When Alma and Amulek were doing missionary work in the city of Ammonihah, the investigator Zeezrom asked Amulek if God could save people in their sins. "And Amulek answered and said unto him: I say unto you he shall not, for it is impossible for him to deny his word. . . . And I say unto you again that he cannot save them in their sins; for I cannot deny his word, and he hath said that no unclean thing can inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore, how can ye be saved, except ye inherit the kingdom of heaven? Therefore, ye cannot be saved in your sins." (Alma 11:34, 37.)
Many years after the above experience Helaman explained these teachings of Amulek to his sons Nephi and Lehi, as follows:
And remember also the words which Amulek spake unto Zeezrom, in the city of Ammonihah; for he said unto him that the Lord surely should come to redeem his people, but that he should not come to redeem them in their sins, but to redeem them from their sins.And he hath power given unto him from the Father to redeem them from their sins because of repentance; therefore he hath sent his angels to declare the tidings of the conditions of repentance, which bringeth unto the power of the Redeemer, unto the salvation of their souls. (Helaman 5:10-11)
Thus Jesus Christ cannot redeem people in their sins (because they are still wicked), but he can redeem them from their sins (because they have repented from them).