FAITH ~ GRACE ~ WORKS 2 NEPHI 25-27

SALVATION List everything a person needs to get to the Celestial Kingdom. At what point did Jesus show up on your list? First? Last? In the middle?

SALVATION Read 2 Nephi 25:1,19, 21, 23, 26. Read Romans 10:9 ‑ 10. Many good Christians cite these verses as proof that they have been "saved" because they have sincerely confessed or declared that Jesus Christ is their Savior.

SALVATION So… are you saved? (common question to be asked among Christians)

SAVED BY GRACE

SALVATION Define “Saved”: 1.We are all saved from physical death 2.We can be saved from sin. 3.We can be saved by being "born again" 4.We can be saved by receiving exaltation. Which are conditional? Which are unconditional? Have you been saved under any of the definitions?

2 NEPHI 25 What is grace? BD pg 697: grace. Cross Reference: Alma 24:11

2 NEPHI 25 Elder David A. Bednar wrote, “I suspect that you and I are much more familiar with the redeeming power of the Atonement than we are with the enabling power of the Atonement. Most of us clearly understand that the Atonement is for sinners. I am not so sure, however, that we know and understand that the Atonement is also for saints—for good men and women who are obedient and worthy and who are striving to become better and serve faithfully. I frankly do not think many of us “get it” concerning this enabling and strengthening aspect of the Atonement, and I wonder if we mistakenly believe we must make the journey all by ourselves through sheer grit, willpower, and discipline, and with our obviously limited capacities.” (Elder David A. Bednar, In the Strength of the Lord, BYI Idaho Speeches, 23 October 2001).

2 NEPHI 25 Imagine that you are in the desert dying of thirst.

2 NEPHI 25 On a nearby hill is this container of lifesaving water.

2 NEPHI 25 Which of the following will save your life: Your confidence that the water will save you Your effort to crawl up the hill to get the water Drinking the water in the glass

2 NEPHI 25 What does the water represent? (Grace) What could the effort to crawl up the hill represent? (Works) What could confidence in the saving power of the water represent? (Faith)

BRAD WILCOX BYU DEVOTIONAL GRACE

2 NEPHI 25 What are some analogies you've heard about Grace and the Atonement? “One early Australian convert said: ‘My past life [was] a wilderness of weeds, with hardly a flower Strewed among them. [But] now the weeds have vanished, and flowers Spring up in their place.’ “We grow in two ways—removing negative weeds and cultivating positive flowers. The Savior’s grace blesses both parts—if we do our part. “We must uproot the weeds of sin and bad choices. It isn’t enough just to mow the weeds. Yank them out by the roots, repenting fully to satisfy the conditions of mercy. Once we’ve cleared our heartland, we must continually plant and nourish the seeds of divine qualities.” (Elder Bruce C. Hafen).

2 NEPHI 25 So can God’s children be saved by Grace alone? “Martin Luther had said that grace alone can save; his followers took up his doctrine and repeated it word for word. But they left the obligation to discipleship...The justification of the sinner degenerated into the justification of sin. Costly grace was turned into cheap grace without discipleship.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship).

2 NEPHI 25 Is Grace something that happens at the end of our life? Grace is not like a runner getting a heavenly boost of energy for the last 3 miles of the marathon after she has physically spent all her available energy and done “all that she can do.” This thought denies the truth that it is by the Lord’s grace that we have the breath to live, the muscles to work, the food to energize, the passion to train, and the fortitude to push on in the race. The Lord gives us grace—divine means of help and strength—all along the way.

2 NEPHI 25 “The Savior’s gift of grace to us is not necessarily limited in time to ‘after’ all we can do. We may receive his grace before, during and after the time when we expend our own efforts” (Elder Bruce C. Hafen, The Broken Heart [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989], 155

2 NEPHI 25 Equador Christian Missionaries Story

FAITH ~ GRACE ~ WORKS 2 NEPHI 25-27