38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my aword shall not pass away, but shall all be bfulfilled, whether by mine own cvoice or by the dvoice of my eservants, it is the fsame.
7 Call ye, therefore, upon them with loud proclamation, and with your testimony, fearing them not, for they are as agrass, and all their glory as the flower thereof which soon falleth, that they may be left also without excuse—
“Instead of answering questions about the treatment of refugees in Cambodia, the Australian government has shut down any public discussion of these issues,” Pearson said. “Australia is finding a new excuse to palm off the refugee problem rather than genuinely finding a regional solution that will involve Australia doing its fair share.”
But this is unrealistic because God always means what He says: “What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself” (D&C 1:38; see also Mosiah 2:24).
If we attempt to appease our conscience by trying to “excuse [ourselves] in the least point because of [our] sins” (Alma 42:30) or by trying to hide them, the only thing we will accomplish is to offend the Spirit (see D&C 121:37) and delay our repentance.
Invite a student to read Matthew 15:7–9 aloud, and ask the class to look for what the scribes and Pharisees had led people to do by using their traditions as an excuse to not obey God’s commandments.