# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1899_S33 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) —6 The Lutheran Pioneer. A MI SSIONARY MONTHLY. PusuisHep BY THE EVANGELICAL LuTHERAN SynopicaL CoNnFERENCE OF Norto AMERICA. Vol. XXI. Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled. JOHN 14, 1. “Let not your heart be troubled’’: These precious words divine Come like a balm of healing To this poor heart of mine; When anxious for the morrow, Or crushed with sudden grief, This saying of the Master Brings sure and sweet relief. “Yet not your heart be troubled’’: The loving Saviour’s voice Bids me in gloom and sorrow To hope, and e’en rejoice; In tenderness, He’s saying: “J seck a place for thee, While yet in God believing, _ Believe also in me.” And trusting in His promise, With all my fears allayed, Through each days round of duties, My soul on peace is stayed; And looking toward the mansions, In heaven prepared for me, I answer: ‘‘Blessed Jesus, I do believe in Thee.” 2. -ca oo Selected. The Sinner’s Warrant for Coming to Christ. The sinner is invited to come. Christ says, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest’’ (Matt. 11,28). He does not say that He will sell the rest, nor does He say that He will give it in exchange for our tears and vows and works, but He gives it freely to all that come to Him. The sinner is entreated to come. ‘‘Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech by us: we pray in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God’? (2 Cor. 5, 20). Through His servants God Himself beseeches sinners in all their darkness and enmity and guilt to be reconciled to Him. Should this not melt the sinner’s heart? The sinner is commanded to come. ‘‘This is His commandment, that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ’’ (1 John | 8, 28). It surely can not be wrong to obey God’s commandment, and none can doubt that they have the clearest and fullest war- Tant for trusting in Christ, when they read that God commands them to believe: R. A. BISCHOFF, Editor. The sinner is assured of a present and cer- tain salvation if he come. ‘God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that wHosoeveER believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ (John 3, 16). ‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out”? (John 6, 37). ‘‘Verily, verily, Isay unto you, He that believeth on me HATH everlasting life’? (John 6, 47). ‘‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved”’ (Acts 16, 31). ‘To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteous- ness’’ (Rom. 4, 5). The sinner will be lost forever, if he does not come. ‘He that believeth not shall be damned’? (Mark 16, 16). ‘‘He that believeth on Him is not condemned; but he that be- lieveth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only be- gotten Son of God” (Jobn 8, 18). ‘Ye will not come to me that ye might have life’’ (Jobn 5, 40). ‘‘The Lord Jesus shall be re- vealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ’? (2 Thess. 1, 7. 8). ‘‘How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation?’’? (Hebr. 2, 3.) There can be no doubt, therefore, that the sinner has full warrant in the Word of God for coming to the Saviour, and it is equally certain that his eternal welfare turns upon his accepting or rejecting Him who died upon the cross for his sins. ‘‘He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not on the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him’? (John 3, 36). oe True and False Christians. There are two kinds of Israelites and Chris- tians. He is a true Israelite who has the promise and faith, of Abraham, and without deceit and in simplicity believes the teaching of the prophets, and cleaves to the promise of Abraham, like Nathaniel (John 1, 47), and as all Christians still do; when they are bap- tized, they hear the Gospel, read the Holy Entered at the Post Oflice at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter. St. Louis, Mo., September, 1899. Scriptures, receive the Sacrament, love their neighbor. These use the Christian name rightly, and are true Christians. But there are also false Christians, who indeed use Bap- tism and the Lord’s Supper, and can speak of the Holy Scriptures as much as true Chris- tians; and both they and we have the Word of God before us, but they are Christians only as to the outward form and in name. For they do not believe, and are inwardly full of unbelief, envy and hatred, full of vices, given to adultery, avarice and anger, also to all manner of sins of which the world is now full, and live like Turks and Tartars. So then it is the will of our Lord Jesus, that no one should boast that he is an Israelite or a Christian; or say (boastingly): I am bap- tized, I am a bishop, a priest, a preacher. This is not sufficient; you must take care that you believe, and live like a Christian, that it be right with you both in your heart and in your outward conduct, and that you can glory in your Lord Jesus and in the true faith. . But if this be wanting you are not a true Christian. False Christians, claiming to be evangel- ical and yet bringing forth no fruit, are like clouds without rain, with which the whole sky is overcast, becomes dark and lowering, and yet no rain falls to make the earth fruitful. So many Christians boast of great holiness, but they have no faith in God, nor love for their neighbor. —Luther. +o oe _- Luther’s Argument with Satan. Luther says: ‘‘Once upon a time the devil said to me, ‘Martin Luther, you are a great sinner, and you will be damned!’ ‘Stop! stop!’ said I; ‘one thing at a time; Tama great sinner; it is true, though you have no right to tell me of it; I confess it. What next?’ ‘Therefore, you will be damned.’ ‘That is not good reasoning. It is true, I am a great sinner, but it is written, “Jesus Christ came to save sinners;”’ therefore J shall te saved. Now go your way.’ So I cut the devil off with his own sword, and he went away mourning because he could not cast me down by calling me a sinner.”’