15 And I heard a voice from the Father, saying:
Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall
be saved.
16 And now, my beloved brethren, I know by this
that unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son
of the living God, he cannot be saved.
17 Wherefore, do the things which I have told
you I have seen that your Lord and your Redeemer should do; for, for this cause
have they been shown unto me, that ye might know the gate by which ye should
enter. For the gate by which ye should enter
is repentance and baptism by water; and then cometh a remission of your sins by
fire and by the Holy Ghost.
2 Nephi 31:15-17
No sooner did Christ finish speaking to Nephi than the
Father spoke again. He testified the Son’s
words were “true and faithful.” We must follow the words of Christ,
enduring to the end if we hope to be saved.
The Lord repeated the Father’s words to Joseph Smith. “And
behold, I, the Lord, declare unto you, and my words are sure and shall not fail,
that they shall obtain it” (D&C 64:31) and “Keep these sayings, for they are true and faithful; and thou shalt magnify
thine office, and push many people to Zion with songs of everlasting joy upon
their heads” (D&C 66:11).
Alma2 taught the same principle that he learned
from his father. “And behold, [my father, Alma1] preached the word unto your
fathers, and a mighty change was also wrought in their hearts, and they humbled
themselves and put their trust in the true and living God. And behold, they were faithful until the end;
therefore they were saved “ (Alma 5:13).
Enduring to the end is an essential part of Christ’s
gospel. During His ministry, the Savior
made clear, “ye shall be hated of all men
for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be
saved” (Mark 13:13). Simply
believing in Christ is not enough. We
must follow him and “the example of the
Son of the living God” (2 Nephi 31:16) to be saved.
The Lord revealed to Joseph Smith, “And we know that all men must repent and believe on the name of Jesus
Christ, and worship the Father in his name, and endure in faith on his name to
the end, or they cannot be saved in the kingdom of God” (D&C 20:29) and
“I would that ye should learn that he
only is saved who endureth unto the end.
Even so. Amen” (D&C 53:7).
We are in a constant war with the devil and his
followers. He will do all he can to
prevent us from returning into the presence of God. It will be a battle that will last,
literally, to our dying breath. Should
we fail to endure to the end, we are lost.
Noel Reynolds explains, “So, as Nephi puts it, people can
only arrive at this point through faith. But this is not enough, for
"unless a man shall endure to the end, in following the example of the Son
of the living God, he cannot be saved" (2 Nephi 31:16). And again, it is
only by trusting in Christ that it is possible to endure to the end…”[1]
Nephi calls upon us to “do
the things which I have told you” (2 Nephi 31:17). Nephi has been shown the gate by which we
should enter through repentance and baptism for a remission of our sins. Remember, Christ, being perfect, was baptized
to fulfil all righteousness (see 2 Nephi 31:5).
We will receive a remission of sin “by fire and the Holy Ghost” (2 Nephi 31:17). Fire is used to refine and purify
things. When we receive remission of our
sins, we become purified before God. After
outlining what it takes to be a true follower of Christ (see Mosiah 18:7-9),
Alma1 asked the people, “if
this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name
of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a covenant with
him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his
Spirit more abundantly upon you” (Mosiah 18:10).
[1]
The
True Points of My Doctrine, Noel B. Reynolds, Maxwell Institute, accessed
January 28, 2014.
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