Before God, our righteousness is not our conduct. But this does not mean that we do not have to care for our conduct while we live on earth. Our righteousness before God is settled, but what should we do about our conduct and living? We must see that God has made Christ not only our righteousness, but our sanctification as well. This sanctification is not a thing or condition, but a person—Christ. God has made Christ our sanctification.
Some Christians have a certain concept about sanctification. They think that sanctification is Christ helping them to be sanctified. This means that they are not holy, but they will become holy through Christ's help. First Corinthians 1:30 tells us that God has made Christ sanctification to us. We do not have to try to be sanctified by ourselves. We do not become sanctified through the help of Christ. Christ Himself has become our sanctification. Our sanctification is the person of Christ, not the help of Christ.
Some Christians think that sanctification is Christ empowering them to become holy. They pray for the Lord to give them strength. They think that as long as they have the strength, they can be sanctified. But God's Word does not say that we can be sanctified. It does not say that Christ gives us the strength to be holy. God's Word tells us clearly that He has made Christ sanctification to us. Our sanctification is a gift. Our sanctification is a person. Our sanctification is not the result of a power from God. If we do not have the vision, we will not see the vast difference between these two things. This is not something that our mind can comprehend. If we do not have the revelation, it is useless even if our mind understands. God must show us that Christ does not come to help us to become holy; He does not give us the strength to be sanctified. Rather, He Himself is our sanctification.
Many Christians believe that there are two things related to sanctification. One is the power of sanctification, and the other is the fruit of sanctification. They think that a man must have the power of sanctification before he can bear the fruit of sanctification. According to this theory, where should we put Christ? Should Christ be on the side of power, which means that Christ as our power enables us to become sanctified? Yet God's speaking in 1 Corinthians 1:30 is totally different from this theory. Christ did not come to be our power of sanctification. Christ Himself is our sanctification. He did not come to be our power of sanctification to enable us to produce sanctification. He Himself is sanctification. I have to shout Hallelujah! He does not become our power of sanctification, which enables us to produce sanctification. Rather, we have Christ; therefore, we have sanctification. Brothers and sisters, if we say that sanctification is a thing, God's Word will tell us that Christ is that thing. Brothers and sisters, our thing is a living person. Our sanctification is a living person. Our thing is Christ; our sanctification is Christ.