He is using that excuse because he loves to pick and choose .
But this is not what JESUS taught at all my friend .
JESUS taught the apostels many things
and nigh before HE himself ascended HE told them
to go into all nations , baptizing them and TEACHING THEM to OBSERVE ALL THINGS HE had taught them .
This man is picking and choosing a delusion my friend . Many do this too .
they pick and choose certain things JESUS said while using the excuse that other things do not apply
they often do this as they also pit apostel against apostel
like james against paul , or say things like this applied to this group only
I have watched many twist scrips and omit scrips , but they have no idea they are doing it unto their own destruction .
Man loves to pick and choose my friend . the flesh is a lover of that which is pleasing to it
and believe me many love the idea of salvation , BUT DO NOT LOVE THE AUTHOR WHO GIVETH SALVATION .
and that too is a fact . they like the idea about a JESUS WHO saves
but DO NOT LIKE TRUTHS HE TAUGHT . they do not love HIM . they love
only a version of what they THINK be HIM . this is a very heart heavy and sad fact . BUT TRUE IT IS my friend .
Is 1:2 Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks,
“Sons I have reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me.
Rom 10:6 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’ (that is, to bring Christ down),
Gal 3:2 This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?
Mat 4:4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'”
Heb 5:11,12 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food.
Jesus taught His disciples, and He still does!! At least if they have not rebelled against Him and have thus said in their hearts that He is now in some far-off place called heaven, instead of being near us so that we still hear Him speak TODAY.
But we still run across people who focus on " HE himself ascended ", as opposed to the fact that He is near us!!
So to them He does not speak, like Isaiah pointed out, and they focus on " HE had taught them", instead of the word we preach being near us!
That happens when a person becomes "dull of hearing", which is a huge problem and the reason Paul wrote, " the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?"
Oh yeah, the Lord teaches, so He also taught. But the point is that He teaches, Today!! And that for anyone who practices seeking Him and listening to Him - "hearing with faith"
And if you are not practicing hearing with faith on those days called "Today", then you are not qualified to teach anyone else!!!!!!! And instead you have need for "someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God" ... just like it is written. And so that is the "one thing" that is needed to be known... just like Paul wrote!!
Indeed Jesus said:
Luke 10:41,42 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things;
but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
And so that "one thing" is like Jesus said and Paul wrote, and it is hearing by faith!! Not heard by faith, but hearing by faith!!
It is that the Lord speaks, not that He spoke and ascended into heaven, though He did do that. But it is that He is on the throne in heaven as the King and His Kingdom is in our midst so we can and need to realize that He speaks - and that on the day called "Today!"
Heb 3:7,8 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,
AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,
So it is the devil would like nothing more than to convince you that Jesus is either still dead of ascended to a far off place called heaven, so that to hear from Him you have to read your Bible. We believers in Him, even the Word of God who is near us, don't say that He ascended to we have to go by the writings He taught others, but we use the sacred writing to tell people the Good News, and that is that the Word of God, Jesus Christ, is near us Today!!
Of did you never hear His Holy Spirit tell you: "We don't use the Lord to preach the Scriptures, we use the Scriptures to preach the Lord."
The religious person gets that backwards because they have said in their heart that Jesus is either still dead or is in a far off place called heaven, so they reason that it is about what He said and taught, and not that He says and teaches. They failed to note that Jesus reproved that liar, by explaining that man must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God!! Proceeds is a present tense, not a past tense. It is not that He taught, though He did, but that He teaches us real believers Today!!!