Champions of Truth

No matter how long the relay race is, there is one thing that stays the same: the Baton. In a track meet, the relay races are a competition between teams of 4 runners each. The baton must be passed between the 4 runners to complete the race. The baton has been passed all the way down from Adam to us today. The baton is the good news of Jesus Christ. From century to century the baton has been passed.

The Protestant Reformation brought truth back into our society. The reformation exposed a church that sold out to lies. Truth was brought into the forefront. Did truth stop from the time of Christ until Martin Luther started the reformation?

In 538 AD, God’s true followers entered a tunnel of persecution. The persecution lasted until 1798. God still had his followers all over the world. God moved upon people in Europe and America. The enemy was and is still very angry today.

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.

God wants us to understand today that the devil is very angry. The devil is angry about the church that preaches the truth about Jesus Christ.

The great Advent movement swept across America rapidly. The movement started with a humble farmer named William Miller. He answered a call to preach when the regular pastor was not available. Were the disciples qualified to do ministry for Jesus?

God uses humble people. God is looking today in 2011 for humility in His Church.  He is seeking dedicated and consecrated people to do ministry.

William Miller was a Deist. A deist believes God sets everything in motion and then pulls back and lets things just happen.

William Miller’s uncle was a pastor. People made fun of his uncle. William Miller was full of doubt. One day he was asked to read some texts in church. He did not believe what he was reading however, the sermons had a profound impact on his life until he finally gave his life to Jesus.

William Miller began studying the Bible in Genesis 1 and let the Bible explain itself. He went through the Bible. He let truth unfold. He was very interested in the 1260 year prophecy.

Revelation 10:8-12
Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.”
9 So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book.”
And he said to me, “Take and eat it; and it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”
10 Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. 11 And he said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

The book of Daniel and particularly chapters 8 and 9 made sense to Mr. Miller and he believed that Jesus was due to return in October 1844. Then came the great disappointment when Christ did not return in 1844. People left the church. What happened is similar to a road map giving wrong directions. A mistake was made and the truth is in Revelation 10.

The truth must go forward. All the truth that is taught by Jesus. The enemy says that God cannot be trusted, that God lies, God is judgmental, God is vengeful. This is why many people are in so many different churches.

Many people are afraid of God. The devil wants people to think that it is impossible to keep God’s Law. That is an incredible deception.

We should not be afraid of God but love God like He loves us. For every truth that God has, Satan has created a deception that most people accept as truth. God has raised up a remnant today to expose the truth.

Jesus said: “He who has seen me has seen the Father”. God has always looked for Champions of Truth. He still looks for champions today. He wants us to make a decision today to follow Jesus.

Back in Revelation 12, the Devil is wroth with the woman. After the disappointment, the remnant began its mission of exposing the truth. The mission is the same. God gave us directions in His Word. If you will just follow God’s word, He will bless you. The mission is to share and champion the truth of Jesus Christ.

The baton was passed on to the final runner. The baton is in the hands of the remnant church that has recovered truths of the Bible like the Sabbath and the nature of life after death.

We are to give this message with conviction and witness to others. How privileged we are to be part of this last generation.

Revelation 14:6-9
The Proclamations of Three Angels
   
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— 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.”
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.”
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, 10 he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

First angel to preach everlasting gospel of Christ dying for sinner.

Second angel to come out of Babylon and the confused churches and counterfeit religions.

Third angel is a warning that to linger to long with Bible truth is dangerous and do not receive the Mark of the Beast.

Devil went to make war with the remnant of her seed, those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. It is not always going to be popular in 2011 to be a part of the remnant.

We need to guard against two great mistakes.

Since other churches don’t teach these truths, we should just teach about Jesus and salvation.

All doctrines begin with Jesus. Salvation for the human race.

Every single teaching of the Bible says something about Jesus and what He was about. Not all of God’s true followers are yet part of the Seventh-day Adventist church. Does this mean that some people won’t ever make it to the remnant church? No!

God wants us to realize we are no better than anyone. He is speaking to us in humility. He has given us an incredible responsibility to go to the end of the earth and share the everlasting gospel with every tribe, tongue, and people.

If God says: “Come out of Babylon”, He will also say: “Come into the remnant”. The remnant is a place for God’s loyal followers to gather and become champions of sharing truth with others. Are we champions of truth? Will we stand for truth? Are we embarrassed because of who called us?

God has called us. Are we being arrogant or proud to say: “Come into the remnant”. The remnant must exist so the gospel can go to the world. Jesus is asking us to think of our personal walk with Him.

Are you living as an example of the remnant? Do you have some area of compromise in your life? The devil is enraged with the church. If compromise is taking place in our personal lives?

If we simply start with Jesus and end with Jesus, everything that is in our lives that should not be there will come out and we will find peace and harmony with Jesus and with each other.

This is what life is about. Being at peace with God and in harmony with each other. Jesus is pleading with us. Look at your life. Does your life exemplify what being part of the remnant should be? God cannot pour out His heart on us if we aren’t humble and surrendered.
We need to stand up and not be scared or afraid to share the truth. It is not an accident that you are a Seventh-Day Adventist Christian. You have been called out. God has invited you to take your place. Pick up the baton and run the final leg of the race. Be a Champion of truth.

Be available for God today. Let His voice flow through you to the lost. Look for those divine appointments He has created for you. I want to be a champion for truth.

Sermon preached at Bellingham, Washington Seventh-day Adventist Church on Sabbath, 4 June 2011.

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