Steps to Life

Training Program for Ministers and Church Leaders

Unit 1 - Foundation and Pillars of the Christian Faith

Lesson 1 – Foundation and Pillars of the Christian Faith

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Question 6

Signs of the Times, August 24, 1891, par. 10

“The terms of this oneness between God and man in the great covenant of redemption were
arranged with Christ from all eternity. The covenant of grace was revealed to the patriarchs. The
covenant made with Abraham [Abrahamic covenant] four hundred and thirty years before the
law was spoken on Sinai was a covenant confirmed by God in Christ, the very same gospel which
is preached to us. ‘The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith
preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then
they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.’ The covenant of grace is not a new
truth, for it existed in the mind of God from all eternity. This is why it is called the everlasting
covenant.”

Signs of the Times, April 25, 1892, par 1

“The purpose and plan of grace existed from all eternity. Before the foundation of the world it was
according to the determinate counsel of God that man should be created, endowed with power
to do the divine will. But the defection of man, with all its consequences, was not hidden from
the Omnipotent, and yet it did not deter him from carrying out his eternal purpose; for the Lord
would establish his throne in righteousness. God knows the end from the beginning; ‘known
unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.’ Therefore redemption was not an
afterthought--a plan formulated after the fall of Adam--but an eternal purpose to be wrought
out for the blessing not only of this atom of a world but for the good of all the worlds which
God has created.”

Signs of the Times, February 13, 1893, par. 2

“But known unto God are all his works, and from eternal ages the covenant of grace (unmerited
favor) existed in the mind of God. It is called the everlasting covenant; for the plan of salvation
was not conceived after the fall of man, but it was that which was ‘kept in silence through
times eternal, but now is manifested and by the Scriptures of the prophets according to the
commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all the nations unto obedience of faith.’
[Romans 16:25, 26].”
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Signs of the Times, June 21, 1899, par. 8

“The blood of the cross sealed the irrevocable covenant which ensures to our Redeemer the
heathen for His inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession.”

Signs of the Times, August 22, 1900, par. 7

“An irrevocable covenant was made between the Father and the Son. Christ must go forward and
finish the work which He had undertaken, or all the world would perish.”

Signs of the Times, June 28, 1905, par. 4

“The most striking feature of the covenant of peace that the Lord has made with human beings is
the exceeding richness of the pardoning mercy offered to the sinner if he repents and turns from
sin.… Under the new covenant, perfect obedience is the condition of life. If the sinner repents,
and confesses his sin, he will find pardon.”

Question 7

Education, 125, 126

“The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other in the whole book clusters,
is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God. From the first
intimation of hope in the sentence pronounced in Eden to that last glorious promise of the
Revelation, ‘They shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads’ (Revelation 22:4),
the burden of every book and every passage of the Bible is the unfolding of this wondrous
theme,—man’s uplifting,—the power of God, ‘which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ.’ 1 Corinthians 15:57.”

Question 8

Selected Messages, vol. 1, 219

“It is through the law that men are convicted of sin; and they must feel themselves sinners, exposed
to the wrath of God, before they will realize their need of a Saviour.”
Selected Messages, vol. 1, 342
“The righteousness of Christ is presented as a free gift to the sinner if he will accept it. He has
nothing of his own but what is tainted and corrupted, polluted with sin, utterly repulsive to a
pure and holy God. Only through the righteous character of Jesus Christ can man come nigh to
God.”
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Questions 15, 19

