Moroni 10:33

And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.

Here is hope! Moroni's final words are of hope. We can hope to be spotless and holy and acceptable to God because Christ has ransomed us and paid our price. God can be merciful because of Christ, which fills both the Father and the Son with joy. Their joy is our one true hope.

3 Nephi 17:20

And they arose from the earth, and he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full.

We bring Christ joy when we exercise faith in him. The greater our faith, the greater his joy. His joy is full when we are fully justified and sanctified. When he can completely trust us and does not have to worry about us, his joy is full, meaning available for full expression without reservation. That is the kind of joy we will have with God in the celestial kingdom.

Helaman 3:35

Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.

As these people's humility grew, so did their faith in Christ. It became firm, then solid, then un-bendable, then unbreakable. Humility and faith go hand in hand. The more humble we are, the more we see the need to depend on God. The more we depend on him, the more he can help us. The more he helps us, the better we come to know him. And the better we know him, the more we trust him. Trust us another word for faith. By faith, we act with growing confidence on our beliefs.

The more thoroughly we trust God, and the more evidence we acquire of his love for, and interest, in us, the more joy we experience. How can we not feel exquisite joy when we know that the Supreme Being in the universe knows us and cares about us?  How can we not rejoice in knowing this earth, life itself, and the grand plan of salvation were created to lift us to exaltation with God?

One additional note: we do not purify and sanctify our own hearts. We can only yield them to God. It is by his power through the Savior's Atonement that our hearts are changed.

Alma 39:15

And now, my son, I would say somewhat unto you concerning the coming of Christ. Behold, I say unto you, that it is he that surely shall come to take away the sins of the world; yea, he cometh to declare glad tidings of salvation unto his people.

Alma was certain that Christ would come. He would "surely come." Nothing would stop him or hinder him in his mission to save the world from death and all who would repent from hell. Christ would bring the happiest of news -- that we would not be left to our mortal fate and natural weaknesses without help. He would surely come, without fail, and bring ransom, rescue, deliverance and salvation with him. For those who were discouraged he would bring hope. For those who were in despair he would bring renewal. For those who had failed he would bring another chance. For those who sorrowed and grieved he would bring peace and joy. His coming would be the best news and the gladest tidings of all.

Alma 31:38

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And the Lord provided for them that they should hunger not, neither should they thirst; yea, and he also gave them strength, that they should suffer no manner of afflictions, save it were swallowed up in the joy of Christ. Now this was according to the prayer of Alma; and this because he prayed in faith.

The Lord did not exempt his missionaries from afflictions, but he strengthened them to be able to bear them. He promised them perspective. They would recognize that preaching Christ is more important than being comfortable. They would suffer afflictions, not as a punishment, but as a way for them to bear testimony and witness for Christ. They would be comforted because they would know the purpose of their suffering. This can be true for all of us who bear witness of Christ. Our afflictions will be swallowed up in the joy of Christ.

Mosiah 4:20

And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on his name, and begging for a remission of your sins. And has he suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; he has poured out his Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy.

God answers our sincere prayers for forgiveness readily and instantly. He does not leave us dangling endlessly on the hook, wondering if he hears, wondering if he cares, wondering if he even knows who we are. When we are humble, and approach him in lowliness of heart, he answers surely and quickly with peace. That does not mean that all mortal consequences are extinguished in that moment, but mortal guilt and anguish can be swept away, and our hearts can be filled with hope and peace.

Second Nephi 9:18

But, behold, the righteous, the saints of the Holy One of Israel, they who have believed in the Holy One of Israel, they who have endured the crosses of the world, and despised the shame of it, they shall inherit the kingdom of God, which was prepared for them from the foundation of the world, and their joy shall be full forever.

The crosses of the world are the humiliation, persecutions, and cruelties the world puts upon the saints because they believe in Christ. They are the prejudices and miseries heap upon the disciples of Jesus and the restored gospel. To be fit for God's kingdom, we must be willing to endure everything the world and the god of this world will perpetrate upon us to get us to deny the faith.

The shame of worldly persecution is the loss of respect that we experience. The intent of the world's crosses is to discredit the disciples and their message so they cannot be effective in spreading the good news of the restoration.

To despise something is to look down upon it with contempt. We may be taught to turn the other cheek, but that doesn't mean we have to like it. We must stand firm, steadfast and immovable in our testimonies and not allow the persecutions to overcome us and destroy our faith.

In addition, we take up our cross when we choose to follow Christ in all things and deny ourselves the worldly pleasures of sin. We despise the shame of sin when we turn away from it, repent, seek forgiveness, and turn our lives over to Christ.

Second Nephi 9:14

Wherefore, we shall have a perfect knowledge of all our guilt, and our uncleanness, and our nakedness; and the righteous shall have a perfect knowledge of their enjoyment, and their righteousness, being clothed with purity, yea, even with the robe of righteousness.

Who are the righteous? Are they not sinners, like the rest of us, but who have repented and come unto Christ and washed away their stains in his blood? The judgment is not about sin but about mercy and whether we have received the saving ordinances and made covenants and bring a broken heart and a contrite spirit to the judgment seat. The judgment will only confirm what we already know.