2 Nephi 31

1

• 2 Nephi 31
• Where can we read about baptism by water,
  andby the Holy Ghost?
• The greatest sermon we have on baptism and the
  receipt of the Holy Ghost is 2 Nephi 31 (Bruce
  R. McConkie, Promised Messiah, 421).

2
2 Nephi 31-33

• This is Nephis Doctrines of Salvation.
• 2 Nephi 312-3 Let us Speak in Plainness!
• 2 Nephi 315-12 4 reasons Christ Was Baptized
• 1. v.5 To fulfill all righteousness
• 2. v.7 To humble himself before His
  Father
• 3. v.7 To be obedient to the Father by
  keeping the commandments
• 4. v.9 To set the example for us to follow.

3

• 2 Nephi 317-10, 12-13, 16
• How should we follow the example of Jesus
  Christ?
• Perfect worship is emulation. We honor those
  whom we imitate. The most perfect way of worship
  is to be holy as Jehovah is holy (Bruce R.
  McConkie, Promised Messiah, 568).

4

• Personal Radiation
• There is a responsibility that no man can evade.
  That is the responsibility of personal
  influence Every man ( woman) has an atmosphere
  or a radiation that is affecting every person in
  the world. You cannot escape it It is simply
  the constant radiation of what a man (or woman)
  really is. Every man ( woman) by his mere
  living is radiating positive or negative
  qualities. Life is a state of radiation. To
  exist is to be the radiation of our feelings,
  natures, doubts, schemes, or to be the recipient
  of those things from somebody else. You cannot
  escape it. Man ( women) cannot escape for one
  moment the radiation of his (or her) character.
  You will select the qualities that you will
  permit to be radiated. That reminds me of the
  following poem, the author of which is unknown.

5

• You tell on yourself by the friends you seek,
• By the very manner in which you speak,
• By the way you employ your leisure time,
• By the use you make of dollar and dime.
• You tell what you are by the things you wear,
• And even by the way you wear your hair,
• By the kind of things at which you laugh,
• By the records you play on your phonograph.
• You tell what you are by the way you walk,
• By the things of which you delight to talk,
• By the manner in which you bury deceit,
• By so simple a thing as how you eat.
• By the books you choose from the well fitted
  shelf.
• In these ways and more you tell on yourself.
• (President David O. McKay, CR, Oct. 1969, 87)

6

• An intelligent being, in the image of God,
  possesses every organ, attribute, sense,
  sympathy, affection that is possessed by God
  himself.
• But these are possessed by man, in his
  rudimental state, in a subordinate sense of the
  word. Or in other words, these attributes are in
  embryo and are to be gradually developed. They
  resemble a bud, a germ, which gradually develops
  into bloom, and then, by progress, produces the
  mature fruit after its own kind.

7

• The gift of the Holy Ghost adapts itself to all
  these organs or attributes. It quickens all the
  intellectual faculties, increases, enlarges,
  expands, and purifies all the natural passions
  and affections, and adapts them, by the gift of
  wisdom, to their lawful use. It inspires,
  develops, cultivates, and matures all the
  fine-toned sympathies, joys, tastes, kindred
  feelings, and affections of our nature. It
  inspires virtue, kindness, goodness, tenderness,
  gentleness, and charity. It develops beauty of
  person, form, and features. It tends to health,
  vigor, animation, and social feeling. It
  invigorates all of the faculties of the physical
  and intellectual man. It strengthens and gives
  tone to the nerves. In short, it is, as it were,
  marrow to the bones, joy to the heart, light to
  the eyes, music to the ears, and life to the
  whole being (Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science
  of Theology, 61, 100-01).

8

• The Holy Ghost Makes More Handsome and Beautiful
  People
• If you attain the highest success, and the most
  contentment of mind, out of life practice in
  your daily contacts the ideals of the gospel of
  Jesus Christ. I do not hesitate to make that
  statement without modification. I know the
  results will be what I indicate. They will make
  you more handsome, young men more beautiful,
  young women because your thoughts modify your
  features. They will make you more dutiful sons
  and daughters, more clever students, more
  faithful lovers, more desirable companions, more
  loyal friends, more helpful members of society,
  more worthy fathers and mothers of future
  families, make you sons and daughters of God,
  more successfully fulfilling the measure of your
  creation on earth (President David O. McKay, Man
  May Know for Himself, 108).

9

• If even the King of the Kingdom could not return
  to His high state of pre-existent exaltation
  without complying with his own eternal law for
  admission to that kingdom, how can any man expect
  a Celestial inheritance without an authorized and
  approved baptism (Mormon Doctrine, 71).
• 2 Nephi 3112-14, 17-18
• You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a
  man, if not done in view of the remission of sins
  and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism of water
  is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing
  without the other half --- that is, the baptism
  of the Holy Ghost (Joseph Smith, Teachings,
  314).

10

• 2 Nephi 3113
• Acting no hypocrisy
• Hypocrite in Greek means to act or an actor
  on stage.
• Paul called hypocrites --- whited-walls.
• Some of the Jews were simply reading the wrong
  script.

