Lesson 28: “The Word Is in Christ unto Salvation”
Book of Mormon
Sherwood Hills Ward – 5 August 2012
1) Introduction
a) Two
Great Atonement Sermons
i)
Alma in Alma 32-33
ii) Amulek
in Alma 34
b) Set
the Scene
i)
In Alma 31, we see Alma organize a missionary effort to
proselyte the Zoramites
ii) Members
of the party included
(1) Ammon,
and Aaron, and Omner – three of the sons of Mosiah
(2) Amulek
and Zeezrom
(a) The
same Zeezrom that opposed Alma in Ammonihah and was converted
(3) Shiblon
and Corianton – two of Alma’s sons
(4) Perhaps
others
iii) Zoramites
were Nephite dissenters
(1) Danger
that they would join the Lamanites
iv) Apostate
v) Rameumptom
vi) Their
worship was bizarre
(1) Worshipped
once a week
(2) A
single set prayer
(a) God
is a spirit
(b) Zoramites
are better than the Nephites
(i) Zoramites
will be saved while Nephites are destroyed
(c) There
will be no Christ
(d) Foolish
traditions of the Nephites
vii) Rodney
Turner: "The religion of the ancient Zoramites in the Book of Mormon is paralleled
by much of the religion practiced in our modern world: it was false,
superficial, undemanding, impotent, and Christless. Consequently, the
message of God's prophets to that misguided people is as relevant now as it was
over two thousand years ago." (Studies in Scripture, 8:16)
2) Alma
32
a) The
missionaries are teaching
i)
READ Alma 32, verse 2 - And it came to pass that
after much labor among them, they began to have success among the poor
class of people; for behold, they were cast out of the synagogues
because of the coarseness of their apparel
ii) Alma
is preaching to a gathering outside – on the hill Onidah (Verse 3) when “a
great multitude unto him, who were those of whom we have been speaking, of whom
were poor in heart, because of their poverty as to the things of the world” –
Verse 4
iii) What
do the poor Zoramites say?
iv) Reading
1 – Alma 32:5
5 And they came unto Alma; and the one who was
the foremost among them said unto him: Behold, what shall these my brethren do,
for they are despised of all men because of their poverty, yea,
and more especially by our priests; for they have cast us out of our
synagogues which we have labored abundantly to build with our own
hands; and they have cast us out because of our exceeding poverty; and we have
no place to worship our God; and behold, what shall we do?
(1) ASK –
Is there a relationship between apostasy and treating the poor badly?
v) Reading
2 – Alma 32:12-13
12 I say unto you, it
is well that ye are cast out of your synagogues, that ye may be humble,
and that ye may learn wisdom; for it is necessary that ye should
learn wisdom; for it is because that ye are cast out, that ye are despised of
your brethren because of your exceeding poverty, that ye are brought to a
lowliness of heart; for ye are necessarily brought to be humble.
13 And now, because ye
are compelled to be humble blessed are ye; for a man sometimes, if he is
compelled to be humble, seeketh repentance; and now surely, whosoever repenteth
shall find mercy; and he that findeth mercy and endureth to the end the same
shall be saved.
(1) Alma
later explains that it is better to be humble without being forced to be humble,
but he is happy to teach the poor Zoramites, regardless of how they became
humble.
b) Faith
i)
Alma will take the Zoramites through a series of steps
necessary for they and us to come to God
ii) Reading
3 – Alma 32:21-22
21 And now as I said
concerning faith—faith is not to have a perfect knowledge of things; therefore
if ye have faith ye hope for things which are not seen, which are true.
22 And now, behold, I
say unto you, and I would that ye should remember, that God is merciful unto
all who believe on his name; therefore he desireth, in the first place,
that ye should believe, yea, even on his word.
iii) Reading
4 – President Boyd K. Packer has written:
"Faith, to be faith, must center around something that is not
known. Faith, to be faith, must go beyond that for which there is confirming
evidence. Faith, to be faith, must go into the unknown. Faith, to be faith,
must walk to the edge of the light, and then a few steps into the darkness. If
everything has to be known, if everything has to be explained, if everything
has to be certified, then there is no need for faith. Indeed, there is no room
for it." (Improvement Era, Nov
1968, p62)
(1) ASK –
Why is developing the ability to know without seeing – faith – so important?
(2) ASK -
What is the first step that Alma asks of the Zoramites – Verse 22 – believe
(3) ASK –
What does “word” mean at the end of verse 22?
