Sermon at the Temple-Come unto Me

3 Nephi 12:1,3,10,19,20,23,24* (found in text in bold)

There are some very important differences between the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon at the Temple.  Most of these differences are due to three parameters: the audience, the time, and the translation.  For an example of time, the Lord doesn't mention "thy kingdom come" in his prayer in the Book of Mormon because it already had.  Also, he includes himself in the statement of being perfect, since he was now already a resurrected perfect being.  Furthermore, one of the reasons why the Sermon at the Temple has even more power and clarity is because the Lord speaks openly and directly about himself as the Savior of the world.  In the Beatitudes according to the Bible he never speaks of himself, he never directs anyone to follow him.  His role is rather gradual as he starts to use the word "I" finally when saying what he would say instead of what had been said of old, and then finally he uses the word "me" once when he says "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven."  But that's at the very end of the Sermon.  This seems strange in retrospect, because we all know that Jesus is our only Savior and means of salvation, but nowhere in his instructions in the Bible Beatitudes on how to live a perfect life does he mention his own role. Maybe he knew that those in Jerusalem weren't ready yet for him to speak so directly, since when he spoke so in the Bread of Life many fell away.  However, in the Book of Mormon these people were already accepting and knew who he was.  So he was able to clarify exactly his role in our salvation.  That is why in 3 Nephi he says*, "blessed are ye if ye shall believe in me and be baptized" and "blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me" and "blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name's sake" and "come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit" and "come unto me and be ye saved" and "desire to come unto me" and "come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I will receive you" (Note that none of these verses' parallels in the Bible uses me or I).  Thus we see that the Beatitudes aren't just a generic list that anyone can apply without accepting Christ (like it may appear at first glance, simply a moral code) but rather they are attributes of those that come unto Christ.  This is a powerful example of why we can get so much out of Christ's teachings in the Americas, namely because those listening already had a testimony of who He is.