Our Greatest Need Ron Spear - The Eternal Gospel Church

108 OUR GREATEST NEEDChrist met the claims of the law by His life of perfect obediencetwo thousand years ago. Christ also meets the claims of the law throughthe perfectly obedient lives of those He transforms today:God has given to the world and to angels the evidence ofthe changeless character of His love. He would part with Hisonly begotten Son, send Him into the world, clothed in thelikeness of sinful flesh, to condemn sin and to die uponCalvary’s cross to make it manifest to men that there is provisionin the counsels of heaven for those who believe inChrist, to keep the commandments of God. Aside fromChrist, man cannot in spirit and in truth keep one of the commandmentsof God, but in Christ Jesus the claims of the laware met, because He transforms the nature of man by Hisgrace, creates in the heart a new spiritual life, implants a holynature, and men become Christlike in character. ManuscriptReleases, vol. 14, 86.Both justification and sanctification are obtained by grace throughfaith in the righteousness of Christ:The proud heart strives to earn salvation; but both ourtitle to heaven and our fitness for it are found in the righteousnessof Christ. The Desire of Ages, 300.The sanctifying or transforming righteousness of Christ is actuallyimparted or given to us:The righteousness by which we are justified is imputed;the righteousness by which we are sanctified is imparted. Thefirst is our title to heaven, the second is our fitness for heaven.Review and Herald, June 4, 1895.Christ, the perfect Redeemer, delivers the surrendered soul fromthe power of sin through a transformation of the character:The part man has to act in the salvation of the soul, is tobelieve on Jesus Christ as a perfect Redeemer, not for someother man, but for his own self. He is to trust, to love, to fearthe God of heaven. There is a certain work to be accomplished.Man must be delivered from the power of sin. Hemust be made perfect in every good work. In doing the words