(a) Word
of God – scriptures, prophesies
(b) John
1:1 - 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God.
(4) The
words of God given in the scriptures and through the prophets always point
to Christ and His Atonement.
iv) Reading
5 – Alma 32:26-27
26 Now, as I said concerning
faith—that it was not a perfect knowledge—even so it is with my words. Ye
cannot know of their surety at first, unto perfection, any more than faith is a
perfect knowledge.
27 But behold, if ye
will awake and arouse your faculties, even to an experiment upon my words, and
exercise a particle of faith, yea, even if ye can no more than desire to
believe, let this desire work in you, even until ye believe in a manner that ye
can give place for a portion of my words.
(1) We
start out with a particle of faith – the tiniest piece – and
build on that
(2) Desire
to believe – this isn’t so hard
(3) ASK –
in Verse 27 – what does it mean to “give place”
(a) ASK
– What are examples in our time of people who fail to “give place”?
(b) ASK –
How do we know that we are “giving place” for words and faith to grow in our
lives?
c) The
parable of the seed
i)
Reading 6 – Alma 32:28
28 Now, we will compare
the word unto a seed. Now, if ye give place, that a seed may be planted
in your heart, behold, if it be a true seed, or a good seed, if ye do not cast
it out by your unbelief, that ye will resist the Spirit of the Lord, behold, it
will begin to swell within your breasts; and when you feel these
swelling motions, ye will begin to say within yourselves—It must needs be
that this is a good seed, or that the word is good, for it beginneth to enlarge
my soul; yea, it beginneth to enlighten my understanding, yea, it
beginneth to be delicious to me.
(1) Note
the “give place” again in this verse
(2) Characteristics
of a seed
(a) When
we plant a seed in the ground that is properly prepared, we first see a sprout
coming out of the ground.
(i) The
fact that the seed sprouted means that it was not an infertile seed – it worked
(b) Growing
our faith
(i) ASK
– Why is the word, the beginning of our faith, more like a seed than, say a jet
plane or a computer?
1. A
seed operates on its own time
a. It’s
not fast.
b. It’s
hard to hurry along.
c. Computers
double their power and speed every 18 months, seeds don’t operate that way.
(c) When
the seed first sprouts, we’re not certain what it will become
(i) An
oak tree and a tomato plant are each a one-inch sprout early in their lives
(ii) What
becomes of the seed depends on how well we tend it.
ii) Evidence
of Spiritual Things
(1) We
spoke about Korihor last week – seeking for a sign
(2) Sometimes
we speak of faith as if it’s a spiritual characteristic we must develop without
any evidence we can perceive.
(3) Alma
speaks of the evidence that helps us build our faith.
(a) This
is spiritual evidence, not the kind of evidence that skeptics like Korihor
prefer, but reliable evidence nonetheless.
(b) The
rods and cones of our eyes are not designed to perceive spiritual things.
(c) We
are surrounded by evidences of the truthfulness of the Gospel if we will only
use the senses through which God wants to communicate with us.
(i) Verse
28
1. Enlarge
my soul
2. Enlighten
my understanding
iii) Continue
parable of seed
(1) Reading
7 – Alma 32:37-39
37 And behold, as the tree
beginneth to grow, ye will say: Let us nourish it with great care,
that it may get root, that it may grow up, and bring forth fruit unto us. And
now behold, if ye nourish it with much care it will get root, and grow up, and
bring forth fruit.
38 But if ye
neglect the tree, and take no thought for its nourishment, behold it
will not get any root; and when the heat of the sun cometh and scorcheth it,
because it hath no root it withers away, and ye pluck it up and cast it
out.
39 Now, this is not
because the seed was not good, neither is it because the fruit thereof would
not be desirable; but it is because your ground is barren, and ye will
not nourish the tree, therefore ye cannot have the fruit thereof.
40 And thus, if ye will not
nourish the word, looking forward with an eye of faith to the fruit thereof, ye
can never pluck of the fruit of the tree of life.
(a) I
think this is where we spend the most time – nourishing or neglecting our faith
and spirituality
(b) Note
in verse 40 – Alma says this is the tree of life we are preparing ourselves for
3) Alma
33
a) Alma
begins by going back to the initial concern of the poor Zoramites
i)
Verse 2 - Behold, ye have said that ye could not
worship your God because ye are cast out of your synagogues.
b) Alma
then cites the prophet Zenos who says that he worshipped God in the wilderness,
in his fields, in his house and in his closet, and in “the congregations” –
synagogue
c) READ
– verse 11 – And thou didst hear me because of mine afflictions and
my sincerity; and it is because of thy Son that thou hast been thus
merciful unto me, therefore I will cry unto thee in all mine
afflictions, for in thee is my joy; for thou hast turned thy judgments
away from me, because of thy Son.
