Pastor Barry's "Chapter & Verse" Day 229

August 17;       John 7:46:       74/260(III);       ‘The Words of Jesus’

John 7:46 The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"

The religious leaders had made the decision to kill Jesus.  Jealousy was their motive.  Verse 32 tells us that the religious leaders sent officers to arrest Jesus.  Later the officers returned to the religious leaders, without having arrested Jesus.  When questioned as to why they had not arrested the Lord, they replied, “No man ever spoke like this man.”  Christianity makes sense.  Christianity liberates you and reveals to you a loving Father who only wants the best for you.  The officers had enough sense to listen to what Jesus said and take it to heart.  It appears that the religious leaders never told the people that God the Father loved them and would help them in their lives.  Religion binds.  It is a never ending, ever increasing list of demands that no one, including the ones who make up the list can do.  Religion wants to control people and it causes misery as sincere people think this is what God wants them to do and they know they cannot do all that is required.  Obedience must never be out of obligation.  As we read the Word of God and see that God the Father so loved the world that He sent Jesus, we fall more in love with our Lord, the more we read.  Obedience then becomes the desire of our heart since we have found out, by reading the Bible, how much we mean to the Lord.  Obviously the arresting officers heard the life changing Word from Jesus, and compared it to what they constantly heard from the religious leaders and were blessed by what Jesus said.  Read the Word does this. Nothing else ‘speaks’ like the Word.