Our Greatest Need Ron Spear - The Eternal Gospel Church

ISSUES IN RIGHTEOUSNESS 95Christ condemned sin in the fallen flesh of His human nature inorder that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in fallenhumanity:There is therefore now no condemnation to them whichare in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after theSpirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hathmade me free from the law of sin and death. For what thelaw could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, Godsending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin,condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the lawmight be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but afterthe Spirit. Romans 8:1–4.Christ’s substitutionary death makes the plan of salvation possible,but His death avails us nothing other than probationary life unless wealso accept His life as our Pattern and are transformed into that moldby the ministry of the Holy Spirit:The Spirit was given as a regenerating agency, and withoutthis the sacrifice of Christ would have been of noavail. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries,and the submission of man to this satanic captivitywas amazing. Sin could be resisted and overcome onlythrough the mighty agency of the Third Person of theGodhead, who would come with no modified energy, butin the fulness of divine power. It is the Spirit that makeseffectual what has been wrought out by the world’sRedeemer. It is by the Spirit that the heart is made pure.Through the Spirit the believer becomes a partaker of thedivine nature. Christ has given His Spirit as a divine powerto overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies toevil, and to impress His own character upon the church.Review and Herald, May 19, 1904.There is no pardon for sin until we are willing to be rescued fromthe power of sin. We are not counted righteous until we are willing tobe made righteous. There is no pardon—justification—without associatedtransformation—the new birth and sanctification: