“Since man had fallen he could not merit anything of himself”—McConkie and Millet explained: “We will not be saved in the highest heaven because we earn our way there. We will not be crowned with glory and eternal lives because we ‘worked out our salvation’ by ourselves. It is as heretical to believe that we are exalted by works as it is to teach that we are saved by grace alone. As important as our works are in evidencing our acceptance of and commitment to Christ the Lord—works such as receiving the ordinances of salvation, performing deeds of kindness and acts of Christian charity, and enduring faithfully to the end—our works will not and cannot save us. It is impossible for any human being to do enough good deeds in this mortal sphere to qualify for life in the celestial kingdom. No, ultimately we are saved not by our works but by his works—the Lord’s. ‘Wherefore,’ Lehi said to his son Jacob, ‘I know that thou art redeemed, because of the righteousness of thy Redeemer’ (2 Nephi 2:3, italics added). That is to say, before the Father, the Lord Jesus intercedes for us on the basis of his works.” 35
To repeat, Aaron taught the king about the Fall and then about its necessary sequel, the Atonement. President Ezra Taft Benson explained why: “Just as a man does not really desire food until he is hungry, so he does not desire the salvation of Christ until he knows why he needs Christ.
“No one adequately and properly knows why he needs Christ until he understands and accepts the doctrine of the Fall and its effect upon all mankind.” 36