(1) This
is the Atonement
(2) ASK –
What was said about Christ in the Rameumptom prayer?
d) Alma
then cites the prophet Zenock, who also testified of Christ
i)
Verse 16 - Thou art angry, O Lord, with this people,
because they will not understand thy mercies which thou hast bestowed
upon them because of thy Son.
e) Alma
then cites Moses, who also testified of Christ with the brazen serpent
i)
“whosoever would look upon it might live.” – verse 19
f) Reading
8 – Alma 33:21-22
21 O my brethren, if ye could be healed by
merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold
quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful,
that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?
22 If so, wo shall come
upon you; but if not so, then cast about your eyes and begin to believe
in the Son of God, that he will come to redeem his people, and that he shall
suffer and die to atone for their sins; and that he shall rise again from the
dead, which shall bring to pass the resurrection, that all men shall
stand before him, to be judged at the last and judgment day, according to their
works.
g) Alma
has moved from the question about how the poor Zoramites could worship if they
couldn’t go into the synagogue into a powerful testimony of Christ
4) Alma
34
a) Amulek
begins by reviewing the important points of Alma’s teachings, then comes to the
main concern of the Zoramites
b) READ
– Alma 34:5 And we have beheld that the
great question which is in your minds is whether the word be in
the Son of God, or whether there shall be no Christ.
c) Reading
9 – Alma 34:8-10
8 And now, behold, I
will testify unto you of myself that these things are true.
Behold, I say unto you, that I do know that Christ shall come
among the children of men, to take upon him the transgressions of his
people, and that he shall atone for the sins of the world;
for the Lord God hath spoken it.
9 For it is expedient that an atonement
should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there
must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish;
yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish
except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be
made.
10 For it is expedient
that there should be a great and last sacrifice; yea, not a
sacrifice of man, neither of beast, neither of any manner of fowl; for it shall
not be a human sacrifice; but it must be an infinite and eternal
sacrifice.
i)
An infinite and eternal sacrifice – verse 10
(1) Infinite
in space and coverage
(a) Reaching
all people and all worlds
(2) Eternal
in time
(a) Reaching
backward and forward to all people who have ever
lived or ever will live
(3) An
eternal sacrifice because it brings the possibility of eternal life
with God
d) READ
– Alma 34:14-16
14 And behold, this is
the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that
great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will
be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal.
15 And thus he
shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on his name; this
being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of
mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto
men that they may have faith unto repentance.
16 And thus mercy
can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the
arms of safety, while he that exercises no faith unto
repentance is exposed to the whole law of the demands of justice;
therefore only unto him that has faith unto repentance is brought
about the great and eternal plan of redemption.
e) Amulek
warns against neglecting the poor – sounds like he knows King
Benjamin’s sermon well
i)
READ – Alma 34:28-29
28 And now behold, my
beloved brethren, I say unto you, do not suppose that this is all; for after
ye have done all these things, if ye turn away the needy, and the naked, and
visit not the sick and afflicted, and impart of your substance, if ye have, to
those who stand in need—I say unto you, if ye do not any of these
things, behold, your prayer is vain, and availeth you nothing,
and ye are as hypocrites who do deny the faith.
29 Therefore, if
ye do not remember to be charitable, ye are as dross, which the
refiners do cast out, (it being of no worth) and is trodden under foot of men.
f) Do
Not Procrastinate Your Repentance
i)
READ – Alma 34:33-35
33 And now, as I said
unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, therefore, I beseech of you
that ye do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the
end; for after this day of life, which is given us to prepare for
eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life,
then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed.
34 Ye cannot say, when
ye are brought to that awful crisis, that I will repent, that I will return to
my God. Nay, ye cannot say this; for that same spirit which doth possess
your bodies at the time that ye go out of this life, that same spirit will have
power to possess your body in that eternal world.
35 For behold, if
ye have procrastinated the day of your repentance even until death,
behold, ye have become subjected to the spirit of the devil, and he doth
seal you his; therefore, the Spirit of the Lord hath withdrawn from
you, and hath no place in you, and the devil hath all power over you; and
this is the final state of the wicked.
