15 - WHICH WAY IS GOD MOVING?

Years ago in Jackson Park, Chicago, an infidel gathered a crowd around him. Then he began to denounce God. “If there is a God, look at what a terrible mess He has gotten the world in. if there is a God, why doesn’t He do something about it? If there is a God, I challenge Him here and now to strike me dead in the next three minutes.”

In awed silence the crowd waited. The minutes ticked off. When the three minutes.”

In awed silence the crowd waited. The minutes ticked off. When the three minutes were up, the infidel shouted, “See, this proves that there is no God.”

Then he challenged anyone in the crowd to come up and prove that he was wrong. For several seconds no one made a move. Then an old woman with a shawl around her made her way through the crowd. Standing before the infidel, she asked, “Sir, do you have any children?”
“Yes, I have two fine boys and two lovely little girls.”

“If one of them would come to you with a butcher knife and say, ´Here, Daddy, kill me,` would you do it?”

“I love them so much that I could not even think of killing them,” the infidel responded.
Then the old woman said, “This is why God didn’t strike you dead during those three minutes. He loves you. He gave His only Son that you might have your sins forgiven and be saved. You’d better accept His offer.”

Friend of mine, trust in God! “The Lord reingeth” (Ps. 96:10). He is doing something about the terrible situation in this world. His kingdom will come, and His will “will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). God has His worldwide, last-day gospel movement that will finish His work and bring an end to crime, war, poverty, pollution, sickness, and death, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

God is working through His threeforld message to gather His remnant from every nation. This gathering was foreshadowed in Isaiah 11:11,12, as quoted in the previous chapter. “It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall…gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”

It was pointed out that this second recovery was fulfilled when God restored the Jews to Palestine fulfilled when God restored the Jews to Palestine following the Babylonian captivity. You can read about this in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. It was also noted that this was only a partial fulfilment. This second-time gathering transcends the return from the Babylonian captivity, as may be understood by the by the reference to a gathering of God’s remnant “from the islands of the sea” and “the four corners of the earth.” This suggests a far greater ingathering than simply from the nation of Babylon and its satellites.

In the preceding chapter it was suggested that this gathering as related to spiritual Israel is a calling of Gentiles and Jews to Christ. This gathering began on the day of Pentecost and has continued from generation to generation. It will reach its climax in this end-time under the proclamation of God’s threefold message of Revelation 14: 6-12. we see this being fulfilled before our eyes in the Seventh-day Adventist worldwide, gospel movement.

Seventh-day Adventists meet the description of Revelation 12:17 in that they “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Keeping the commandments of God must include the seventh-day Sabbath.)

“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (chap. 19:10). Christ’s remnant in this end-time are also identified in Revelation 14:12 as those who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” They maintain the doctrines and standards “once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3) by Him, and they hold to their faith in Him to save them from their sins.

In their efforts to tell every nation, kindred, tribe, and people, Seventh-day Adventists are proclaiming God’s threefold message in more 600 languages and more 200 countries. In all these areas men and women are responding to the call of God. They are coming out from Babylon, and all that the term implies, into Christ’s remnant. Thus, the prophecy of God’s hand being set the second time to gather His remnant from the four corners of the earth is being fulfilled in this worldwide Advent Movement.

Do you want to follow God’s leading? Then give Him your decision to be one of His remnant. When you do this, you enter into this promise of God in a special way: “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27).
What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms…
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
E.A. Hoffman

In a previous chapter it was pointed out from Revelation 15:2,3 that those who are true to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus will stand next to the throne of God, after the second coming of Christ, and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. What an impelling incentive for you and me not only to be real Seventh-day Adventists but to remain such to the end and enter into the eternal victory in heaven!

God’s chosen people Israel rejected the only Messiah. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11). There is a similar situation in Christianity today. Many of Christ’s professed followers fail to recognize the work God is doing before their eyes. In many instances they unwittingly oppose what their God is doing in calling out His remnant.

Let every soul be careful not to reject the work God is doing today. Consider carefully what Paul told the Jews in his sermon at Antioch in Pisidia: “Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.” (Acts 13:40, 41).

The prophecies of Revelation 14:6-12 and Isaiah 11:11,12 indicate the way God is moving in calling out His remnant. So when you and I make our decision to be part of His remnant, we have the joy and satisfaction of knowing that we are moving along the line in which God is moving. We have positive assurance that we are on the right road that leads to His heavenly home.

