Our Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ mete out justice. They have made the laws upon which it operates. Mercy is ours to claim, in repentance, through the power of the Atonement. Guilt can and will be swept away through repentance—we can and will be forgiven. Remember that guilt unto repentance is of the Lord, but guilt beyond repentance is of the devil. President Harold B. Lee tells the tender story of how we can know when we are forgiven:
Some years ago, President Marion G. Romney and I were sitting in my office. The door opened and a fine young man came in with a troubled look on his face, and he said, “Brethren, I am going to the temple for the first time tomorrow. I have made some mistakes in the past, and I have gone to my bishop and my stake president, and I have made a clean disclosure of it all; and after a period of repentance and assurance that I have not returned again to those mistakes, they have now adjudged me ready to go to the temple. But, brethren, that is not enough. I want to know, and how can I know, that the Lord has forgiven me also.”
What would you answer one who might come to you asking that question? As we pondered for a moment, we remembered King Benjamin’s address contained in the book of Mosiah. Here was a group of people asking for baptism, and they said they viewed themselves in their carnal state:
… And they all cried aloud with one voice, saying: O have mercy, and apply the atoning blood of Christ that we may receive forgiveness of our sins, and our hearts may be purified; …
… after they had spoken these words the Spirit of the Lord came upon them, and they were filled with joy, having received a remission of their sins, and having peace of conscience … (Mosiah 4:2–3).
There was the answer. (Stand Ye in Holy Places [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1974], 184–85)