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So we thought about two kinds

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of righteousness.

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A vertical righteousness and

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a horizontal righteousness.

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I want to add another

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thought to this,

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which maybe helps to bring a

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little more clarity to this.

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In the vertical realm

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before God,

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we know that we have

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righteousness

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that is simply a gift

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that God gives.

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And the gift that God gives

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is simply given.

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We don't have to do anything

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to perform it.

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And then we have the horizontal

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realm where we carry out our

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tasks in the world for the

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sake of the neighbor.

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So we have a passive

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righteousness and an act

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of righteousness. Now,

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the one thing I want to add to

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this as a new thought is the

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reality that in the act of

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righteousness that we carry

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out in the world,

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there's more than one way of

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going about this. And in fact,

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what the reality is,

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is that active righteousness

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simply means that we are living

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according to God's will.

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So act of righteousness is

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living in conformity with what

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God commanded or his law.

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So the will of God is the norm

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here, which is the law.

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The reality is that even an

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unbeliever can live his life in

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conformity with the law of God

45
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and he might actually do things

46
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that are right in God's

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will and are good,

48
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but in fact are not being

49
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done out of faith.

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So you can have a pagan who is

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deciding I think I want to live

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my life according to the golden

53
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rule because that would be a

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really good way to live.

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And I think I'll probably get

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some benefit from that.

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And he would.

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And he'd be a great person,

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he'd be a nice guy to be around,

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he'd be a good neighbor to have.

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In fact,

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if you have neighbors like that,

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you'd probably be pretty happy.

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That's the kind of neighbor to

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have. Now, the reality is,

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while he can be having a great

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deal of active righteousness

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conforming to the will of God,

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he's actually still in a great

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deal of trouble because he

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is not right with God.

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And that's what I'm trying to

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illustrate here with this three

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kinds of righteousness.

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So the idea is to recognize that

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in the world of act

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of righteousness,

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there are maybe different ways

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of thinking about this,

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different kinds of act

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of righteousness.

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And even the reformers talk

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about this and I don't want

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to get into that too much,

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but I just want to kind of lay

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out this idea here for

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you a little bit.

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So what I'm suggesting is we can

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think maybe of three kinds

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of righteousness.

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So we can have a first kind

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of righteousness,

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which is this first land here

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down at the bottom.

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And I would simply call this

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governing righteousness.

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This is the righteousness that

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just kind of keeps

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things in check.

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It helps people to know what

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to do and it governs them.

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And this coheres very

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nicely to natural law realities

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that people know that

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they should be kind,

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they have this sense of doing

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right things for their neighbor

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and that would be that natural

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law aspect there.

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So we have this governing

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righteousness of the natural

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law. That's the first one.

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Now the other reality is that no

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matter how hard a person

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tries to do this,

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he's never going to do it right.

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And in fact,

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you might actually think of

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these lines kind of being off

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kilter because if the perfect

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benchmark is God's will in the

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law and that's the standard,

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that would be the perfect

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horizontal line.

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The reality is nobody ever

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approaches this.

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They're always slightly

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off kilter, off whack,

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but the more they're approaching

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it, the closer they might get.

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But no one's ever going to

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get there, we know that.

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And they realize their

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shortcomings which drives them

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finally and ultimately either

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to hypocrisy or to despair.

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Scripture is clear on this.

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When they arrive at despair,

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this drives them then to the

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second kind of righteousness.

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So this is our first kind of

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righteousness down here.

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The second kind of righteousness

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then is the vertical

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righteousness or the

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righteousness that I would

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call justifying.

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This is the righteousness that

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makes me right with God because

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God simply declares it.

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He does the work,

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he makes me right.

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He does this work in Christ

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and it's all gift.

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This is where the Gospel

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does its thing.

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We talked about that before.

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Now,

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having been made right with God,

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what do I do?

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I am sent back out in the world

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to conform to God's will and

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fulfill my act of righteousness

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and I'm not doing a different

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set of rules.

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The law is the same for

167
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either account.

168
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And this would be the third kind

169
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of righteousness which I would

170
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call for lack of a better term,

171
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I think a good word might be

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conforming righteousness because

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now I'm learning to conform my

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life more and more

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to God's will,

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living how he wants me to live.

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So we have justifying

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righteousness,

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governing righteousness and

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conforming righteousness

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a second,

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a third and a first kind.

