# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1897_S5 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) — «The Lutheran Pioneer. A MISSIONARY MONTHLY. PuBLisHED BY THE EVANGELICAL Lurueran SynopicaL ConrerRENcE OF NorTH AMERICA. R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. 5 "sen Entered at the Post Oftice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter, Vol. XIX. St. Louis, Mo., February , 1897. No. 2. Glad Tidings. Hark! the Gospel news is sounding. Sinner, listen to the call! Hear God’s message, true and simple: Jesus died to save us all! Jesus left His home in glory, And became a man below; Trod the earth of sin and sorrow, Meekly trod the path of woe. Oh, the wondrous love of Jesus, Thus to leave His home on high, And to come to earth to suffer, Us to raise to joys on high! Come! oh, then, and fully trust Him; For He died thy soul to save; And He now is calling for thee: Listen to His call of love! <=e- ——___ God’s Way of Salvation. When God’s way of salvation is set forth in the very language of holy Scripture, men often sneeringly say, ‘‘Is that all?’? How little do those who ask such a question- know about God’s way of salvation. They do not consider that their question is an insult to God and His Christ. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlast- ing life,’? John 3, 16. Here we have God’s blessed way of salvation in all its heavenly simplicity. God gave His only begotten Son, His beloved Son, into sufferings and death for the redemption of a lost and ruined world of sinners. And yet the miserable sinner, on hearing of this way of salvation, can presume to ask, ‘‘Is that all?”’ The eternal Son of God came down into this dark and sinful world; took upon Him the form of a servant; made Himself of no Teputation; suffered the agony which made Him sweat great drops of blood; went to the Cross, bearing the burden of the world’s: sin, and there endured the wrath of sin-hating God, — the wrath which else should have con- sumed us in the flames of an everlasting hell! No man or angel can ever conceive What it coat God to hide His face from His only be- gotten and well beloved Son; oF what it cost that blessed Son to undergo the awful judg- ment of God,—to be made sin for us. And yet the one for whom all this was done can presume to ask, ‘‘Is that all?’’ The sinner should give thanks to God for His way of salvation. No other way would have suited our case, which is one of utter ruin and helplessness. Having ‘‘all sinned and come short of the glory of God;’’- be- ing ‘‘dead in trespasses and sin, children of wrath ;’’? with ‘‘every mouth stopped and all the world become guilty before God ;’’ what hope could there be for us, if a single effort on our part be necessary for salvation, since we are ‘‘sold under sin’’ and ‘‘all our right- eousness are as filthy rags.” ere eae! Everlasting praise be given to the God of love! It was when we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Rom. 5, 8); and His voice is heard calling us to life in the precious words, ‘‘Look unto me, and be ye saved,’’ Isa. 45, 22. In God’s way of salvation we see justice satis- fied—all its righteous claims fully met, and mercy flowing out to the guilty sinners. If you cry from the depths of your need, ‘* What must I do to be saved?’’ the voice of love and truth replies, ‘‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,’’ Acts 16, 31. The sinner believes, and he 7s saved — he looks to Christ as his Saviour, and he lives. How simple is the manner of taking God's great salvation prepared in Christ for all sin- ners! May the Lord help you to take that simple believing look at Christ as your Saviour, so that you may be now and for ever saved. “Phere is life in the look ut the Crucified One; There is life at this moment for thee; Then look, sinner, look unto Him and be saved, Unto Him who was nailed to the tree. “Oh, take, with rejoicing, from Jesus at once The life everlasting He gives; And know with assurance thou never canst dic Since Jesus thy righteousness lives.” ——s