11

• 2 Nephi 3113 Receive the Holy Ghost
• Now I am going to say something that maybe I
  could not prove, but I believe is true, that we
  have a great many members of this Church who have
  never received a manifestation through the Holy
  Ghost. Why? Because they have not made their
  lives conform to the truth. And the Holy Ghost
  will not dwell in unclean tabernacles or
  disobedient tabernacles. The Holy Ghost will not
  dwell with that person who is unwilling to obey
  and keep the commandments of God or who violates
  those commandments willfully. In such a soul the
  spirit of the Holy Ghost cannot enter. That
  great gift comes to us only through humility and
  faith and obedience. Therefore, a great many
  members of the Church do not have that guidance.
  Then some cunning, crafty individual will come
  along teaching that which is not true, and
  without guidance which is promised to us through
  our faithfulness, people are unable to discern
  and are led astray.

12

• It depends on our faithfulness and our obedience
  to the commandments of the Lord if we have the
  teachings, the enlightening instruction, that
  comes from the Holy Ghost
• When we are disobedient, when our minds are set
  upon the things of this world rather than on the
  things of the kingdom of God, we cannot have the
  manifestations of the Holy Ghost. Did you ever
  stop to think what a great privilege it is for us
  to have the companionship of one of the members
  of the Godhead? Have you thought of it that way?
  That is our privilege, if we keep the
  commandments the Lord has given us (Joseph
  Fielding Smith, We Are Here to Be Tried, Tested,
  Proved, Brigham Young University Speeches of the
  Year (25 Oct. 1961) 4-5).

13

• 2 Nephi 3114-21 Baptism of Fire
• v.17
• Nephi wrote of two baptisms. One was the
  baptism of water, which may be administered under
  the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood, and the other
  was the baptism of fire, or the Holy Ghost,
  administered under the keys of the Melchizedek
  Priesthood.
• Elder McConkie explained that by the power of
  the Holy Ghost --- who is the Sanctifier ---
  dross iniquity, carnality, sensuality, and every
  evil thing is burned out of the repentant soul as
  if by fire the cleansed person becomes literally
  a new creature of the Holy Ghost (Mormon
  Doctrine, 73).

14

• 2 Nephi 3117
• Was the ordinance of baptism commonly practiced
  before the days of Christ?
• This scripture indicates clearly that baptism
  was practiced, at least among the Nephites,
  hundreds of years before the Savior was born.
• The Jewish Encyclopedia indicates that baptism
  was a common practice in ancient Israel (Vol. 2,
  499) (Daniel H. Ludlow, Companion, 154).
• Where does remission of sins come from?
• This baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost here
  spoken of by Nephi cleanses, heals, and purifies
  the soul. It is the sealing and sign of
  forgiveness (Marion G. Romney, Learning for the
  Eternities, 133).

15

• 2 Nephi 3118
• What is one important role of the Holy Ghost?
• No man can know that Jesus is the Christ, but
  by the Holy Ghost (Joseph Smith, Teachings,
  243).
• 2 Nephi 3120
• When can we have the promise of eternal life?
• After a person has faith in Christ, repents of
  his sins, and is baptized for the remission of
  his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the
  laying on of hands), which is the first
  Comforter, then let him continue living by every
  word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him,
  Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has
  thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is
  determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the
  man will find his calling and election made sure
  (Joseph Smith, Teachings, 150).

16
Four keys to receiving personal revelation

• 2 Nephi 32
• 1. v. 1 Pondering
• 2. v. 3 Feasting upon the words of Christ
• 3. v. 4 You must ask
• 4. v. 5 The Holy Ghost will show you all
  things what ye should do
• Examples DC 138, 76, The First Vision, etc!

17

• 2 Nephi 323
• What blessings come from feasting upon the
  words of Christ?
• If (you) are acquainted with the revelations,
  there is no question --- personal or social or
  political or occupational --- that need go
  unanswered. Therein is contained the fullness of
  the everlasting gospel. Therein we find
  principles of truth that will resolve every
  confusion and every problem and every dilemma
  that will face the human family or any individual
  in it (Boyd K. Packer, Teach the Scriptures,
  5).

18
Purpose of Light

• President Romneys talk The Light of Christ
  (1977).
• 1. The Light of Christ leads you. to Baptism
• 2. The Holy Ghost leads you toJesus Christ
  (the Temple)
• 3. Jesus Christ leads you to the Father

19
Nephis Farewell Testimony

• 2 Nephi 331-3 Mine eyes water my pillow
  by night
• Four things the scriptures will do for those
  who read them
• 1. v.4 Persuadeth them to do good.
• 2. v.4 Maketh known unto them of their
  fathers.
• 3. v.4 Persuadeth them to believe in Christ.
• 4. v.4 Persuadeth them to endure to the end.

20

• 2 Nephi 3311
• See you at the judgment bar!
• (Jacob 613, Moroni 1027-29)
• 2 Nephi 3315 I must obey
• (I Nephi 37)
• Those who know the truth are not equal to those
  who love it, and those who love it are not equal
  to those who live it (Confucius).

21

• 2 Nephi 3315
• Amen is another title of Jesus Christ.
• Christ is called the Amen, the faithful and
  true witness (LDS Bible Dictionary,). (2
  Corinthians 120 Revelation 314).

22

• Great one-liners in 2 Nephi 33
• v. 3, And my eyes water my pillow by night
• v. 6, I glory in plainness, I glory in truth
• v. 6, I glory in my Jesus
• v. 11, And you and I shall stand face to face
  before his bar
• v. 15, And I must obey