‘The Teachings of Jesus Christ’

We believe in Christ. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we worship Him and follow His teachings in the scriptures.

Before the Fall, our Heavenly Father spoke directly to Adam and Eve. Thereafter, the Father introduced His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior and Redeemer and gave us the command to “hear Him.”¹ From this direction we conclude that the scriptural records of words spoken by “God” or the “Lord” are almost always the words of Jehovah, our risen Lord, Jesus Christ.²

We are given the scriptures to direct our lives. As the prophet Nephi taught us, we should “feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.”³ Most of the scriptures reporting Jesus’s mortal ministries are descriptions of what He did. My message today consists of a selection of the words of our Savior—what He said. These are words recorded in the New Testament (including the inspired additions of Joseph Smith) and in the Book of Mormon. Most of these selections are in the sequence in which our Savior spoke them.

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”⁴

“Blessed are … they [which] do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.”⁵

“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”⁶

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

“But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”⁷

“Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

“But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”⁸

“If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

“But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”⁹

“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”¹⁰

“Wherefore, seek not the things of this world but seek ye first to build up the kingdom of God, and to establish his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”¹¹

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”¹²

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

“Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.”¹³  

~To read, listen to or watch Elder Oaks complete remarks, click The Teachings of Jesus Christ.