PUZZLE #36 - The Final Exam

Have you held yourself up against the criteria for sanctification given by Moroni 10:32-33 on page 531?

"...and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace
ye may be perfect in Christ;"

That's a big IF isn't it? Have you denied yourself of all ungodliness? Is there anything in your behavior or in your thoughts, which is ungodly? Have you successfully eliminated from your life everything that is ungodly ? If you have, Moroni says that the grace of God is sufficient for you, but if you haven't, Moroni says the grace of God isn't enough for you.

Sadly, those who believe that they have conquered all the ungodliness in their lives, are deluding themselves. Those around them know the truth. Hopefully, each
of us know ourselves well enough to realize that we are not Gods in an embryonic form. We are the fallen men that Alma describes (Alma 42:14 Page 312).

"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one." (Romans 3:10-12)

Moroni says above that if you have not denied yourself of all ungodliness, the grace of God can't help you. Moroni says that God's grace is sufficient for you only IF you have denied yourself of all ungodliness. Is there someone who has been able to do that? Well, no. I think not.

The purpose of the atonement was to save mankind from his own fallen state. If we could have pulled ourselves up by our own bootstraps, there would have been no need for a Savior. The key idea of the atonement is that God knew that we couldn't save ourselves. He took the penalty Himself because he knew that we couldn't change
ourselves, and He didn't wait to see how we would do before He made that payment for us.

"But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." (Romans 5:8-9)

"We are justified by his blood", not by making the corrections ourselves. Then God sees us as though we were clean, and His Holy Spirit moves in with us. The Spirit starts slowly cleaning us up, until one day we are fully sanctified.

His grace is sufficient. Nothing else is needed. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.