Knowing the One I Believe In
Pastor Tan Thai · Jan 12, 2014
This sermon affirms that Jesus Christ is the center of Christian faith — not a system of doctrine or philosophy, but a living personal relationship. The Apostle Paul, writing from prison, declared that his confidence rested not in argument but in the One he had trusted. The sermon also defends the reliability of the New Testament as the only trustworthy source for knowing Christ accurately.
The sermon opens by asserting the one thing that distinguishes Christianity from every other religion in the world: Christian faith is intimately bound to Jesus Christ through a personal relationship. The Apostle Paul, writing his final letter to Timothy from prison, declared: 'I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed' (2 Timothy 1:12). This is not a confession about a doctrine or a path, but a personal knowledge of the Person himself — the One who is truth, the way, and the life.
The sermon presents three reasons affirming the supreme importance of Jesus Christ: He is the center of human history, as His birth divides the calendar into B.C. and A.D.; He is the center of all Scripture, as He Himself confirmed in John 5:39; and He is the center of missionary work, compelling Christians to leave their homelands and overcome every hardship in order to speak of Him. The story of Sadhu Sundar Singh illustrates this powerfully — when asked what new thing he found in Christianity, he simply replied: 'I have Christ.'
The sermon then addresses a practical question: how do we know Christ, and how can we trust the reliability of the New Testament? The pastor argues that the four Gospels record the life, teachings, and miracles of Jesus clearly and verifiably. He cites Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, where Paul confirms that the resurrection of Christ was witnessed by more than 500 people still alive at the time of writing — a claim of significant historical value.
The pastor also presents textual evidence: the New Testament is preserved in approximately 5,500 manuscript copies, more than any other ancient document, with the oldest copies appearing within roughly 90 years of the original writings. Scholars F.F. Bruce and Sir Frederic Kenyon both affirm that the authenticity and accuracy of the New Testament are beyond reasonable doubt. Groups like the 'Jesus Seminar' are rejected because they rely on the subjective opinions of a small circle rather than trusting in the divine inspiration of Scripture as stated in 2 Timothy 3:16-17.
The sermon concludes with an invitation to know Christ more deeply through the year's sermon series, drawn from Philippians 3:8-11, where Paul counts all worldly gain as rubbish compared to 'the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.' This is not merely historical or theological knowledge, but a living and intimate knowledge of Christ — including the power of His resurrection, fellowship in His sufferings, and the hope of the resurrection to come. The ultimate goal for the believer is not to learn more about a religion, but to be found in Christ and to be conformed increasingly to His likeness.