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And they all then are working

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together in this understanding

185
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of the work of God in the

186
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life of the Christian.

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What's interesting to notice is

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the first and the third are

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parallel because they're

190
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conforming to the same law and

191
00:05:09,273 --> 00:05:11,697
yet only the second and the

192
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third are in relation.

193
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And that's where I live

194
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as the Christian,

195
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the believer in Christ that

196
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live at this nexus.

197
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And it makes all the world of

198
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difference because down here the

199
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person is disconnected

200
00:05:22,206 --> 00:05:22,989
from Christ.

201
00:05:22,989 --> 00:05:24,972
He might be very good from

202
00:05:24,972 --> 00:05:26,214
a worldly standpoint,

203
00:05:26,214 --> 00:05:27,613
he might even be doing things

204
00:05:27,613 --> 00:05:28,813
that are pleasing to God

205
00:05:28,813 --> 00:05:29,725
according to the law,

206
00:05:29,725 --> 00:05:31,948
but they're not salvific ever

207
00:05:31,948 --> 00:05:33,133
and they're not really God

208
00:05:33,133 --> 00:05:34,113
pleasing because they're done

209
00:05:34,113 --> 00:05:35,722
apart from Christ and so they're

210
00:05:35,722 --> 00:05:37,250
ultimately condemned.

211
00:05:37,250 --> 00:05:39,289
So a person might be good down

212
00:05:39,289 --> 00:05:40,217
here but he would be,

213
00:05:40,217 --> 00:05:40,673
in a sense,

214
00:05:40,673 --> 00:05:43,194
what would say good and damned

215
00:05:43,194 --> 00:05:44,009
because he's actually

216
00:05:44,009 --> 00:05:45,217
separated from God,

217
00:05:45,217 --> 00:05:47,409
as illustrated by this huge gulf

218
00:05:47,409 --> 00:05:49,089
that still remains between

219
00:05:49,089 --> 00:05:51,321
him and God.

220
00:05:51,321 --> 00:05:52,545
He's not right with God.

221
00:05:52,545 --> 00:05:53,393
The Christian is,

222
00:05:53,393 --> 00:05:54,417
and it makes the difference.

223
00:05:54,417 --> 00:05:56,418
But the law we're pursuing

224
00:05:56,418 --> 00:05:57,417
looks the same.

225
00:05:57,417 --> 00:05:58,497
So that's why you might have

226
00:05:58,497 --> 00:05:59,895
a very good pagan and

227
00:05:59,895 --> 00:06:00,986
very good Christian,

228
00:06:00,986 --> 00:06:02,137
and their behavior looks

229
00:06:02,137 --> 00:06:02,977
a lot the same.

230
00:06:02,977 --> 00:06:04,385
A third party looking in won't

231
00:06:04,385 --> 00:06:05,049
see a lot of difference

232
00:06:05,049 --> 00:06:05,857
between them.

233
00:06:05,857 --> 00:06:07,153
That shouldn't surprise us

234
00:06:07,153 --> 00:06:07,977
because it's not like the

235
00:06:07,977 --> 00:06:08,673
Christian has a different

236
00:06:08,673 --> 00:06:09,514
set of laws.

237
00:06:09,514 --> 00:06:10,297
He's still doing the

238
00:06:10,297 --> 00:06:11,057
will of God.

239
00:06:11,057 --> 00:06:12,353
What's different is he

240
00:06:12,353 --> 00:06:13,354
knows he's forgiven.

241
00:06:13,354 --> 00:06:14,978
He has a sense of the awareness

242
00:06:14,978 --> 00:06:15,970
of God's grace.

243
00:06:15,970 --> 00:06:17,337
And I would argue he probably

244
00:06:17,337 --> 00:06:18,993
has a great deal more joy and

245
00:06:18,993 --> 00:06:20,217
freedom in his work than

246
00:06:20,217 --> 00:06:20,889
this guy does.

247
00:06:20,889 --> 00:06:21,793
But that's a different

248
00:06:21,793 --> 00:06:23,057
issue to talk about.

249
00:06:23,057 --> 00:06:25,777
So those are the three kinds of

250
00:06:25,777 --> 00:06:27,338
righteousness illustrated

251
00:06:27,338 --> 00:06:28,081
rather quickly,

252
00:06:28,081 --> 00:06:29,297
but you kind of get an idea how

253
00:06:29,297 --> 00:06:30,945
they hold together now.