My Word in You
Pastor Tan Thai · Mar 4, 2018
This sermon is part of the series 'Abide in Me' based on John 15, focusing on the condition and promise in John 15:7. The pastor explains the central role of Jesus Christ in the Christian faith and introduces the Bible as the living Word, breathed out by the Holy Spirit, sufficient and final to transform the lives of believers.
The sermon opens by returning to John 15:4-7, where Jesus teaches the parable of the vine and branches. The pastor emphasizes that Jesus repeats the condition 'abide in Me' three times in three different ways, and the sermon focuses on verse 7 with its condition-result structure: if you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done. The fruit of the Spirit is identified as the most concrete evidence that a person is truly abiding in Christ, more important than works or ministry success.
The pastor presents Jesus Christ as the center of the Christian faith with three reasons: first, He is the center of human history because His birth divides history into BC and AD; second, He is the center of Scripture because all of the Bible testifies about Him as He himself declared in John 5:39; third, He is the center of the Gospel and missionary mission. The story of Sadhu Sundar Singh is used to illustrate that what Christians find is not a doctrine or philosophy, but Christ Himself.
The third section introduces the Bible and its nature. The pastor explains the word 'theopneustos' in 2 Timothy 3:16, meaning God breathed out, emphasizing that the Holy Spirit breathed into the authors to produce the living word with the power to transform lives. The Bible consists of 66 books, written by more than 40 authors over 1,500 years from vastly different cultures, languages, and circumstances, yet sharing one unified theme: God's plan of salvation through Jesus Christ.
The pastor also addresses the historical reliability of the New Testament, comparing it to ancient documents such as the biographies of Alexander the Great and Buddha's teachings, which were transmitted orally for 400 years before being written down. The New Testament has approximately 5,500 manuscript copies and has been confirmed as reliable by scholars such as F.F. Bruce and Sir Frederic Kenyon.
The sermon concludes by affirming that the 66 books of the Bible are the complete and final revelation of God, and that the primary means the Holy Spirit uses to transform believers' lives is Scripture itself, not private whispers or miracles. The correct approach to Bible study is also emphasized: come to the Bible to discover what God has revealed, not to find proof for what one already wants to believe.