In the next subject we shall notice some striking parallels between the way God worked for Israel in the Exodus movement and the manner in which He works in the Advent Movement. In the case of the former, His chosen people were in one country, Egypt. So He called them out in one night. However, this gathering of His spiritual people is different because they are scattered in all countries. Hence they are being called one by one as each makes his full commitment to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Surely you want to be one of those being gathered by God into His remnant, and finally to stand immortal on the sea of glass in heaven (Rev. 15:2). You may be. God wants you to be there. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Jesus wants you to be one of His called-out ones. He died on the cross to make that possible for you. The Holy Spirit is saying to you, “This is the right way, follow it.” Will you say, “Yes, Lord, I am determined to be one of Your remnant. I will be true to the end”?

Sometimes when you begin to do a job, any of a dozen things can prevent you from accomplishing it, what can hinder Him? What He determines is sure to be done. What He purposes He will accomplish. “The Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” (Isa. 14:27).

God’s hand is set to gather His remnant from all countries through this worldwide Advent Movement. Hence this movement is as sure to succeed as there is an all-powerful God in heaven. It will go through to victory because His arm cannot fail. This assurance should make His people the strongest and most courageous in the world to do exploits for Him.

In case you have not made your decision to unite with this remnant church, think what an encouragement and incentive you have to do so. When the assurance of sure victory ahead is settled into a person’s soul, nothing can cause him to turn back from being with that movement. People who do turn back never have this assurance firmly settled into their soul (see John 6:66-69).

God is holding out to us a very high privilege: “They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels” (Mal 3:17). Jesus wants you to be one of His jewels for eternity. Some people have very expensive gems that they value highly. But those will all perish with this world. No one can take them to heaven. But God’s jewels, redeemed men and women, will reflect the wonders of His grace for the eternal ages.

Jesus is reaching out to take your hand in full surrender to Him following your decision to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Are you ready to put your hand in the hand that was nailed to the cross, and let Jesus lea you all the way?

16 - TRUTH BY THE HAND OF GOD

The Exodus movement, during which the Israelites travelled from Egypt to Canaan, is a type of modern spiritual Israel, an is intended by God to teach us valuable lessons. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-10 Paul mentions some of the incidents of the journey. Then he draws this conclusion: “All these things that happened to them were symbolic, and were record for our benefit as a warning. For upon us the fulfilment of the ages has come” verse 11). The Advent Movement is a counterpart of the Exodus movement. It has a revelation of truth, by the hand of God, appropriate for this end-time.

Today it is easy to believe that God was in the Exodus movement. Anyone who accepts the Bible record is bound to admit this. We know that God led the Israelite by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. We know that that movement finally carried the people of God triumphantly into the Land of Promise.

Can we be sure that the present Advent Movement is as truly led of God as was the Exodus movement? Can we be certain that the God of heaven is leading this movement today and that it will complete its journey into the heavenly Canaan, as the Exodus movement ended in the earthly Canaan?

These are important questions. To answer them let us compare the two movements, and if we find the latter has parallels with the former we shall have ground for adherence to the Advent Movement.

Let us first compare the fundamental purpose of each movement. Why did God call Israel from Egypt to be a separate people?

“He brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness: and gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people; that they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws” (Ps. 105:43-45). God’s major desire was to develop an obedient people – a people through whom He could make known the principles of the truth to the rest of the world.
Similarly, He has called spiritual Israel to be obedient to His laws. The call of God is for His people to come out of Babylon, that we “be not partakers of her sins” (Rev. 18:4). “Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). And, as previously noted, when, in the prophecies of Revelation, God refers to the last-day people, He points to them as keeping His commandments (Revelation 12:17; 14:12). So, on this point, we can drive down a stake to indicate that both movements began with the same divine objective.

In connection with the call from Egypt, God tested His people on the point of the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath (Exodus 16:4, 5, 26). The test was given in connection with food, called manna that God miraculously provide for the Israelites in the wilderness. This manna was provided for the Israelites in the wilderness. This manna was provided daily but would not keep overnight. However, God instructed them to gather extra for the Sabbath each Friday. Then, on the Sabbath none came, and that which was held over did not spoil. The record tells us that they made the necessary preparations on Friday and kept the seventh day holy, proving they were obedient to God. (Exodus 16:22-25). Those who did not make the preparation on the sixth day broke God’s holy Sabbath by going out hoping to find manna on the seventh day (Exodus 16:27, 28).

