By acting on their faith in the Savior, Church members can be cleansed and changed to become pure and strong — just as a little child, said Elder Henry B. Eyring.
"I bear you my witness that the Savior lives and that He is the sure foundation," said Elder Eyring of the Quorum of the Twelve.
Speaking Saturday morning, Elder Eyring said the forces of wickedness in the world are increasing, making it harder, not easier, for Church members to keep the covenants they make to live the gospel of Jesus Christ. It has never been more important than it is now to understand how to build on that sure foundation of Christ, he said.
There is no better place to start than the last sermon of King Benjamin recorded in the Book of Mormon.
"King Benjamin could see us and our descendants. He knew by prophetic power what we face. He knew from his own experience the terrors of war. He had defended his people in combat relying on the power of God. He saw clearly the terrible power of Lucifer to tempt and to overcome us.
"He was a great and a holy man. And he knew how to invite people to build on that rock of safety as well as any of the Lord's prophets."
Elder Eyring said King Benjamin makes it clear that one way to build on the sure foundation and stand firm in righteousness during the storms of temptation is to "have our natures changed through the Atonement of Jesus Christ."
"King Benjamin describes that change with a beautiful comparison, used by prophets for millennia, and by the Lord Himself. It is this: that we can and we must become as a child. . . a little child."
Elder Eyring said that might be hard for some to accept.
"But King Benjamin, who understood as well as any mortal what it meant to be a man of strength and courage, makes it clear that to be like a child is not to be childish. It is to be like the Savior, who prayed to His Father for strength to be able to do His will, and then did it. Our natures must be changed to become as a child to gain the strength we must have to be safe in the times of moral peril."
Elder Eyring said that Church members are safe on the rock which is the Savior "when we have yielded in faith in Him, have responded to the Holy Spirit's direction to keep the commandments long enough and faithfully enough that the power of the Atonement has changed our hearts. When we have by that experience become as a child in our capacity to love and obey we are on the sure foundation."
Elder Eying said from King Benjamin Church members can learn what they must do to become as a child. "What we do allows the Atonement of Jesus Christ to change us into what we must be. Our faith in Jesus Christ brings us to repentance and to keeping His commandments. We obey and we resist temptation by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. In time our natures will change. We will become as a little child, obedient to God and more loving. That change, if we do all we must to keep it, will qualify us to enjoy the gifts which come through the Holy Ghost. Then we will be safe on the only sure rock."