ALIEN RIGHTEOUSNESS
This study is given so we can understand the difference between alien righteousness and resident righteousness. The former is something that comes from the outside while the latter is something that grows within.
We are saved by alien righteousness; the growth of resident righteousness is also known as sanctification.
Alien rightousness does not grow since it is based on the infinite work of Christ, to which nothing can be added; the most recent Christian is just as saved as the oldest saint.
Before we were saved, we did not possess any righteouness that was commendable to God. The very best things we could do, which were called "our righteounesses," in the sight of a holy God were as filthy rags.
Our natural state is summed up in Romans 3:10-19: As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: [11] There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. [12] They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. [13] Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: [14] Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: [15] Their feet are swift to shed blood: [16] Destruction and misery are in their ways: [17] And the way of peace have they not known: [18] There is no fear of God before their eyes. [19] Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
I remember dealing in an Irish enquiry room with a young lady, Sheila. In order to get started with the Gospel presentation, I quoted Romans 3:23, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Sheila looked at me very innocently and said, "Mr. Jackson, I have never sinned."
I asked her, "In your entire life you have never sinned?"
She replied, "No, I've never sinned."
I said, "Do you mean you have never done anything wrong?"
"Well," she said, "nobody is perfect."
Many people do not like to face up to the word "sin."
Others like to imagine that since their morality seems to be at least as good as the average, that will be acceptable to God. But it takes much more that your natural rightousness to satisfy God, the Judge of all. It tells us in Isaiah 53:11, He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied . . .
Nothing but receiving the alien righteousness that He purchased for you on Calvary can meet the requirements of God and satisfy Him.
Many contemporary theologians have a difficult time understanding the perfection of the righteousness God demands. Those who follow them often become much like Tommy, an English footall (soccer) enthusiast. Tommy was a goalie, and most English goal mouths, unlike the rest of the green field, are just dirt. Because of all the English rain, they are better described as mud.
So when Tommy comes home after a match, he is two things - very hungry and very muddy.
As expected, Tommy's mother requests that Tommy wash up and get clean before he can eat.
Tommy, realizing this is so innate to mothers that he better not argue, goes into bathroom and has a brief encounter with water that Tommy called "washing himself."
When he came out and started to sit down to eat, mother quickly, taking a brief look at him, said, "Tommy, you are not nearly clean enough. Get back in the bathroom and wash yourself." Tommy argued a bit, but, deep down he knew Mom was right, so back to the wash basin Tommy went. He noticed a cake of soap, and found out it make nice lather. Encouraged by the white bubbles, Tommy had a real good effort at washing up. When he had finished, he looked in the mirror and could hardly believe how clean he was. He thought, "Mom will surely be satisfied; she might even faint when she sees me so clean."
A much cleaner Tommy strode back to the table and proudly pulled out his chair. But Mom was there, and pulled up his shirt sleeves to reveal lots of dirt.
"Tommy, I appreciate it that you tried - but go back to the bathroon, take off your shirt and really wash yourself."
"Mom, I've been there twice and I looked in the mirror and could hardly believe how clean I was. I am clean enough to eat, and I am going to eat."
"You'll eat when I say you are clean enough."
"Mom, I am clean enough already. I am probably cleaner than I have ever been."
"Tommy, if you don't get back in that bathroom, you can wait all night and you'll never eat!"
What was the real problem? It was that Tommy had one standard of cleanliness and he passed his own test, but Mother had a higher standard, and Tommy's eating depended on his passing mother's standard.
So it is with men and God. They feel they have a righteousness that is sufficient; they look at the neighbors and feel they are as good or better than the average. They have a standard of righteousness which they pass. But God has a higher standard - He said "No sin" - and the imputation of alien rightousness is the only righteousness that will pass God's standard.
At many funerals, all of the good deeds of he deceased are trotted out. Maybe he never darkened he door of a church; perhaps he openly denied Christ's work as his only hope, but friends and neighbors will say, "He must be in Heaven - he was a good man"
The late evangelist, Dr. John R Rice makes mention of a dream he once had. He was in Heaven, enjoying his mansion, when an angel knocked on the door. John was eager to have some angelic fellowship, but the angel asked John to follow him to the Heavenly Town Square to preach the Gospel.
John thought that was odd, but even odder were the sights he saw on the way. There was a tavern, and a man came running out, swearing and swinging an empty bottle threateningly at another man. Other instances of the effects of sin were evident, and finally John decided to ask the angel why there was sin in Heaven.
The angel explained that they had a rule against allowing sin to enter, but one day an old man with a long beard came seeking admittance.
The old man explained that, while he knew they had a rule against allowing sin in Heaven, he only had one sin. Wouldn't they make an exception?
The angel said they felt sorry for the old man and decided to let him in.
The next day someone came who only had two sins, and they felt it would be unfair to exclude him. After a while, all sorts of sinners made Heaven their home.
John turned to the angel. "I like being in Heaven, and enjoy my mansion. But to tell you the truth, after what I've just seen, it is really no better than the Earth was."
God's strict denial to Heaven for sin is an act of Love toward His own, to whom He has promised a sinless Heaven.
If you had half a basket of rotten tomatoes, would you fill the basket with good ones? No, you remove the rotten ones; (Psalm 103:12) then you fill the basket with good tomatoes.
Alien righteousness is not a supplement to our righteousness. I remember when I led my brother to the Lord, a Christian friend remarked, "He's a good kid. He'll make a good Christian."
Good people don't make good Christians; saved people do.
Alien Righteousness satisfies God but also makes a change, not because it abides in us but because we abide in Christ. It is our abiding in our Heavenly Vine that makes our Christian life a success.
While everyone who is in Christ is a new creature, it is not the change that satisfies God. There are many unsaved people who obey their New Years resolutions and give up a lot of bad things.
The root of every overcoming Christian life is found in the Person Who died to justify you, and lives to fulfill in you all that God wants to richly bestow on you. It is not the change that should have our first love; it is the Changer.
When Bunyan's Christian came to the cross and his burden of sin fell from off his back and vanished in the Sepulchre, he uttered words which must also be our battle cry: "Blest cross; Blest sepulchre; blest rather be the Man who here was put to shame for me."