So today God is calling a people out of Babylon and asking them to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. The Israelite had practically lost sight of God’s holy Sabbath during their stay in Egypt. So today nearly all the Lord’s professed people have lost sight of the true Sabbath.

Nearly all Christians acknowledge the validity of nine commandments of the Decalogue, but many find excuses to avoid keeping the seventh day required by the fourth commandment. Thus the fourth commandment becomes a test. It becomes a test because it is one of the Ten Commandments. God still requires it to be kept, and, therefore, when people understand this, they show their attitude to God by their attitude to the fourth commandment.

In the Revelation 14 prophesies God’s last invitation and warning for the world, found in a message borne by three symbolic angels, Revelation 14:9-11. carry the warning that anyone who receives the mark of the beast will “drink of the wine of the wrath of God.” Adventists understand the mark to be not a literal brand on the forehead or hand but some sign of allegiance to the power symbolized by the beast.

Because the prophesied struggle revolves around God’s law. Particularly the fourth commandment, Adventists understand that Sunday will be that sign. The Sabbath is the sign of allegiance to God (Eze. 20:12). The issue will be the keeping of the Sabbath, or seal or mark of God, versus the receiving of the mark of the beast. The people of the world will decide their eternal destiny in the setting of this issue.

Ancient Israel was tested on the point of the Sabbath, and God’s last Israel, His church, will be tested on the same point. And as Israel was distinguished from the surrounding nations by the keeping of the Sabbath, so God’s faithful ones in the last days will be distinguished in the same manner.

Ancient Israel came out of Egypt at the time appointed by God. He appointed that 430 years from the time Abraham left Haran to go into Canaan his descendants, the Israelites, would leave Egypt to go into Canaan (see Gal. 3:16,17). Did this come true? The record says, “If came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt” (Ex. 12:41). The Exodus movement began at the time appointed by the Lord.

The Advent Movement began in 1844 at the time God had previously appointed, as revealed to Daniel the prophet (see Daniel 8:13,14). In chapter six we say that this prophecy began in 457 a.c. and ended in A.D. 1844. This latter years was the very time the Advent Movement was born. And it came into being as a result of a group of Bible students examining the subject of the cleansing of the sanctuary prophesied in Daniel 8.

Seventh-day Adventists did not originate as an offshoot from some other religious body. They did not begin because some men wanted to start a new denomination. God raised up the Adventist people to proclaim His threefold message to all the people in the world in fulfilment of His last-day message of Revelation 14:6-12.

Note a number of ways in which the Advent movement is God’s counterpart to His Exodus movement:
1- God unfolded to the Israelites the message of salvation as typified by the earthly sanctuary (see Ex. 25:8; Heb. 8:4,5). He raised up the Advent people and gave them an understanding of the work of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary (Heb.8:1-3).

2- God gave Israel the Ten Commandments as His supreme law of righteousness (Ex. 20:1-17), based on love to God with all the heart (Deut. 6:5). This same law, as interpreted by the Lord Jesus (Matt. 22:36-40) and coupled with the true faith in Jesus (Rev. 14:12), is the foundation of Adventism.

3- God gave the Israelite the tithing system as a means for supporting His ministers (Num. 18:21; Lev. 27:30-33). The same divine financial plan is followed in the Advent Movement.

4- The Exodus movement had the spirit of prophecy connected with it: “By a prophet (Moses; Ps. 77:20) the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved” (Hosea 12:13). The remnant church that keeps God`s commandments has the same gift (Rev. 12:17; 19:10).

5- The Exodus movement was an organized movement. It had companies of tens, fifties, hundreds, and thousands (Deut. 1:15). Then there were the seventy elders – a sort of Supreme Court for making decisions on important questions (Num. 11:16, 17, 24, 25). The Advent Movement is similarly organized. It has local churches, local conferences, union conferences, division conferences, and the General Conference.

