Spurgeon: June PM
* 06/12/PM
"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling."
--2 Timothy 1:9
The apostle uses the perfect tense and says, "Who hath
saved us." Believers in Christ Jesus are saved. They are not
looked upon as persons who are in a hopeful state, and may
ultimately be saved, but they are already saved. Salvation is
not a blessing to be enjoyed upon the dying bed, and to be sung
of in a future state above, but a matter to be obtained,
received, promised, and enjoyed now. The Christian is perfectly
saved in God's purpose ; God has ordained him unto salvation,
and that purpose is complete. He is saved also as to the price
which has been paid for him : "It is finished" was the cry of
the Saviour ere He died. The believer is also perfectly saved
in His covenant head , for as he fell in Adam, so he lives in
Christ. This complete salvation is accompanied by a holy
calling . Those whom the Saviour saved upon the cross are in due
time effectually called by the power of God the Holy Spirit unto
holiness: they leave their sins; they endeavour to be like
Christ; they choose holiness, not out of any compulsion, but
from the stress of a new nature, which leads them to rejoice in
holiness just as naturally as aforetime they delighted in sin.
God neither chose them nor called them because they were holy,
but He called them that they might be holy, and holiness is the
beauty produced by His workmanship in them. The excellencies
which we see in a believer are as much the work of God as the
atonement itself. Thus is brought out very sweetly the fulness
of the grace of God. Salvation must be of grace, because the
Lord is the author of it: and what motive but grace could move
Him to save the guilty? Salvation must be of grace, because the
Lord works in such a manner that our righteousness is for ever
excluded. Such is the believer's privilege-- a present
salvation ; such is the evidence that he is called to it-- a
holy life .