Counsels to Writers and Editors, 30, 31

“The Landmarks Defined.—In Minneapolis God gave precious gems of truth to His people in
new settings. This light from heaven by some was rejected with all the stubbornness the Jews
manifested in rejecting Christ, and there was much talk about standing by the old landmarks. But
there was evidence they knew not what the old landmarks were. There was evidence and there
was reasoning from the word that commended itself to the conscience; but the minds of men
were fixed, sealed against the entrance of light, because they had decided it was a dangerous error
removing the ‘old landmarks’ when it was not moving a peg of the old landmarks, but they had
perverted ideas of what constituted the old landmarks.
“The passing of the time in 1844 was a period of great events, opening to our astonished eyes the
cleansing of the sanctuary transpiring in heaven, and having decided relation to God’s people
upon the earth, [also] the first and second angels’ messages and the third, unfurling the banner on
which was inscribed, ‘The commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.’ One of the landmarks
under this message was the temple of God, seen by His truth-loving people in heaven, and the
ark containing the law of God. The light of the Sabbath of the fourth commandment flashed its
strong rays in the pathway of the transgressors of God’s law. The nonimmortality of the wicked
is an old landmark. I can call to mind nothing more that can come under the head of the old
landmarks. All this cry about changing the old landmarks is all imaginary.
“Now at the present time God designs a new and fresh impetus shall be given to His work. Satan
sees this, and he is determined it shall be hindered. He knows that if he can deceive the people
who claim to believe present truth, [and make them believe that] the work the Lord designs to
do for His people is a removing of the old landmarks, something which they should, with most
determined zeal, resist, then he exults over the deception he has led them to believe. The work for
this time has certainly been a surprising work of various hindrances, owing to the false setting of
matters before the minds of many of our people. That which is food to the churches is regarded
as dangerous, and should not be given them. And this slight difference of ideas is allowed to
unsettle the faith, to cause apostasy, to break up unity, to sow discord, all because they do not
know what they are striving about themselves. Brethren, is it not best to be sensible? Heaven is
looking upon us all, and what can they think of recent developments? While in this condition of
things, building up barriers, we not only deprive ourselves of great light and precious advantages,
but just now, when we so much need it, we place ourselves where light cannot be communicated
from heaven that we ought to communicate to others.—Manuscript 13, 1889.”
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Additional Study Material

Counsels on Health, 521, 522

“No line of our faith that has made us what we are is to be weakened. We have the old landmarks
of truth, experience, and duty, and we are to stand firm in defense of our principles, in full view
of the world.”

Testimonies, vol. 5, 137

“Now is the time when we should closely connect with God, that we may be hid when the
fierceness of His wrath is poured upon the sons of men. We have wandered away from the old
landmarks. Let us return. If the Lord be God, serve Him; if Baal, serve him. Which side will you
be on?”

Testimonies, vol. 5, 684, 685

“He [Paul] was set for the defense of the church. He was to watch for souls as one that must
render account to God, and should he not take notice of the reports concerning their state of
anarchy and division? Most assuredly; and the reproof he sent them was written just as much
under the inspiration of the Spirit of God as were any of his epistles. But when these reproofs
came, some would not be corrected. They took the position that God had not spoken to them
through Paul, that he had merely given them his opinion as a man, and they regarded their own
judgment as good as that of Paul. So it is with many among our people who have drifted away
from the old landmarks and who have followed their own understanding.
“When this position is taken by our people, then the special warnings and counsels of God
through the Spirit of prophecy can have no influence with them to work a reformation in life
and character.”

Review and Herald, December 29, 1896, par. 10

“Many know so little about their Bibles that they are unsettled in the faith. They remove the old
landmarks, and fallacies and winds of doctrine blow them hither and thither. Science, falsely so-
called, is wearing away the foundation of Christian principle; and those who once were in the
faith drift away from the Bible landmarks, and divorce themselves from God, while still claiming
to be his children. But are they?--No; no. The relation they sustain to God is truly represented in
Matt. 7:22, 23: ‘Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.’ ”
Unit 1 - Foundation and Pillars of the Christian Faith
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Manuscript Release No. 760: The Integrity of the Sanctuary Truth, page 9, paragraph 5
“Those who seek to remove the old landmarks are not holding fast; they are not remembering
how they have received and heard. Those who try to bring in theories that would remove the
pillars of our faith concerning the sanctuary or concerning the personality of God or of Christ,
are working as blind men. They are seeking to bring in uncertainties and to set the people of God
adrift without an anchor.”

Manuscript Release No. 760: The Integrity of the Sanctuary Truth, pages 19, 20
“God never contradicts Himself. Scripture proofs are misapplied if forced to testify to that which
is not true. Another and still another will arise and bring in supposedly great light, and make
their assertions. But we stand by the old landmarks. [1 John 1:1-10 quoted.]
“I am instructed to say that these words we may use as appropriate for this time, for the time has
come when sin must be called by its right name. We are hindered in our work by men who are not
converted, who seek their own glory. They wish to be thought originators of new theories, which
they present, claiming that they are truth. But if these theories are received, they will lead to a
denial of the truth that for the past fifty years God has been giving to His people, substantiating
it by the demonstration of the Holy Spirit.”