The Hard Teachings of Jesus – Scripture Bears Witness to Christ
Pastor Tan Thai · Oct 8, 2021
This sermon explains three meanings of 'hard teachings': hard to understand, hard to believe, and hard to obey, then focuses on John 5:31-47, where Jesus presents three witnesses to His divine authority. The central claim is that all of the Old Testament bears witness to Christ, and Scripture's authority must be the supreme standard for the believer's life.
The sermon opens by introducing a sermon series on the hard teachings of Jesus found in the Gospels. The pastor distinguishes three meanings of 'hard': hard to understand (such as the new birth in John 3, which confused the educated Nicodemus), hard to hear or believe (such as 'before Abraham was, I am' in John 8:58), and hard to obey (such as forgiving seventy times seven in Matthew 18:21-22). The sermon establishes that John 5:31-47 qualifies as hard in all three senses.
The context of the passage is clearly laid out: after Jesus healed a lame man on the Sabbath and claimed equality with God (John 5:17-18), the Jewish leaders sought to kill Him. Jesus had claimed authority to grant eternal life (John 5:24-26) and to judge all people on the last day (John 5:30). Facing these extraordinary claims, the crowd was skeptical, and Jesus responded with three witnesses: the testimony of John the Baptist (vv. 33-35), His own works and life (vv. 36-38), and Scripture (vv. 39-47).
The centerpiece of the sermon is the third witness: all of the Old Testament bears witness to Jesus Christ. The pastor highlights the seven 'I Am' declarations in John's Gospel, connecting them to the divine name revealed in Exodus, and cites Luke 24:44-45, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, and 2 Peter 1:20-21 to affirm that Scripture is God's word, not merely human writing. Throughout His earthly life—from the wilderness temptation, to the Sermon on the Mount, to His arrest in Gethsemane, to His final words on the cross—Jesus consistently quoted and fully trusted Scripture.
The pastor applies this truth practically by challenging believers who selectively embrace parts of Scripture while dismissing others as outdated. He uses the illustration of an advisor who never disagrees with you to show that a Bible edited to suit personal preference is no longer the Word of God. Both conservative and progressive Christians, he argues, tend to accept the parts of Scripture that align with their values while discarding the rest. This selective approach effectively treats Scripture as a human document and elevates human judgment above the Creator.
The sermon closes with a pointed application: anyone who claims to believe in Jesus Christ but does not fully trust Scripture is only believing in a Jesus of their own imagination. The real Jesus of the New Testament is the One who trusted every jot and tittle of the Old Testament. Therefore, the believer's confidence in all of Scripture rests on Christ's own confidence in it.