6- The Israelites had the seventh-day Sabbath as the sign of the only true God, the Creator of heaven an earth (Ex. 20:8-11; 31:16, 17; Eze. 20:20), and also as a sign of sanctification (Ex. 31:13; Eze. 20:12). Similarly, Adventist uphold the same Saturday Sabbath as the sign of Jesus as the Creator and Sanctifier (Col. 1:16; 1 Cor. 1:2).

In this time of uncertainty many people are foundering in perplexity and confusion. But God has given us in His Word evidences by which we may know where to find a star and an anchor. He has His people who are following the Star, and who have the Anchor. That Star, that Anchor, is Jesus Christ and His truths revealed in the Word.

The Advent Movement is looking to that Star an is stabilized by that Anchor. Is you, reader, have not set your sights on the Star. If you, reader, have not set your sights on the Star, if you have not found that Anchor for your lives, we invite you to carefully study the Guiding Principles at the end of this book, comparing them with your Bible, prayerfully, with open heart and mind. And let the Holy Spirit lead you.

17 - WHEN GOD INTERVENES

Two brothers, fishermen, were casting their nets from their boat into the Sea of Galilee. This was the way they made their living, and they probably expected to continue that trade until they got too old to fish.

But God had a different plan for them. One day a noble-looking Man walked down to the edge of the lake and say them in their boat a little way form shore, fishing. Extending His hand to them, He called: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” Matt. 4:19. Thus Peter and Andrew were confronted with the greatest decision of their lives.

The two brothers had been reared in the Jewish religion. Jesus was beginning a new and, in many ways, different movements, a church that would be unpopular and despised. Peter and Andrew didn’t realize this fully at the time, but if they accepted the call it would mean they would eventually have to separate from the religion to which they had belonged since childhood, and unite with this new church of Jesus. It meant giving up their fishing business, the only way they knew of making a living. It meant giving up their life plans.

Did they say: “This is such a tremendous step that we can’t take it now”? No. the record declares that “they straightway left their nets, and followed his” Matt. 4:20.

That was the best thing they ever did, because their decision brought their lives into alignment with the plan God had drawn up for them before He brought them into existence. That decision led to the high honour of becoming two of Christ’s twelve apostles, and to that highest honour of all, having their names inscribed for eternity on the foundations of the eternal city of God, the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:14).

What if they had No to the call of Jesus? That would have been the worst thing they could have done. So it is with you and me. The best thing is to say Yes when Jesus calls. The worst is to refuse or neglect to respond to His call.

A Jewish tax collector for the Roman government was sitting at his desk, taking in the money. It was a lucrative job. He planned to go on collecting taxes and getting rich. But this was not God’s plan for him.

One day Jesus´route led past the tax office. There was Matthew at his desk, taking in money. Jesus looked straight into his heart, and spoke two words: Follow me” Luke 5:27. Matthew was thus called to make the greatest decision of his life on a moment’s notice.

What if Matthew had been like the vast majority of people? He would have said to himself. This overzealous carpenter from Nazareth is interrupting my businesses. I will not be torn away from a good job by responding to his call. Or he might have thought, I cannot go because I have other plans. Besides, this is such a tremendous step that I need more time to think about it.
No. he recognized that God was speaking to him through this Nazarene. This was an interposition of God in his life, to help him choose Heaven’s plan for himself. The record says: “He left all, rose up, and followed his” Luke 5:28.

Matthew left a well-paying job to serve Jesus without pay. But this was the best thing he ever did, because it brought his life into alignment with God’s plan of immortality for him.

So it is with you and me. The best thing we can ever do is respond to the call of God to surrender our lives to Jesus and keep His commandments and have the faith of Jesus – that faith that stretches out and takes hold of Jesus´ forgiveness and sin-defeating strength. Nothing exceeds letting Jesus take over completely in your life. Then you have the right plan for our life – the plan that God drew for your life before He brought you into existence.

Friend of mine, has the blessed Lord intervened to bring you His last-day message through a book, a magazine, a Bible course, sermons, Bible studies, a telecast, or a radiobroadcast? How have you responded to that call? I would invite you to accept that invitation and obey the commandments of God and live in the faith of Jesus.

On the day of Pentecost God intervened in the lives of thousands of Jews. There thousand said Yes to His call. In order to be right with God, not only did they repent, be baptized, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit but their acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah forced them to come out of the Jewish religion, in which they had been all their lives, and enter into Christ’s church for that time.

