Lehi's awesome sermon on agency

I read 2 Nephi 2 in the temple and got so much out of it. Wow it is such a dense chapter. I read it twice, and the second time I looked for Lehi's purpose and why he addressed his audience the way he did. Honestly, I think he was just talking to Jacob and since Jacob had a witness of Christ and could handle serious doctrine, and since Lehi knew that this message about agency needed to be given to man and recorded for our day, and since Lehi was a prophet and Heavenly Father needed him to give us this message, he just plopped it into a message to Jacob. lucky son! And lucky us!

Lehi teaches so much about agency. From his sermon, the main thing I learned is that we are given what we need to know good from evil! We are! W eall are, even if we don't grow up in the church. And for those who are numb or callous to guilt or to the Spirit of Chirst, which they were born with, that is because they have come a long way from where they started. And where they started was a more pure spirit that knew right from wrong. Interesting.

I also learned more about the atonement. And how relieving it must have been for Lehi and his family. They were learning about Christ before He even came to earth, but yet they believed in Him and had faith in Him and put their trust in Him.

Also, I liked how Lehi says that it's really important that we "make these things known unto the inhabitants of the world," these things meaning that men can only return to Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ, through His Atonement. It's important to tell people this! THey need to know that Christ is the answer to their problems and being lost-ness or guilt ....

This time I understood the stair-step scripture: that if there weren't opposition in all things, there would be no law and no sin. And if there was no sin there would be no righteousness. And if there were no righteousness there would be no happiness. And if there were no righteousness and happiness, there would be no misery or punishment. And no God. It made so much sense this time. Everything that makes people happy comes from something good that they or someone else has done. And people can experience this, goodness, even without the fullness of the gospel. Because Heavenly Father loves and remembers all of His children!