Truth for Today's World

According to a recent handbook of American churches, there are hundreds of religious groups in the United States. Each one professes to represent God. Each one claims to be teaching truth. Obviously these churches with their conflicting doctrines cannot all be right. The average person is confused by this bewildering array of churches. Some people have even concluded that the discovery of truth is extremely personal. They argue that truth is a matter of opinion. “You have your truth and I have mine,” they say. This leads us to some important questions.

Does God have a true church today?

Does it make any difference which church I attend?

If God has a true church, how can I find it?

This lesson will help you answer these important questions directly from the Bible itself. Throughout history God has always had a people who followed Him.

01. How does God identify His genuine followers in the early beginnings of Old Testament history?
Genesis 26:4–5
04. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;
05. because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Note
Abraham was faithful to God. God desired to acquaint the nations of this world with a knowledge of His truth through the family (or church) of Abraham. Abraham’s son, Isaac, passed God’s blessing to his son Jacob. Jacob’s 12 sons became the founders of the nation of Israel. Israel was the church of the Old Testament.

02. How does God describe His special relationship with Israel?
Deuteronomy 7:6
“For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

03. What two things identified Israel as God's chosen people?
Deuteronomy 7:9
Therefore know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;
Note
Although at times they were unfaithful, Israel remained God’s chosen people (or church) throughout the Old Testament. God’s people or church are described as “those who love Him and keep His commandments”.

04. What instructions did Jesus give to His New Testament followers?
John 14:15
If you love Me, keep My commandments.
Note
In both the Old and New Testaments, God identifies His followers as those who love Him and keep His commandments. Love always leads to obedience.

05. What clear identifying characteristics of the true church does God give?
Revelation 12:17
And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 14:12
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Note
The King James Version of the Bible uses the word “remnant” in Revelation 12:17 to picture God’s true church. Some translations, such as the Revised Standard Version, say “rest of her offspring.” The word “remnant” literally means “those who are left.” In both the Old and New Testaments God has always had a group of people who lovingly obey Him by keeping His commandments. And at the end of time God will have a loyal, faithful people.

06. What does the apostle Paul call the New Testament church?
1 Timothy 3:15
but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
Note
The New Testament church is based on the “word,” or “truth,” of God. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus promised, “I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (NKJV). Christ has a church, an organized group of faithful, obedient believers.

07. How universal is Christ's last day church? How widespread will His end-time message be preached?
Revelation 14:6
Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people--
Note
According to Revelation God’s last-day church, preaching His final message, must be an international movement proclaiming His truth to the entire world.

08. What is the central message of Christ's church today?
Revelation 14:6
Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people--
Colossians 1:27
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Note
The gospel is the “good news” that Jesus has forgiven our sins, that through His death we can become the children of God, and that through His power abiding within us, we can live transformed, obedient lives.
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09. What time period does God's last-day church announce we are living in?
Revelation 14:7
saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
Note
The true church teaches we are living in the judgment hour preliminary to the coming of Christ. It has an urgent message for the world. It is an “Adventist” church. It teaches that Christ came once and that He is coming again.

10. In the light of the urgent end-time message of the judgement hour, what are the three things that God's true church urges God's people to do?
Revelation 14:7
saying with a loud voice, “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.”
Note
1. Fear God
Psalm 86:11–12
11. Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
12. I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And I will glorify Your name forevermore.
Proverbs 22:4 (NKJV)
By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life.
- To “Fear God” means to respect, reverence, or obey God.

2. Give glory to Him
Colossians 1:27
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
- To give glory to God is, by the power of His indwelling Spirit, to reflect His image in all that we do, including eating and drinking. It is a message of obedience to God’s physical and moral laws empowered by His grace dwelling within us.

3. Worship Him
Exodus 20:8–11
08. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
09. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10. but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.
11. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
- The true church calls men and women to worship on the Bible Sabbath as a memorial of Creation. It is an invitation to return to the Bible Sabbath of the seventh day, Saturday.

11. What crucial announcement is made in Revelation 14:8?
Revelation 14:8
And another angel followed, saying, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.”
Note
Babylon is a symbol of religious confusion. Wine is a symbol of false doctrine that confuses the judgment. God’s last-day message calls us from falsehood to truth.

12. Whom is Revelation's message a warning against worshipping?
Revelation 14:9
Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand,

13. How can we avoid worshipping the beast?
Revelation 14:12
Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Note
The true church warns men and women not to accept the counterfeit worship of the beast. In a future lesson we will study the subject of the mark of the beast. The final crisis will be over worship. God calls us from the false to the true. He graciously invites us to worship the Creator on the seventh-day Sabbath as a sign of our allegiance to Him.

14. According to Revelation's end-time message, what does the true church teach about death?
Revelation 14:13
Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.”
Note
The true church teaches the truth about death. It clearly reveals that death is a peaceful rest until Jesus returns (John 14:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17; 1 Corinthians 15:51-54).

15. What end-time prediction regarding His church did Jesus make?
John 10:16
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
Note
Christ’s true followers are scattered among many different religious denominations. At the time of the end Jesus makes His final appeal to gather them in His Christ-centered, Bible based, Sabbath keeping Adventist movement.
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Characteristics of God’s True Church:

1. It is a worldwide movement.

2. It proclaims the everlasting gospel.

3. It teaches that we are living in the judgment hour and emphasizes that Jesus is coming soon.

4. It leads men and women to obey God’s commandments.

5. It teaches men and women to “give glory to God” in what they eat or drink by helping them to understand the necessity of refraining from alcohol, tobacco, and unclean foods.

6. It explains the significance of worshipping our loving Creator on the seventh-day Sabbath.

7. It leads men and women out of religious confusion to God’s truths.

8. It warns against accepting any sign of human authority (the mark of the beast) in the place of God’s Word.

9. It teaches that death is a peaceful rest until the resurrection.

There is only one religious movement in all the world that is preaching these heaven sent messages of Revelation 14. There is only one church in all the world that is urgently proclaiming the truths of the three angels of Revelation 14—the Seventh-day Adventist Church. The Seventh-day Adventist Church is not merely another denomination. It is not merely another religious body littering the landscape of churches. It is a divine movement of destiny raised up by God. It is a prophetic movement proclaiming God’s last-day truth.

​Concluding Question
The Lord has been very active for His people by preserving in the Bible the chain of truth throughout the centuries of human history. Would you like to make the decision to dedicate your life to following God's truth by becoming a part of His true church?

FOR FURTHER STUDY
Read the following Bible passages:

• Psalm 119:142

• Proverbs 23:23

• Isaiah 8:20

• John 17:17

• John 14:6

• John 8:32

• Acts 2:41, 42

• James 2:10

• 1 John 2:3, 4

• Revelation 12:17

• Revelation 14:12

• Revelation 22:14