The Jewish nation once composed the true church of Christ (see Acts 7:38). But the Jews had departed from the truth of God by substituting the traditions of men for the commandments of God (Matt. 15:1-9). This led them to reject the Son of God. Because of this rejection there was no way by which they, as a nation, could be retained as God’s chosen people. The best God could do was to call His true followers out of the Jewish church into His new church.

A similar situation applies today. In many areas the churches have departed from the truth. The time is quickly approaching when God will call the rest of His people out of these religious bodies into His remnant church, which is committed to proclaiming His present truth to every nation.

Loyalty to one’s own church is commendable, but loyalty to Christ’s truth must have precedence over every other tie – above wife or husband, son or daughter, brother or sister, father or mother, church or religious training (Luke 14:26,27; Matt. 10:37).

If the apostles and first Christians had placed loyalty to the Jewish religion above the call of Christ, they would not have become Christians. But they left a noble example for us by accepting the truth as it came to them from Christ and His Word. Let us, then, place loyalty to our Lord and obedience to His call, to come out of the world and Babylon and into His remnant, above every other consideration.
Who answers Christ’s insistent call
Must give himself, his life, his all,
Without one backward look.
Who sets his hand unto the plow
And glances back with anxious brow,
His calling hath mistook.
Christ claims him wholly for His own;
He must be Christ’s – and Christ’s alone.
Anonymous

Henry Ward Beecher said: “I would as soon go courting with my father’s love letters as to join a certain church because my father belonged to it.” What happened to a man in Noah’s time who refused to believe Noah’s message or do any differently than his father and grandfather had done? You certainly would not have wanted to be in his shoes when the Flood came.

The horse and buggy and the tallow candle were once the best that people had for transportation and illumination, respectively. But are they good enough for us? Wu prefer to use the electric light and ride in an automobile. Is we are sensible in taking advantage of every improvement along material and technical lines, why are we often so reluctant to advance with the unfolding truth of God’s Word?

What if Luther had been content to advance no farther in religion than his father or mother had? He could not have been used for God to inaugurate the Protestant Reformation. Who can measure our loss in truth and liberty had Luther taught only what the Catholic Church stood for?

You and I and every soul must make his choice between Babylon and Christ’s remnant. There can be no neutral ground in the conflict between truth and error. The great Babylonian system will sink like a millstone cast into the sea (Revelation 188:21). Christ’s remnant, with the save from all previous generations, will be caught up to heaven when He comes. Every soul can have his destiny either way. No one can have it both ways. Surely your decision is to be one of Christ’s remnant under the banner of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

It was twilight when a Minnesota farmer started to cross a lake in his small sailboat. As he was sailing along the wind suddenly changed and a gust overturned his boat in the middle of the lake. Being a good swimmer, he started to swim to the part of the shore where he thought his house was located.

It was springtime, and the water was covered with masses of floating ice. In the darkness he became confused and swam in the wrong direction. His strength began to give out. As he was about to give up and sink into the freezing water, he heard a voice. It was that of his little girl on the back porch of their home, calling: “Father, father.”

Her voice put fresh life into him. He thought, if she would only call once more, I could tell which way home is by the sound of her voice. I am afraid she will go into the house and close the door, because she has heard no reply to her call.

Then another call came, “Father.” The sound told him he had gotten turned around in the darkness and was going in the wrong direction. He fought his way through the ice and reached the shore and home at last.

Friend of mine, there is a voice calling you. If you are numbered with Christ’s remnant in this end-time, the call of god is “Be faithful to the end.” If you are not in His remnant, the call of God is “Come into My remnant.” Tell Jesus, “Here’s my YES to Your call.”
May it be said of you and me:
He say God’s truth, but did not stay
To ask if others say the way.
Content was he in heart to know
That Jesus walked there here below.
And evermore He walks with men,
That men may walk His paths again.
And He is more than all besides;
For others fail, but He abides.

18 - THE JESUS WAY

It was registration day at a certain college, and the students were filling out theirs enrolment forms. On one form was a place marked “Religion,” where each prospective student noted the name of the religion he professed. A Chinese lad brought his competed forms to the president. Apparently he had some trouble with English, for when he filled out his form he wrote “C-o-n-f-u-s-i-o-n” as his religion rather than Confucianism.

