六月十二日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/06/0612.mp3″]
经文: 上帝救了我们，以圣召召我们。（提摩太后书一：9）
使徒说：“上帝救了我们。”在基督耶稣里的信徒，并不是希望最后可以得救。他们已经得救了。救恩并不是在死亡床塌上，得到享受的一种祝福，不是将来的应许之歌。反之，应当是现在就可以得到、接受、并享有的。上帝注定信徒可以得救，而且那目的已经完成了。他可以获救，乃因代价已经为他付出了。“成了”（约十九：30），这是救主在死前的呼声。信徒虽然在亚当内犯了罪，却在基督里活过来，这个完全的救恩伴随着一个圣召。那些被救主拯救的人，被圣灵之大能呼召要成为圣洁。他们脱离罪恶，竭力追求要像基督。他们选择追求成圣，不是出于任何强迫，乃是被新的本性所吸引。信徒可以在圣洁中自然地欢呼，如同他们曾经喜欢享受罪中之乐。不是因为他们已经是圣洁的，乃因上帝拣选他们、呼召他们。祂呼召他们使他们得以成圣。圣洁是上帝在他们身上作工所产生的美丽。我们在信徒身上看到的像基督之性质，和上帝赦罪的工作是同等的。得救是藉恩典而来，因为主就是恩典。主的工作完全摒弃了我们的义。现在得救是信徒的恩宠，他被召的确据，可从他圣洁的生活得到证明。
Evening, June 12
Scripture: “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.
