# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1894_S33 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) ee ae The Lutheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. Pousrisnep BY THE EVANGELICAL LutHeRAN SyNopIcCAL CoNFERENCE oF NortH AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. Vol. XVI. St. Louis, Mo., September, 1894. No. 9. Consider. to their feelings instead of the certainty of “Occupy Till | Come.” ean God’s Word. The sum of it all is this, if you onsider The lilies of the field, whose bloom is brief; We are as they; Like them we fade away, As doth the leaf. Consider The sparrows of the air, of small account; Our God doth view Whether they fall or mount— He guards us too. Consider The lilies, that do neither spin nor toil, Yet are most fair; What profits all this cure, And all this toil? Consider The-birds, that have no barn nor harvest weeks, Got gives them food; Much more our Father seeks * To do us good. Anon. —_+ +o oo Christ Died For Sinners. Christ died for sinners; thatis just what you are; so Christ died for you. And how may you know this? By your own feelings? No; but the same Bible which tells you that you are a sinner, that you are ungodly, that you are unjust, tells you that Jesus died for sin- ners—He the Just for the unjust. Many do not enjoy the salvation that is in Christ Jesus, because they try to make themselves some- thing else than what they are before they will accept the Saviour. ‘hey are unwilling to give up the thought of some preparation in themselves. Ah! if they were anything else than sinners, what part could they have-in Christ? Christ died for sinners! They that accept Him have peace, but the ground of their peace is not in their own heart, but in Christ; and the proof that they have peace is not in their own feelings, but in the Script- ures. ‘Christ died for our sins,’’ according to the Scriptures. ‘He was buried and rose _ again,’’ according to the Scriptures. There is, indeed, joy to them who believe what the Bible says of Jesus, the Saviour of sinners, but they must not put their joy, their experi- ence in the place of Christ, and must not look have learned from the law of God that you are a great sinner, a lost and undone sinner, a leper, covered all over with the leprosy of sin, then here is Jesus coming to you in the Gospel and meeting all your need. . Christ died for sinners! He died for you! His blood cleanseth from all sin, and by Him all that believe are justified from all things. And rest assured that the more completely you take the position of a poor sinner, and fix your heart on Christ as He is presented to you in the Scriptures, the more settled will be your peace, the more joyful your experience. + +o oo Receiving as Little Children. Little children always trust in their parents’ love which shelters them and provides for them. If a mother offers an apple to her little boy, he will not raise any question about her love or his desert. He willenot argue that he must feel differently, before he can take the apple. He will not doubt the sincerity of his mother’s offer. No; he trusts her love, and his hand is out at once to take the apple. So in the matter of receiving Christ, eter- nal life, salvation: it is simple trust which takes God at His word and takes what He gives in the Gospel. God has said.that He ‘so loved the world that He gave His only- begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’’ And yet, with such statements through- out God’s Word, sinners, instead of believing what God says and simply receiving His gift, stand reasoning about themselves, and do not trust the love which comes to them in the Gospel with its unspeakable gift. ‘The heart must be brought to receive the gift of God in simple trust, just as the child takes unhesitat- ingly what a parent’s love offers. ‘*Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as alittle child, shall in no wise enter therein.’’ ——_»--o-