More people’s religion is described by the unwitting mistake of that Chinese student than many realize. There are countless millions who are following religions that are really confusion. The world’s religions system is called Babylon in Revelation 17:5. The root meaning of Babylon is “babel”, confusion.” God is calling His people out of this Babylon Revelation 18:4, into the true way of Jesus.

The lord Jesus is not merely one of several different ways to heaven. He is the only way to heaven this truth is all wrapped up in four of His words: “I am the way” John 14:6.

Is Christ is the only right way in religion, there are bound to be confusion and error in every religion that does not conform to His pattern. If all followed the Jesus way in every part of their religion, they would be united in His one right way. The Lord Jesus Christ is God’s pattern of the real truth. In keeping with this, the bible declares that Jesus left us an example that we “should follow his steps” 1 Peter 2:21. The example and teachings of the Lord Jesus constitute the authoritative standard of Christian doctrine and duty.

Consider how this simplifies the problem of finding the right way because there are so many denominations teaching so many discordant theories. But it is not impossible to know which is the right way. Since Jesus is the only right way, all we need to do is to find His way and walk in it.

We shall now look at some of the things Jesus taught, which will be a kind of review of some of the things we have already said.

The way to proceed is open before us. We may start with Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, for there God has given us a record of Jesus` life. Those writers reveal what Jesus taught and lived with respect to the essentials of His way. (We may go on from there to find Him throughout the Bible.)

Jesus regarded the Scriptures, the Holy Bible, as the Worde of God to man, and the only authoritative rule of belief and practice. He said, “The scripture cannot be broken” John 10:35.

He taught that He alone can save a person. Man cannot save himself by all his good works or by trying to keep the Ten Commandments. Salvation depends on receiving Christ as a personal Saviour, John 3:16, 18, 36; 8:24. Jesus´ blood alone can atone for sin Matt. 26:28.

Christ taught that no one can be a Christian and go to heaven unless he is born again: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” John 3:3. “Except ye be converted …ye neither shall nor enter into the kingdom of heaven” Matt. 18:3. This new birth leads to a transformation of life and character by the re-creative power of God through faith in Him. This new birth takes place when Christ is received into the heart, John 1:12, 13.

Jesus taught that the only way a person can live a victorious life is by abiding in Him, John 15:4-8. this can be experienced only by receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit as the Comforter. Christ taught that when a person has received this Gift, he will know that he is in Christ, and that Christ is in him John 14:16-20.

Jesus taught that the person who has a continuing experience with Him meets these conditions: a daily crucifixion of self (Luke 9:23); implicit obedience to His commandments (John 14:15,23); daily prayer and partaking of His Word (see Luke 18:1; John 6:56-63); and a constant and complete surrender of the will to follow His will (see Like 14:33).

Jesus taught that obedience to the Ten Commandments is one of the essential conditions for entering heaven. When a wealthy young man asked Him, “What…shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” Jesus responded, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” When the man then asked Him which commandments He meant, Christ quoted a few of the Ten Commandments. (Matt. 19:16-19).

In commanding obedience to the Decalogue, Christ did not indicate that anyone could earn his way to heaven by keeping the commandments. Salvation is by grace alone. No one can be justified by the works of the law. Justification is attained only by faith in Jesus Christ (Mark 16:16; John 3:18). But after a person is saved by grace, he will obey the Ten Commandments as God’s standard of righteousness.

Jesus taught that the seventh day of the week is to be kept as the Lord’s holy day. The fact that He upheld the keeping of the Ten Commandments is clear evidence that He endorsed the keeping of the seventh day, which is the subject of one for man” (Mark 2:27).

As the Creator of this world (John 1:10), Christ made the seventh day the Sabbath by resting upon it after He had made the world in six days. Then He sanctified, or set apart, each succeeding seventh day for man to keep holy. (Gen. 2:1-3; Ex. 20:8-11).

The keeping of the seventh day of the week is a part of Christ’s original order for man. Nowhere do we have a record of His changing that requirement; therefore, the keeping of that day is one of His steps we are to follow. So long as Christ is the Creator – His position as such is established as a Biblical fact – and only Saviour, so long will the seventh-day Sabbath be the sign of Christ as the Creator-Saviour (see Isa. 66:22,23).

Jesus Christ gave us an example to follow. In Luke 4:16 we learn that it was His practice, or “custom”, to attend the worship service on the seventh day of the week, or Saturday.

