The chief priests and Pharisees demanded of the officers, "Why have ye not brought him?" The officers answered, "Never man spake like this man" (Jno. 7: 45-46).

Why Should We listen to Jesus?

Well, besides what the officers said, people should listen to Jesus because:

1. God sent him into the world with a message (Jno. 3:1-2; Tno. 17:18; Jno. 6:68).
2. God commanded the people, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him" (Matt. 17:5).
3. God received Jesus back to heaven (Acts 1:11).

What Did Jesus Say?

1. "When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, we are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do" (Luke 17: 10). Jesus was right.
2. "The truth shall make you free" (Jno. 8:32). Jesus knew.
3. Jesus urged unity among his followers upon the terms of the words of the apostles (Jno. 17: 20), which were his own words (Jno. 17:8), which were the words of God (Deut. 18: 18-19). "First pure, then peaceable" (Jas. 3:17).
4. Jesus said, "I will build my church" (Matt. 16: 18). "Many members, yet but one body" (1 Cor. 12: 20). Jesus "pitched the true tabernacle," church (Heb. 8:2). He said he would provide the "one fold" in which both Jew and Gentiles may find salvation (Jno 10: 16, Jno. 10:9, Isa. 46: 13, Eph. 2: 16).
5. Jesus urged his church to "feed" both the "soul" and "body" of man. Look at the diagram below.

a. The great commission, of spreading the gospel in all the world, as recorded in Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15-16, was a responsibility upon the church. The church fed lost souls upon this bread of life by sending support direct to the preachers who were out feeding souls on heavenly manna (Phil. 4 :15- 17, 2 Cor. 11: 8). And without the aid of a missionary society, or any other human organization, the church preached the gospel to "every creature under heaven" in the short space of about 31 years (Col. 1:23). They didn't use human machinery then. We don't need human machinery now.

1. The church does not have a responsibility of clothing and feeding bodies of saints where there are relatives who are able to do so (1 Tim. 5: 4, 8, 16). What the church should do if able relatives sin by shunning this their responsibility is another matter entirely. The church at Jerusalem "cared," "shared," with the poor saints that qualified, without the aid of a human organization (Acts 6:1-4). It was a "direct" help, from the church to the needy. Able churches sent direct help to the elders of congregations when there was need in the local church which they could not handle themselves (Acts 11: 29-30). Such help ceased when the emergency was over (2 Cor. 8:13-14). They did not use either a human organization or a sponsoring church. We should not use such now.

6) Jesus predicted in his word a "departure" from the faith (1 Tim. 4:1-6). This has already been fulfilled. Look at the diagram below.