace, we receive redemption, enabling power, compensatory powers in our life by seeking to serve others, making restitution, making amends.
That is such a critical part of what we really mean when we say repent. And more than more than it being the core of repentance, it reveals our repentance. It reveals our sincerity. It reveals our faith. It reveals our recognition. It reveals everything else that has to do with repentance. And so I think restitution is not very well understood about the critical nature of it when it comes to our repenting. And I just testified to all of our listeners.
What a blessing it can be in all of our lives if we would just daily try to consider how can I help somebody today feel love and become instruments in the hands of God in trying to help others knowing that this is our best efforts to try to be ambassadors, representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ and by doing so trying to help pay back what was lost as the result of our sins.
For me, it's really important that we understand just like we have with the others that we've talked about when we talk about the manifestations of repentance. When we talked about confession and forsaking, it's the same as restitution. It is not repentance. Restitution is not in and of itself repentance. It's a manifestation that we are repenting for sure. But just because somebody were to pay back something they stole, that's not necessarily repentance in and of itself.
How many people go to jail pay a price and they've never repented? That's exactly. And so we need to make sure that we're understanding this. It's easy for us because it's measurable for us to think, well, I confessed I've repented. Well, I have forsaken. Well, I've repented. Well, I have made restitution. I have repented. That's that may or may not be the case. And in most cases, if that's the focus, it's probably not repentance.
The focus must always, always be on he who merited our ability to be forgiven, to be restored, to have all of the compensatory blessings, the enabling blessings in all others that are available to us. Jesus Christ's power through his Atonement. And it's when we access that through a broken heart and a contract spirit, spirit evidence by our crying out and asking him, please, Father, take me, you know, that crying unto Christ as Elder Anderson puts it into in the book, that's repentance.
These are manifestations. May these manifestations manifest themselves in our own lives too. You know, that's that's my that's my hope. Yeah. Well said, Scott. That's that's the essence of it. Thank you. Thanks for being with us, everybody. I look forward to being with you again next week. And until then, be well.