Jesus taught by the parable of the tares that the impenitent are not cast into hellfire as soon as they die but will be cast into the lake of fire at the day of judgment at the end of the world (Matt. 13:24-30, 38-42). And after they are punished, according to their evil deeds, they will be totally destroyed, soul and body, Matt. 10:28.

Jesus taught that life after death depends on being resurrected at the last day (John 6:39,40,54). He taught that the righteous do not receive their reward until He comes at His second advent (Matt. 16:27), and that His followers will not be taken to heaven until He comes again (John 14:1-3).

Jesus declared that His followers will know when His second coming is near, by the fulfilment of certain signs (Matt. 24:29-33; 16:1-3).

Jesus endorsed the payment of tithe, the tenth of one’s net income, to support the preaching of the gospel. The Pharisees gave God the value of a tenth of such diminutive herbs as mint, anise, and cumin from their gardens. But they overlooked the more important matters of the Pharisees tithing, Jesus said, “theses ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” Matt. 23:23. Tithing is a part of Jesus way.

It was Christ’s steadfast purpose to obey the will of God in all things – His eating, drinking, dressing, talking, or whatever. And He taught that His followers should obey God in everything. Their religion has a sanctifying influence on every aspect of life (John 15:14; 17:17, 19; Luke 6:46; Matt. 7:21; 12:50).

In view of Jesus´obedience to God´s instruction, it is certain that He refrained from eating he flesh of those animal, fowls, and fish that are unfit for food according to Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. when a person adopts the way of Jesus, 1 Corinthians 10:31 will be the controlling rule of his life: “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

Jesus declared that His followers will be separate from the world, and will not follow its sinful ways (John 15:19; 17:15, 16; Luke 14:33). Those who choose the Jesus way will shun sinful practices such as dancing, gambling, and spiritually destructive television.

Jesus Christ taught that Christians should practice certain ordinances to show their love for Him, and for one another. By His example He endorsed the ordinance of baptism by immersion as a sign that the believer has committed his life fully to God (Matt. 3:13-17). He taught that baptism is one of the steps in being saved (Mark 16:15, 16). Many Christians sincerely believe that sprinkling is baptism. But Christian baptism is a burial (Rom. 6:35; Col. 2:12). Sprinkling does not meet God’s pattern for His followers.

Jesus´instructions concerning the ordinances of humility and of the Lord’s Supper are found in John 13:12-15 and Mathew 26:26-28. he washed His disciples´feet, then commanded His followers to do so also: “If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:14). He gave the broken bread as an emblem of His body sacrificed for us, and the wine as an emblem of His blood shed for or sins.

Among the many religions in the world, where do you find a people who follow all these steps in the way of Jesus? All denominations follow some of them, some follow nearly all, but only one group follows all of these steps – that is the Seventh-day Adventist people. This confirms that they represent Christ’s remnant – the last part of His true church. This reveals that Adventists, as the people of the threefold-message movement, are not merely another church or some new church, but a restoration of the original religion of Christ. They are not religious innovators or inventors of strange new doctrines, but the restorers of the ancient Jesus way. They are restoring every neglected truth taught and practiced by the church in the days of the apostles.
If you knew which church Jesus Christ would unite with if He lived in your city, as He lived in Palestine 1900 years ago, would you unite with it? Jesus has not changed. Is it not clear that if He live here today He would take His stand with these people who teach and practice what He taught then?

In the West Point cadet’s prayer there is a sentence that says, “Make us choose the harder right instead of the easier wrong, and never be content with a half truth, when the whole can be won.” O how people need to apply this when confronted with these steps Christ has left for us to follow!
Love makes difficult things easy. Jesus declares that if we love Him we will keep His commandments (John 14:15). When we love Him we find real happiness in doing what He asks us to do.

Jesus expects us to follow His requirements all the way. When He washed the feet of His disciples before He inaugurated the Lord’s Supper, Peter at first refused to have Jesus wash his feet. He said: “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” Jesus told him, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me” John 13:8. Then Peter quickly agreed to have the Master wash his feet. But note, if Peter had persisted in his refusal, it would have cost him eternal life. We cannot afford to refuse to have Jesus do with us as He wills, or to withhold obedience to any of His biddings. When we love Jesus with all our heart, we will follow Him all the way.